Economic position, people's socio-economy good, worthy of praise: Najib
Bernama
April 26, 2016 14:56 MYT
April 26, 2016 14:56 MYT
Najib says the quality of life that Malaysians are enjoying now can be deemed as among the best in the region. - Filepic
Based on the 'facts and figures', no one can deny that the country's economic position and the people's socio-economy were good and worthy of praise, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said.
He said based on his official and unofficial visits, he could see that many people were now enjoying a good quality of life, in fact, it could be described as one of the best in the region.
"For example, I see that parents in urban areas could take their children on vacation and shopping especially during the school holidays.
"I am also told that during the MATTA Fair (Exhibition by the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents) recently, the sale of holiday packages and flight tickets had been very good. In fact promotions and sales for festivals such as the Aidilfitri had started as early as last month," he said.
He said this when tabling the 2015 annual report of the National Transformation Programme and the Economic Transformation Programme under the National Transformation Policy which was broadcast live on RTM Tuesday night.
The Prime Minister said the actual condition of the country's socio economy and the people was contrary to the negative perception that certain irresponsible groups had tried to portray.
Thus, he called on the people to reject and repulse all the non-constructive views and explained that the ruling government was determined to focus every agenda and effort to continue to bring development and prosperity to the people.
In his speech, Najib shared several achievements made by the National Transformation Programme which he described as worthy of praise.
He said in 2010, the government had announced that the civil service would be transformed so that the quality of services provided to the people could be raised and this had succeeded in shortening the waiting time at 17 government hospitals by up to 50 percent and benefited about two million patients.
As a result of the transformation, he said, the rural areas had also seen 5.5 million people enjoying piped water supply, electricity as well as a road network.
"For the past five years too, almost three million people had used 5,300 kilometers of newly built roads.
"Further, within the same period another 1.7 million people had access to piped water which supplies clean water to more than 340,000 households, while another 144,000 households had access to electricity supply on a 24-hour basis," he said.
Meanwhile, Najib also shared the success stories of several individuals as a result of the implementation of the National Transformation Programme.
These included the success of Chik Azmily Che Abdul Aziz from Kampung Beoh Gunong, Kelantan who was previously a gardener and daily labourer picking oil palm fruits, but as a result of the 1AZAM Tani programme, his life had changed to become a farmer who succeeded in increasing his income from merely RM500 a month to RM5,000 a month.
The Prime Minister also shared the story of Manimaran Ekamparam from Kampar, Perak through his company, M.S Village Foods Sdn Bhd which managed to break into a bigger market after receiving the Quality Standard Certificate under the Program Makanan Selamat Tanggungjawab Industri (MeSTI) or Safe Food is the Industry's Responsibility Programme.
According to Najib, as a result of the programme, Manimaran's company which supplied snack food sich as 'maruku' and nuts had increased its annual sales from RM1.9 million in 2012 to almost RM3 million two years later.
Meanwhile, Najib said the Bumiputera Entrepreneurs Startup Scheme or SUPERB, had succeeded in bringing transformation to Patang Saharing from Tawau, Sabah who had set up a creative and out of the box Dental Spa.
The Prime Minister said in talking about the success stories of entrepreneurs and companies in the country, whether those getting direct aid from the government or other parties, they would not become a reality if there was no peace and solidarity as well as national civility in a progressive and prosperous environment.
"As such, the examples of the various entrepreneurship and corporate successes in the country should be taken as a guide," he added.