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YB DATO' MUKHRIZ MAHATHIR
DEPUTY MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND INDUSTRY
OFFICIATING “CONFERENCE ON MODERNISING
BUSINESS REGULATION”
18 JANUARY 2011 (TUESDAY)
THE GRAND DORSETT, SUBANG JAYA
Yang Berusaha Encik Mohd Razali Hussain,
Director General of Malaysia Productivity Corporation;
Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Mustafa Mansur
President of Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) which who is also one of the Board Members of MPC;
Board Members of MPC;
Honourable Speakers;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Assalamualaikum W.B.T and Salam 1 Malaysia.
1. I am indeed pleased to be here this morning to officiate this Conference on Modernising Business Regulation. I believe that this Conference is the first of its kind to be held by the Malaysia Productivity Corporation, in line with the directive in the New Economic Model (NEM), and further reiterated in the 10th Malaysia Plan, that MPC is to spearhead comprehensive review of business regulations and improve processes and procedures to increase productivity and competitiveness of major economic sectors.
2. The Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) Roadmap for Malaysia launched on 25th October 2010, states that, “the rebranded and restructured Malaysia Productivity Corporation will provide support to NKEAs by reviewing and recommending changes to existing regulations and policy with a view to remove unnecessary rules and compliance costs and improve the speed and ease of delivery”. On 3rd December last year, the concluding part of the New Economic Model endorsed the NEAC’s (National Economic Advisory Council’s) support of MPC’s assignment to the task of designing the regulatory burden reduction plan and to continuously follow up on the effective implementation of regulatory reform initiatives.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
3. Statistics have revealed that annual costs of regulatory burden expressed as a percentage of GDP is 1.4% in the United Kingdom, 2.4% in Denmark and 3.6 % in the Netherlands. If we assume that regulatory burden constitutes a modest figure of 2.5% of GDP in Malaysia, then regulatory burden will impose a cost of RM 17 billion in 2009, when GDP of Malaysia was at RM 662 billion. Many countries have set a 25% reduction target for their regulatory burden reduction programmes. If Malaysia can similarly set and achieve the 25% reduction target, unnecessary regulatory costs on the economy could result in about RM 4 billion savings.
4. Thus, removing unnecessary regulatory burden through a comprehensive review of regulations that impact business innovation and effectiveness is a priority on the national agenda. This will ensure that Malaysia is on par with global developments and on the right track to achieving high income economy status, through enhanced productivity and competitiveness at the firm level.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
5. This Conference is timely as it is proof that Government is committed to transform business regulations from hindering to being smart or enabling. MPC, being entrusted by the government to be the catalyst in this process, realise that strong partnership with the public and private sectors as well as the academia is imperative. This smart partnership will enable a win-win situation to strengthen the regulatory network that MPC seeks with experts both locally and internationally.
6. In this context, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all speakers, Tan Sri Ismail Adam, the former Director-General of the Public Service Department, Professor Dr. Rajah Rasiah of UMCoRS, who is also the First Holder of Khazanah Nasional Chair and Puan Nor Azimah Abd Aziz from Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM). Also, a warm “Selamat Datang” to our special invited guest speaker, Miss Sue Holmes, the Assistant Commissioner, Australian Government Productivity Commission, who will be sharing the regulatory review experiences of Australia with us. Miss Sue Holmes has spent the past 4 days, sharing her knowledge with MPC and other regulators and administrators, on regulatory review processes, tools and techniques. Thank you, Miss Sue and I urge you to take some time off to experience Malaysia’s diversified culture and to have a personal feel of the vibrant developments taking place in Malaysia.
7. With the pooling of resources and capacity building to enhance knowledge and understanding of regulation practices and tools, I am confident that MPC will be better positioned to undertake the new tasks entrusted to it. I understand that MPC will be organising programmes to enculturise regulatory review in organisations and agencies, through conducting Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA), Regulation Impact Statement (RIS), Cost-Benefit Analysis and Business Cost Calculator. I would encourage all of you to come on board with MPC as regulatory review will have positive impact on your operations.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
8. MPC is currently scanning regulations affecting NKEA sectors to assess the regulatory burden and undertaking a study on the impact of existing licensing regulations, in developing regional oil storage and trading hub.
9. To be effective, MPC needs strong support from all parties concerned, Ministries and agencies that formulate or review regulations, regulators, and the business community who uses these regulations. Your support and co-operation are pre-requisites to develop an efficient high impact regulatory review framework. I understand that most of the participants at this Conference are administrators, regulators, and users themselves, so this is indeed an excellent opportunity to network, discuss and jointly seek out strategies and solutions.
10. This Conference is just one of the many sharing sessions that MPC plans to have in the area of modernising business regulation. So far, MPC has had several sharing sessions on Smart Regulation, with speakers from MITI and its Fellows as well. I am informed that more sessions will be forthcoming at the regional offices of Sabah, Sarawak, Penang and Johor Bahru.
11. MPC has also produced several guidebooks to assist organisations embark on regulatory review activities, such as the “Guidebook for Understanding Regulatory Impact Analysis” and “Enhancing Malaysia's Productivity Towards High Income Nation: Modernising Business Regulation”. This book provides reasons for modernising business regulations, insights from other countries and how to make it happen. I believe these publications will strengthen the body of knowledge for all the relevant parties.
12. Today, MPC and the Malaysian Centre of Regulatory Studies (UMCoRS), University of Malaya, will be establishing a strategic collaboration through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, which we will witness today. Both UMCoRS and MPC have the common focus to understand key regulatory issues and their implications, and develop strategic responses and solutions. Through this collaboration, a series of research projects on regulatory review for specific NKEAs, a publication on Malaysia’s Regulatory Framework and capacity building programmes will be forthcoming.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
13. The World Bank Doing Business Report 2011 that was released in November last year showed that Malaysia moved up 2 ranks to 21st position from 23rd in 2010. Among the initiatives that led to this improvement were in the area of registering property, where Malaysia improved by 25 places, from 85th position to 60th position. This was possible because Malaysia digitised property registration, saving more than 2 months in the process and introduced online procedures to assess and pay stamp duties, cutting 6 days from the process. The Report also noted that Malaysia taxes can be paid online. All these reforms are part and parcel of regulatory review, whereby redundant or obsolete regulations that stand in the way of business efficiency and productivity are either reformed or removed totally.
14. In the Report, Malaysia maintained its top position in Getting Credit and its 4th position in ‘Protecting Investors’. It is our target now to be among the top ten countries for ease of doing business and various focus groups represented by both the public and private sectors have been established to ensure improvements in terms of time, processes and costs. With this close collaboration between the public and private sectors, I am confident that the target of achieving top tenth position in terms of ease of doing business in the near future is attainable.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
15. I would like to conclude by thanking everyone here for your commitment to excellence, the organisers for making this inaugural Conference a reality, the speakers for their commitment and sharing their knowledge and insights, and the participants for their support. I wish you all a fruitful deliberation today. In the spirit of One Malaysia, People First, Performance Now, I am pleased to officiate this Conference on Modernising Business Regulation.
Thank you. |
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