KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 — When Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim took office two years, he did so on a platform of reform, a core tenet of his PKR party.

While the political change has not come quickly, Anwar’s administration has undertaken significant economic reforms that some predecessors had considered but ultimately did not undertake.

This was recently recognised by external observers, such as investment JP Morgan that upgraded Malaysia’s rating from underweight to neutral after almost six years, and business new outlet Forbes that said the reforms were steering the Malaysian economy to a high-growth, high-value trajectory.

Here are the Anwar administration’s reforms that led to both plaudits.

Subsidy

Taxation

Wages

Energy

Industry

Why the negativity, still?

The JP Morgan upgrade and the Forbes report both come against a backdrop of pessimism over the pace of reforms as well as disagreement with the rationalisation drive over concerns that these could affect the cost of living in the country.

Singapore Institute of International Affairs senior fellow Oh Ei Sun suggested that the doubt could be because ordinary Malaysians are not experiencing the benefits yet or directly.

Oh said this pessimism would likely persist until the people’s experience match the growth and progress cited.

“Another problem could also be what is perceived to be the widening wealth gap,” Oh said, which suggested the positives of the reforms could be disproportionately benefiting a select handful of connected groups and individuals over the “general population simply do not feel it.”

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2024/07/11/what-you-should-know-about-malaysias-reforms-that-won-over-jp-morgan-and-forbes/143376