Bravo Malaysia!

Through some miracle (called the Global Recession), Malaysia has retained our 21st position on the WEF World Competitiveness Ranking.

On the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (which competes with WEF's ranking, and in my opinion more comprehensive and representative), we've actually gone up 2 notches to 19th position. The improvement is mainly due to efforts of the Pemudah committee and an improved bureaucracy (which I think deserves a Malaysian-version of the Nobel Prize for impressing me to no ends).

But wait. Our neighbours are catching up too. Thailand, despite their tendency to change their governments, have moved up 6 ranks to the 27th. Indonesia has moved up to 51st (up 3 notches). Philippines is now 40th (from 45th).

And before you start gloating, hold it. Singapore is still at the 2nd position, right behind the US. And if the US is not careful, our neighbour down-south might just become the World's Most Competitive Economy this year.

Sadly, there's so much we can do to improve our competitiveness as a nation. And we refuse to go down that path for political expediency. They are called transparency and meritocracy.

After years of industry dialogues and 'national economic consultations', we still refuse to accept that we need to break down the clutches called 'government aid' and 'preferential treatment' that are holding us back.

My erstwhile advisor, Tan Sri Navaratnam said today that he is “surprised and embarrassed" because Malaysia is ranked behind countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the Open Budget Index. Read the full article in the Star. The index ranks countries for their 'open-ness' and transparency in announcing and implementing their budget. Well, Tan Sri, embarrass I can understand, but why are you surprised?

Bravo Malaysia, for getting more competitive. But I am not celebrating, because I know we could have done so much better.