The Yang di-Pertuan Agong has commended the “whole of nation” approach that helped make Malaysia the fastest-growing economy in South-East Asia.
“Bank Negara recently announced that Malaysia’s economy had recorded the fastest growth in 22 years when it grew by 8.7% in 2022, the best performance in South-East Asia.
“This was achieved through hard work and the ‘whole of nation’ approach by various parties including the government, private sector, government-linked companies, non-governmental organisations and rakyat as a whole,” His Majesty Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah said when opening the second session of the 15th Parliament here on Monday (Feb 13)
He said the government should focus on the agenda of strengthening Malaysia’s competitiveness as an investment destination.
“The country recorded RM1.552 trillion worth of exports last year, a 25% increase from 2021.
As an open economy, the King noted, Malaysia was not excluded from the impact of global economic challenges such as economic certainties following the Covid-19 pandemic, geopolitical crises that affect the supply chain, and inflationary pressure resulting in rising living costs.
In the face of such challenges, the King said he welcomed efforts to prevent leakages of public funds while speeding up efforts to effectively deliver targeted subsidies.
His Majesty also said he valued the commitment by the current government to aggressively weed out corruption by focusing on aspects such as procurement, enforcement and large-scale graft.
His Majesty stands by Gov’t determination to empower education and vocational technical training (TVET)
The Yang di-Pertuan Agong also supports the government’s determination to empower education and vocational technical training (TVET) through public and private collaboration.
His majesty said graduates are trained based on the current needs of the industry to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign labour, supporting upskilling measures to improve the workers through skill improvement and re-skilling programs.
“It is to produce more workers and semi-skilled workers who are able to reduce dependence on foreign workers,” said Al-Sultan Abdullah at the ceremony.
His Majesty said 20 public universities, 36 polytechnics, 105 community colleges and 415 private institutions of higher learning bear the great responsibility of producing talented human capital.
“The development agenda will not be able to bring good if our society is poor in knowledge and skills and devoid of good values. It is a priority for the higher education sector to always explore innovation and fresh, strategic and pragmatic approaches,” said Al-Sultan Abdullah.
On February 2, the prime minister proposed the involvement and cooperation of the private sector and government-related companies to empower TVET education.
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said it is important to meet the needs of the industry and solve some problems such as mismatch or training that is not needed by the industry and unsatisfactory facilities.
