The New Industrial Master Plan 2030 is disappointing and looks like so many old-style policies of the past. It is not the game changer that many people were hoping for.
There is little attempt to link the NIMP to the Madani Economy targets. How does it help Malaysia become a Top-30 economy, or increase female employment, or improve the wage share of income or boost competitiveness? Manufacturing employment is 2.35 million people, not 2.7 million as quoted in the NIMP. To raise it to 3.3 million people by 2030 is very ambitious especially since technology drivers automate manufacturing and reduce jobs. This contradiction is not explained in the NIMP.
Third the implementation framework looks like an old-style system of preferential allocation to middlemen, directly contradicting the prime minister’s insistence to cut rent-seeking and leakages. As we know from the past this is a real barrier to successfully implementing policies. The focus on SMEs is important but 78% of Malaysian companies are micro-enterprises with fewer than five employees so scale, imagination and accessibility for these entrepreneurs will be important.