Najib assures government's committment towards people's economy

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the government was committed in ensuring the betterment of the people’s economy as the country moved towards attaining a high-income nation status by 2020.

He said the people’s wages and household income were important aspects as the country become a developed nation.

"As the government was looking at the macro economy of the country in turning Malaysia into a high-income nation, the people’s economy should not be overlooked," he said.

Najib said this in his closing remarks at the 4th Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council Annual Meeting at the New York Academy of Sciences here on Wednesday.

Malaysia, he believed, was on the right track to become a high-income nation with an economic growth of 5.6 per cent last year and 6.3 per cent recorded in the first half of this year, hence emerging as Asean’s best economic performance country.

"However, we should not be carried away by macro figures only. We want individuals to feel the impact.

"We don’t want, when we declare our country as a high-income nation in 2020, for people to say they don’t feel any better," Najib said, adding that science, technology and innovation would be a tremendous source of the country’s growth.

It also could make a difference to a family and individual’s income, added Najib, who is also Finance Minister.

He said sustainable development should not be about fiscal finance sustainability only but also the country’s physical sustainability.

GSIAC was initiated by Najib in 2011 as part of his ongoing efforts to transform Malaysia into a high-income economy through enhancing Malaysia’s capabilities in science and innovation.

Earlier, in his opening remarks at the meeting, Najib said a national level initiative known as Science to Action (S2A), launched last year, aimed to intensify the application of science and technology for industry development and the people’s well-being.

It is also for the governance of science, technology and industry that was aligned to the New Economic Model which was introduced in 2010.

"Ultimately, S2A aims to reinvigorate science so that it is ready and able to generate new ideas and game changing strategies that will create wealth and jobs for our people," added Najib.