The ETP Does More to Change Our Lives than Cheap Petrol Promises

At a glance, the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) looks remote to ordinary people. What we see is the Government, huddled with important investors, on projects that can take three to five years to become reality.
An understandable response would be: What has that got to do with me?
But the ETP is about ordinary people and is already doing more to change the lives of the rakyat than any 40 sen per litre petrol price cut (as contained in Pakatan's manifesto).
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak calls the ETP a subset of Vision 2020 and points to its 2012 report that details its key milestones. For example, this year it will mark 149 projects that will create more than 408,000 jobs by 2020.
These are real jobs, based on real investments, 60 percent of which so far come from the private sector. And they are jobs in businesses that exist for profit. Whatever the incentives provided under the ETP, investors will not take part if they don't see a legitimate business model.
Contrast this with Pakatan's manifesto promise to create one million jobs – a nice round number – with the premise of kicking out foreign workers.
Pakatan has in reality opted for a socialist job-creation scheme while the ETP prescribes to boosting national income so that people have more to spend and thus, more jobs are created. That bit is actually pretty straightforward to most people.
That's why the 49 percent rise in Gross National Income (GNI) between 2009 and 2012 was so important. It now stands at US$9,970 and it means we are well on our way to the US$15,000 in 2020 that defines developed nation status. And as much as Pakatan tries to portray this target as some sort of ego trip for the Government, it matters because ultimately it is about jobs.
And what about Pakatan's other views on this important subject? In recent weeks Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has taken to reminding us that he was once finance minister, as if this boosts his current economic credentials. But his contribution to the ETP debate does not serve him well.
He once famously prophesised that the ETP "will send an additional 1.7 million Malaysians into poverty in 2020". This means he got his facts wrong, or was playing politics, or both.
The ETP will do more to shape the lives of ordinary people than promises of cheaper petrol, electricity and cars. It doesn't have the snappy simplicity of Pakatan's manifesto pledges and, yes, it requires more understanding. "Cheaper petrol" is a more accessible phrase than "Gross National Income".
But that doesn't mean it should not be one of our considerations as we go to cast our votes at GE13. After all, this is an election that not only decides the next term of Government, but the next decade and beyond.