08/07/2010 (Sin Chew Daily Online) - The national economy may probably slow down in the second half of this year due to some external factors. What will the prime minister do to stimulate domestic demand and turn the situation?

Datuk Seri Najib Razak is confident that with the 12 national key economic areas (NKEAs) in place by August, the goal of transforming Malaysia into a high-income economy could be achieved.

The NKEAs are (1) oil and gas; (2) palm oil and related products; (3) financial services; (4) wholesale and retail; (5) tourism; (6) information and communications technology (ICT); (7) education services; (8) electrical and electronics; (9) business services; (10) private healthcare services; (11) agriculture; and (12) the Greater Kuala Lumpur Plan.

Some of the areas are not new, but had remained dormant over the years. Agriculture is a good example. Malaysia was able to export rice and agricultural products in early days but today, the country has to import food that cost about RM28 billion. What will the government do to revive the agriculture sector?

Palm oil is also one of the country's unique natural resources. It can be refined into cooking oil, soaps, cosmetics, inks, detergents, lubricants and candles. It can also be used as bio-fuels. However, the government has not actively researched and developed it with high technologies to enhance its value.

Financial, business and education services and private healthcare services are services that require advanced management, professional attitudes and talents. Where can a country pursuing racial policies find talents to develop these areas?

If the federal government allocates too much of resources on the Greater Kuala Lumpur Plan, including hardware infrastructure for construction, it may neglect the value-added benefits brought by software infrastructure like professional talents, management skills and technology.

It is reported that a NKEA workshop has identified 118 projects and 35 business opportunities, which are expected to bring up to US$156 billion of contribution to the gross national income in the year of 2020.

The federal government hopes that 80% of the 118 projects will be financed by the private sector and it is expected to create as many as 2.2 million of job opportunities by 2020.

It is good to have ambitious goals, but they must be realistic and achievable.

When the 10th Malaysia Plan (10Plan) was unveiled, Najib set the goals to have 6% of annual growth and 12.8% of private investment growth.

Economists have considered the goals as being over optimistic. Similarly, it is not realistic to expect 80% of the 118 projects to be financed by the private sector.

The approved manufacturing investment in the first quarter this year has dropped by 34.6% and the Malaysia stock market has been in a net outflow for six months in a row.

The stock market has been driven by investment institutions and only one of every four persons invests in the stock market. How are we going to develop the capital market then?

The federal government must set aside political and racial policies, liberalise the economy and improve the investment environment to attract foreign investments.

If the NKEA plan lacks transparency and does not practise open tender, it will end up as another game for local people. We can never bring in talents and technologies without the participation of foreign investors.

After the open day of the key performance indicator (KPI) and national key result area (NKRA), it is going to be the open day for the NKEA in August. We are going to read exciting reports again, but what will happen after the euphoria?