Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will focus on increasing the productivity of Malaysia’s labour force, rather than pouring money into major projects, in the hope of transforming the country into a developed nation by 2020.

The national economic blueprint which he presented to Parliament yesterday targets labour productivity for the first time.

Known as the 11th Malaysia Plan (11MP), it sets a target of RM92,300 (S$34,200) a worker by 2020, up from RM77,100 today, in an effort to ensure Malaysia completes the transition to an advanced economy.

… S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies senior fellow Oh Ei Sun told The Straits Times: “Education reform is urgently needed. To make a Malaysian university one of the top 100 in the world is unrealistic as long as the current education policy is continued. This makes the huge leap in household income over five years (targeted in the plan) unrealistic.”