BY RACHEL MINA
‘Keluarga Malaysia’ is a holistic and comprehensive concept but its implementation must be scrutinised to ensure its success, said Dr Ammar Redza Ahmad Rizal.
The academician from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak’s (Unimas) Faculty of Language and Communication added the federal government needed to convey the expected results of the policy to the people.
“Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob mentioned Key Happiness Outcomes as an indicator but it will be better if the government can name several general indicators.
“Or else, the rakyat will think this is just a sugar-coated policy despite the government’s seriousness on the subject,” he said.
Hence, he pointed out that the government should develop several key indicators to measure the performance of the Keluarga Malaysia concept, such as median household income, median fresh graduate salary and unemployment rate.
The government should also focus on overcoming the country’s economic slump due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The government must develop a specific economic measure that will restore economic capacity while also addressing the issue of unemployment, particularly among the youth. I believe the government will drive these projects through Keluarga Malaysia,” he added.
Ammar stressed that the Keluarga Malaysia policy must also address the geographical disparity between Sarawak, Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia.
He added that the main issue in this case was “development”. However, he believed that the government would realise that splurging cash in the regions was not the best solution although it was a popular move.
“I believe these two regions (Sabah and Sarawak), want proper and well-planned developments, which will necessitate strategic decisions by the state and federal governments. There should be some give-and-take between these two to ensure the people’s long-term economic development,” he added.
