PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Najib Razak can and should now refocus on driving Malaysia’s economy, now that he has been cleared of wrongdoing in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) issue, says New York-based economic impact analyst Richard McManus.
In his opinion column in the international magazine The Diplomat, McManus said that the lifting of the “spectre of the corruption investigation” would give Najib Razak and his political coalition room to “rededicate themselves to trade, labor, and other liberalization policies that will drive renewed growth”.
“Despite this economic turbulence, the government’s goal of earning Malaysia ‘high-income’ status by 2020 is still within reach,” wrote McManus.
“Still maintaining strong support from his party, Najib now finds himself secure in his position and free to refocus on the policy goals he had outlined earlier in his tenure.”
This comes in the wake of the recent announcement by AG Mohamed Apandi Ali that Najib had been cleared of all corruption allegations linked to 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion donation saga.
Apandi had also closed the case on the movement of RM42 million from a former 1MDB subsidiary company, SRC International Sdn Bhd.
McManus noted that Najib’s government has been a strong proponent of economic opportunities like the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) and the ASEAN Economic Community, but had been limited by the 1MDB affair and the debate of his future at home.
“The uncertainty surrounding the country’s politics and the fate of Najib had contributed to weakened investor confidence, adding to prevailing external headwinds and putting a dent into what has otherwise been stellar growth since the current government took power,” he said.
“With his political position secure, the Prime Minister should now have far more political capital to spend.”
Among the steps that Malaysia’s leadership would likely take, he said, was to get back on track with the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) and ensure that it successfully ratifies the much-debated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
He claimed that the end of the Attorney-General’s probe has already yielded better prospects for Malaysia’s currency, with the ringgit’s value rising 1.3 per cent against the U.S. dollar.
Effusive in his praise of Najib, McManus pointed out that per capita income among Malaysians had risen from $7,277 to $10,538 (in 2013) since the 2009 financial crisis.
“Economic reforms instituted by Najib —especially the country’s first minimum-wage law—have had a great deal to do with that progress,” he claimed.
Source from FMT NEWS
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