THE 11th Malaysia Plan (11MP) is now being debated in Parliament. Policymakers will deliberate on the details. This is a make or break plan for the nation as we pursue developed nation status by 2020.
The rakyat hope for more objectivity in the debate. The 11MP is for all Malaysians. Good ideas must not be opposed for political sake. If policy makers can demonstrate more objectivity, then we are truly on the way to become a development nation.
The government has put forward a comprehensive plan. Based on the feedback, 11MP has covered all the important issues.
The key message is we need new growth areas to drive the economy into higher value. The green economy has been singled out as a major driver.
Of course, this cannot happen without the strength in innovation. Innovation has been acknowledged worldwide as the instrument to increase competitiveness in the green industry but also push up productivity.
This is crucial for the nation’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) where the culture of innovation is still comparatively low. This fact is also true for Asean SMEs as highlighted in the recent Asean SME Conference and Showcase held in Kuala Lumpur.
SME investment in R&D is an important prerequisite of innovation success. It is, therefore, heartening that the 11MP has made special mention of the need to consolidate the nation’s management of R&D under the soon-to-be formed Research Management Agency.
One group which came up for special mention in the 11MP is the bottom 40 per cent of the country’s population, the B40 group. The improved wellbeing of the B40 is critical to truly realise the aspirations of inclusivity and sustainability. They are the people who should migrate to the middle class. This is because growing the middle class is the key strategy to become a developed nation.
At the Academy of Sciences Malaysia we have also taken the initiative to support the government to empower the B40 group. Come Aug 5, the academy is hosting a global forum of R&D leaders to chart new ideas for future research to cater to the technological needs of the B40.
These can be technologies to have access to affordable energy and water. They can also be technologies to make available affordable food and nutrition. Not to mention medicine.
Appropriately themed “Injecting Soul Into R&D”, the forum promises to harness the wisdom of top R&D leaders from around the world. They will offer their thinking on the appropriate research we need to invest in.
For a long time, much of the R&D we invest in has been too much skewed towards commercial interests alone. It is time to balance this. It is time to devote some R&D to solving the problems and bring benefits to the B40.
Research can also include disaster risk reduction technologies. As shown in recent years, the nation has to increasingly cope with such calamities in many forms including floods, landslides and even earthquakes!
Kuching has been selected to be the venue for this inaugural forum. Rightly so because both Sabah and Sarawak are still home to a major proportion of the nation’s B40. Both states though are still largely untapped in terms of opportunities. Only recently the academy hosted another international discourse on smart village also in Kuching. Both Sabah and Sarawak offer tremendous economic potential. The government’s decision to build the Pan Borneo Highway will no doubt be the catalyst to further unearth that potential, like what the PLUS highway has done to the economy of the peninsula.
The academy’s Global R&D Leaders Forum scheduled for Aug 5 and 6 has already attracted prominent speakers and illustrious personalities from around the world. The expected participants to the event may exceed 300.
TheY would comprise academics and those from industry, non-governmental organisations and government. This is the long awaited forum where those who are passionate about bringing change to the nation’s R&D investment can come and share their thoughts.
There is no denying that investing in R&D to support the wellbeing of the B40 will go a long way in moving the nation forward. It is a recipe to be truly a developed nation.
The writer is a fellow at the Academy of Sciences Malaysia
