SECOND MALAYSIA PLAN MUST LAY EMPHASIS ON JOB CREATION
As the Government is poised to launch the Second Malaysia five-year Plan, we in DAP cannot but feel concerned as to how this second five-year plan is to be formulated and where its emphasis lies.
As pointed out by our Deputy Secretary-General, Mr. Fan Yew Teng, it is only logical that before we decide to embark on the second five-year plan, we should examine the first plan to find out our shortcomings so that we can learn from our past mistakes.
For all that we know, the first five-year plan (1966-70) was a dismal failure in terms of job creation. It will be recalled that the first Malaysia Plan set a target of creating 92,500 jobs a year to reduce unemployment from 6 per cent to 5.2 percent of the labour.
But with an average annual growth of about 6 per cent in the past 10 years, job creation averaged only 44,800 a year, while the labour force expands by about 51,000 every year.
And at a recent youth seminar on national development, it was stated that unless Malaysia can achieve an annual growth of at least 7 per cent in the early 70’s the unemployment situation would deteriorate.
It is with the above in view that we would like to call on the Government to take serious note of the failure of the first Malaysia Plan in terms of job creation and learn from its past mistakes with a view to seeking a solution to the unemployment problem when it launches the second five-year Plan.
As unemployment still remains one of Malaysia’s major problems, we would like to stress here that when formulating the 2nd Malaysia Plan, emphasis should be laid on job creation to cope with the over increasing labour force. In this connection, we suggest that Agriculture and Industrialisation be required to play a key role.
As regards the details on how to tackle unemployment, we think there is no better way of discussing them than in Parliament. It is with this in view that our Deputy Secretary-General, Mr. Fan Yew Teng is issuing a statement from Kuantan, Pahang, today calling on the Government to debate fully the 2nd five-year Malaysia Plan in the coming Parliament prior to its implementation.
When Parliament meets next year, and when the 2nd five-year Plan is to be debated, the DAP will definitely have some constructive plans to offer on how to tackle unemployment in the country.