Rafizi said the last-minute overhaul of the next five-year development plan would raise concerns among the civil servants who prepared the 13MP, market analysts, and Malaysians as a whole.
The PKR MP for Pandan also asked whether the changes would be rushed since there would be insufficient time to refer the plan to the inter-agency planning group, the technical working group, and experts who formulated the initial 13MP.
“Why is this overhaul of the 13MP arising now when there was no such issue raised when the economy ministry and I tabled the contents of the 13MP previously?
“The 13MP is an important document for the nation and Malaysians, developed by thousands of Malaysians from various segments of society. If we’re not careful, the 13MP will be dragged into political polemics which would end up affecting the people’s confidence in the final document.
“If this happens, it would be a great injustice to those who worked hard on the 13MP over the past year,” he said in a statement.
Earlier today, the government announced that finance minister II Amir Hamzah Azizan has taken on the duties and functions of the economy portfolio, and given the duty of overhauling the 13MP.
Amir said he had received “a lot of feedback” from his Cabinet colleagues on the plan, which necessitated an overhaul of the document.
Rafizi said the preparation of the 13MP started in September 2024 when feedback was obtained from all stakeholders, first through the inter agency planning group which involved every government ministry and agency.
Then, he said, there was a technical working group comprising policy experts in specific areas, from health, fiscal and education reforms to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
He said there were also numerous engagements between the economy ministry and state governments, industry players, and MPs from September to December 2024.
“At the same time, there was a ‘top down’ process, namely the development of key policies that were bold and radical, running concurrently involving the economy ministry and experts.
“These policies, categorised according to the various fields, were identified as key catalysts for structural reforms in those areas. These bold and radical policies that were proposed may not have been acceptable to the relevant ministries.
“That’s why I tabled them to the prime minister multiple times beforehand between February to April, and tabled it twice to the Cabinet to achieve a compromise and consensus,” he said.
Rafizi said there was a tight schedule to prepare and table the 13MP compared with previous Malaysia plans.
He also said the 13MP was fully developed by civil servants without the involvement of external consultants.