Three strategies for short term immediate effect in revitalization of our post COVID economy:
1) Promotion of tourism which has many
multipliers on economics, e.g. on hotels, restaurants, and local vendors on
tourism etc.
2) Focus on catalytic infra projects that
are already in the pipeline that can create jobs and support related
industries.
3) For effective and direct benefits to
industries, government has to focus on providing tax relief, financial
incentives and policy support to sectors that are critical to the recovery,
rather than across the board approach.
Two strategies for long term impact:
1) Leverage on RCEP and BRI networks, to
focus on specific promotion approach to each member countries, on our core
advantages. We have strong halal certification which can open doors to big
markets in Indonesia and the Middle East Region. Entry to majority global
Muslim market also facilitate attracting FDI and factories building in
Malaysia.
Highlighting benefits analysis on RCEP
trade agreement, Malaysia can be the conduit to non RCEP countries.
Multicultural and multilingual characteristics of our society and technical
know-how plus manufacturing expertise of our nation (especially on E&E and
chips) can be our selling points too.
2) Government should provide support to
Human Resource training on ecommerce industry. RCEP also promotes IPR. The
government should provide grants and tax incentives for companies that have
successfully registered IP, patent for innovation products. It is vital for our
country to complete establishment of DFTZ, to be the e-commerce regional
logistics Centre.
Additional Considerations for
Revitalization of post pandemic economy:
A) Common testing and SOP across all ASEAN
countries is the only way we can open up borders to ensure all businesses such
as tourism, transport, and logistics can operate smoothly again. With products
transported and services by people allowed to travel, many of the catalytic
infrastructure projects can be restarted naturally.
Government has to look into sectors that
are affected by this new SOP. For service industries, if to pass down the extra
cost, those related enterprises will not be able to survive. It is imperative
that the plight faced by the industry be addressed to ensure they can survive
and prosper in the new business environment.
B) With increase in logistical cost, many
countries will try to be self-sufficient along their industries value chain.
This will either limit globalization or favour the more well-developed nation.
The pandemic will act as an accelerator for upwards as well as downwards
economic trends. It is therefore vitally important for Malaysia to push hard
towards higher value industries. We can no longer compete in cheap and
labour-intensive industries. Halal is
our strength but we must move beyond pure F&B., also to focus on Afro-based
technology and food technology.
The future belongs to those well versed
with technology and know-how. Human capital with digital savvy will become
crucial in all arenas. Our education and training sectors must produce talents
that are ready for the future, and we need to do that now.
C)
Malaysia is a trading nation. The longer we are limited by global trade
open access like before, the worse we are.
Relying on ASEAN/RCEP to have a common SOP
to enable free flow of businesses will take too long. As such, it will be most
advantageous for Malaysia to take a proactive unilateral effort with all major
trading partners to allow us to travel and do business. This openness will
surely see an increase in hospital cases and thus our hospital support systems
must be beefed up to ensure it can sustain the increased public health
pressure.
Political stability will be crucial for any
form of business confidence regardless of pandemic or not. This is something
that we hope our politicians could act responsibly. We need to ensure that we
develop good political leadership, an open and transparent policy, in addition
to good corporate governance to make all the effort sustainable.
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