Booklet WCY 29 Mei 2013 1 - MPC

INDUSTRIES’ PERSPECTIVES
YBhg. Tan Sri Datuk Yong Poh Kon
PEMUDAH Co-Chair & President Federation of
Malaysian Manufacturers
Scoring 15 out of 60 economies is a credible score, though it is one position below last year's
ranking of 14. If we go into the individual parameters, there are many in which Malaysia has
ranked amongst the top 10 or 20 and this augurs well for the future of the country. However,
there are two parameters in which we are at the lower end of the class—namely Health where we
are positioned 42 nd , and Education where we are number 34 out of 60.
An improvement in the Health parameter goes beyond the Ministry of Health, and needs the
co-operation of the Local Councils in better cleanliness and sanitation to eliminate, for
example mosquito breeding grounds. In Education, much needs to be done to this important area
as amongst all the parameters, this particular parameter is the key to the long term
competitiveness of the country.
The fact that Education has worsened from 33 rd to 34 th would mean we need to redouble our
efforts to improve our scores in PISA and TIMSS international benchmarks. If our ranking in
education continues like this to be much worse than our overall ranking, then sooner or
later our overall ranking will slide down to match our education ranking because in the final
analysis, the long term competitiveness of a country is very much dependent on the quality of
the human capital in the country.
The business sector as well as the parents in the country would like the Government to devote
resources and new programmes to improve on our education score as the key to greater
proficiency in the English Language, Science, Mathematics, and Reasoning. However it is
fortunate that there are international benchmarks to which we can measure ourselves with.
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