KUALA LUMPUR: The Government Transformation Programme (GTP) launched in January 2010, has shown positive progress, having achieved 121 per cent of its target, said Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
The deputy prime minister said, although certain Malaysians remained cynical on the impact of this progress, “our efforts are bearing fruits.”
“I see them in the reduction of crime rates, the improvement in literacy and education, and in the urban transport work that we are doing. I see people’s lives being changed for the better,” he said.
Muhyiddin said this in his keynote address titled, ‘Government Transformation Programme in Malaysia: Achieving Success, Facing Future Challenges’ at the Ministerial Luncheon for Corporate Leaders organised by the Malaysian Institute of Management (MIM) here yesterday.
Also present were MIM chairman Datuk Seri Mohamed Iqbal Rawther and its president, Tun Mohammed Hanif Omar.
Muhyiddin said the outcome of the GTP would only be felt by the targeted group of Malaysians, “for instance, if you’re not a kampung dweller, you will not appreciate what is being done through our rural basic infrasturcture.
“If you’re not a daily public transport commuter, you may not recognise the improvements made. If you do not have children requiring pre-schooling, you will not appreciate the efforts being made to elevate the literacy and numeracy amongst the children in our country,” he added.
Muhyiddin said, under rural basic infrastructure projects, the government had built 997km of roads, while 72,406 households had received clean treated water, benefitting about three million people, which was a million more than in 2010.
“We alleviated more of the hardcore poor from a state of impoverishment to a sustainable state via various 1Azam programmes to ensure they do not fall back into the hardcore poverty trap.
“Such was our concern that we decided to monitor the rising cost of living as NKRA (National Key Result Areas) in July last year. To this end, the government decided to bring together all welfare programmes under NKRA so that we will be able to review past initiatives, monitor current welfare programmes, modify and implement targeted assistance to those in need,” he said.
Muhyiddin said: “The financial assistance provided by the government through the Cost of Living initiatives is aimed at reducing the impact of rising food prices and possible economic downturn that is affecting not only Malaysia, but on a global scale.
“The aim of this newest NKRA is simply to provide immediate relief to the rakyat through quick measures, while formulating long-term strategies to address the rising cost of living,” he said, adding that even prior to this seventh NKRA, the government had already been playing a proactive role in countering the rising cost of living.
He said from 2010 to July 2011, “we spent a total of RM36.7 billion on cash handouts, food and petrol subsidies and other forms of assistance to the rakyat.”
“Follow-on initiatives such as the 1Malaysia generic products, eKasih programmes, rural basic infrastructure improvements and government hospital subsidies, as well as a host of intiatives covered by other NKRAs all helped ease the rakyat’s burden,” he said.
On making Malaysia economically sound and attractive to investment, Muhyiddin said: “We must be able to demonstrate our ability to arrest incidences of crime.”
Prior to the NKRA Crime being initiated as part of the GTP programme in 2010, crime in Malaysia was on the rise between 2006 and 2009. Upon implementation of NKRA Crime over the last two years, the overall crime index had dropped by an average of 37 per cent, he said.
Muhyiddin added the Global Peace Index had cited Malaysia as a safe country and most peaceful in South East Asia, the fourth in Asia Pacific and number 19 globally. — Bernama