- Since the early 1980s, we have stressed that this
country will rely on the private sector as the
primary engine of economic growth. In a way we
were ahead of the rest of the world, even the
developed countries in entrusting economic growth
to the private sector.
- In the early years, our fledgling private sector
could not fully respond to the challenge that was
issued. Then came the unpredictable and difficult
recession and slowdown years. However in the last
three years the private sector has bloomed and
responded. The policy is now bearing fruit. The
outcome: in 1988, we grew in real terms by 8.9
per cent; in 1989, by 8.8 per cent; in 1990, by 9.4
per cent without expansionary budgetting by the
Government. Even the tiger economies of North
East Asia have not done so well.
- No nation can afford to abandon a winning formula.
And this nation will not. For the forseeable
future, Malaysia will continue to drive the
private sector, to rely on it as the primary
engine of growth.
- In the meantime the Government will continue to
downsize of its role in the field of economic
production and business. The State cannot of
course retreat totally from the economic life of
Malaysia. It will not abdicate its responsibility
for overseeing and providing the legal and
regulatory framework for rapid economic and
social development.
- The Government will be pro-active to ensure
healthy fiscal and monetary management and the
smooth functioning of the Malaysian economy. It
will escalate the development of the necessary
physical infrastructure and the most conducive
business environment - consistent with its other
social priorities. And where absolutely
neccessary the Government will not be so
completly bound by its commitment to withdrawal
from the economic role, that it will not
intervene. It will play its role judiciously and
actively.
- The process of de-regulation will continue. There
can be no doubt that regulations are an essential
part of the governance of society, of which the
economy is a part. A state without laws and
regulations is a state flirting with anarchy.
Without order, there can be little business and
no development. What is not required is over
regulation although it may not be easy to decide
when the Government is over regulating.
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