INFRASTRUCTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN MALAYSIA
Tags: Rural, Rural Development, Malaysia, Development, Infrastructure

In its rural growth, Malaysia has achieved extraordinary progress, especially in reducing the rate of poverty in both rural and urban areas. In the meantime, infrastructure, services, social facilities, health and school facilities and so on have been built in rural areas to support the economic growth of the country and to improve the quality of life of its citizens. The production and income of rural citizens, or more precisely, of the agricultural sector, which is the backbone of the rural economy, has been steadily growing.

Under the 9th Malaysia Plan (2006–1010), rural development continues to be one of the Malaysian government’s key centres. More significantly, the development that has occurred since independence in 1957 and in particular, since the launch of the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1971, has developed a feeling among a large number of rural people that they are part of the process of growth and modernization of the nation and that they have not been ignored.

Needless to mention, rural growth is almost equivalent to eradicating poverty. Malaysia’s infrastructure and rural development are part and parcel of a well planned and implemented phase. At the macro level, a set of long-term outline perspective plans have always driven our national growth (OPP). Three OPPs have been introduced so far, consistently driven by the theory of:

i) The New Economic Policy (NEP 1971–1990)

ii) The National Development (NDP 1991–2000)

iii) The National Vision Policy (NVP 2001 -2010)

In turn, these OPPs are enforced by a sequence of five-year development plans; the present one is the Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006- 2010). Objectives for infrastructure growth The scale and pattern of the infrastructure and rural development strategies of the Malaysian Government have been influenced by four motives.

i) Recognizing that effective and reliable infrastructure and services are important for supporting the country’s economic growth. In this interest, the Malaysian Government’s objective is to expand infrastructure facilities in order to stay up-to-date with the increasing demand for infrastructure resulting from economic growth and transformation. The delay of infrastructure shortages is thus an overarching priority of the Government. Adapting to the rising demand for infrastructure from modern sectors of the economy, including the external market, is not the only goal guiding the infrastructure policy of the Government of Malaysia.

(ii) Build infrastructure which will serve socio-economic purposes. The emphasis here is on providing infrastructure to facilitate the growth of the country’s less developed regions, including rural areas. The aim of extending the consumer accessibility of these regions is to bring about a more sustainable development of the country and to address economic inequalities.

(iii) Recognizing that the Malaysian economy will have to further improve its competitiveness in the global market, Malaysia must grow its human resources and must resolve its quality of life. The rural area must therefore be established and its people must be competent, inventive, efficient, resilient, versatile and creative, as well as trained to face the challenges ahead with positive work ethics and spiritual values. To accomplish the goal, education and health facilities must be given due importance.

(iv) Acknowledging the divide between urban and rural areas, urban areas have grown more rapidly than rural areas, and the Government of Malaysia needs to bridge the gap between urban and rural areas.

To be continued…