Country Economic Work for Malaysia - Islamic Development Bank

ole in spearheading economic development. The Government demonstrated strong
commitment to the public-private collaboration. In the early years, it took some time for
Government Departments and Agencies to work closely with the private sector. With greater
appreciation of the need for close cooperation, the collaborative environment between public
and private sectors has improved over the years. Strong commitment and conscious efforts
made by the Government to encourage consultative panels to invigorate their activities have
substantially contributed to the effective operationalisation of the MIC over the years. The
Government has played a key role in delivering high quality services and has increased its
interaction with the private sector. This was further complemented by specific measures to
intensify training of the middle and lower level functionaries of the Government to enhance
their understanding on the MIC and bring about a positive change in their mindset and
attitude. Further, the planned, coordinated and coherent manner in which the Government
went about implementing the policy also contributed to MIC success.
87. The fruits of Malaysia’s pioneering privatisation drive are now increasingly
evident. Several corporatized and privatised Government Linked Companies (GLCs) as well
as private firms have become large market cap companies on Bursa Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur
Stock Exchange) and have successfully ventured abroad and are now emerging as Malaysian
Multinational Companies (MNCs). The privatisation programme has also elicited a surge of
foreign interests in Malaysia’s stock markets. The depth and variety that privatisation brought
to the stock market had also contributed to the more rapid development of Malaysia’s
financial and capital markets.
88. As a way forward, Malaysia’s Vision 2020 is to lift the country to an accelerated
growth path towards a high income economy and developed nation status through
supporting effective PPP. Through active participation of the private sector, the
Government’s policies and resources are being channelled towards driving the economy
forward. In particular, during the challenging global economic environment, economic
recovery cannot be engineered by the Government alone. It is only possible through the
combined efforts of the private sector and the Government, that Malaysia will be able to
achieve Vision 2020 targets. Towards this end, the Tenth Malaysia Plan embraces a new
economic model, necessary for their transformation into a high income country. In
encapsulating the policy direction and developmental priorities for Malaysia’s transformation
ahead, a key thrust that the Plan will be forging is effective public private partnerships,
mainly through establishing five “Growth Economic Corridors”, which are described briefly
below.
Growth Economic Corridors: balanced regional growth through PPPs
89. With commitment to bring balanced regional growth, the Government of
Malaysia established five economic growth corridors namely Northern Corridor Economic
Region; Eastern Corridor Economic Region; Iskandar Malaysia; Sarawak Corridor of
Renewable Energy; and Sabah Development Corridor under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (Figure
5.4). These corridors are aimed at bridging development imbalances throughout the country
and have been pushing forward the country's economic growth through public private
partnerships in these regions. Further, disperse economic activities across states to spread
benefits from development Cluster- and corridor-based economic activities with focus areas
are being carried out mainly by the PPP, which are described briefly below.
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