Najib New Economic Model (NEM) is “dead” and is survived by the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) which rehashes “Mahathirist” policies

“The old rent-seeking model continues to thrive under its current ill-disguised incarnation,” Liew (picture) said of the ETP, spearheaded by the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu).

He said Malaysia could only move out of the middle-income trap by realising productivity gains through innovation driven by talent, but slammed the ETP for focusing on nothing more than capital investment numbers and “practically nothing else”.

“The main premise of NEM is that Malaysia can no longer survive on throwing money at problems. Having more capital investment, be it foreign or local, will not help Malaysia out of its middle-income trap,” he said.

Liew also said the ETP risked alienating Malaysians by ignoring social inclusiveness issues that were highlighted by the NEM, exacerbating the country’s already massive brain drain numbers.

He said the government should learn from the recent Singapore general election, where citizens unhappy with the PAP government’s excessive focus on economic growth and lack of concern for inflation served the party its biggest-ever electoral loss since the republic’s independence.

He added that the ETP has avoided government structural reform recommendations made by the NEM, which pointed out that economic decision-making powers should be devolved to state and local governments rather than concentrated in the hands of the federal government