KUALA LUMPUR: The economic momentum initiated by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government must be maintained to continue attracting foreign investments and ensure certainty in policy-making, MIC strategy director S Vell Paari said yesterday.
For Malaysians to continue to reap the fruits from BN’s economic initiatives, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s administration should be given a fresh mandate in the upcoming General Election, he told Bernama.
This would also go a long way in providing certainty which was a vital ingredent on which the local business community relies, said Vell Paari, who is also a businessman.
“It is important to have political stability to continue to attract foreign investment and equally important to ensure that the business community is assured of continuity and certainty,” he said.
Vell Paari said Malaysia’s economic growth had been very steady, mainly driven by the proactive initiatives and implementation of various programmes by BN under the Economic Transformation Programme and Government Transformation Programme.
“As a nation, I think it is important to benchmark ourselves with other nations of similar size of economy to see that we have been doing extremely well despite the struggling US economy and the current ongoing challenges in Europe which affect Asia’s economy as a whole,” he said.
Moving forward, Vell Paari, who is also the son of MIC’s longest-serving president Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu, said the elected government had to gradually move towards the highly innovative technology sectors in a bid to transform Malaysia into a high-income nation.
“We have to be able to attract and retain top talents especially local talents,” he said, adding there was also a need to change the mindset to become competitive and be less dependent on government subsidies.
Vell Paari owns Tamil Nesan, one of the largest Tamil language newspapers in Malaysia, and controls Australia-based OKA Motors Co through its holdings company, Reymer Pty Ltd. — Bernama