Development Governance in Malaysia: Institutions and Structures (Japanese)

Since Malaysia (formerly the Federation of Malaya) gained independence in 1957, successive ruling coalitions led by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) have maintained stable governments through to the present day. Although there have been changes in the emphases of the ruling coalitions led by UMNO, namely (1) agricultural development from the 1950s, (2) "development" aimed at redressing economic imbalances among ethnic groups from 1971, and (3) development aimed at industrialization and fostering Malay firms and businesspeople from 1981, the legitimacy of every administration up to the present has been founded on promotion of economic development. Behind this lies the fact that the Malaysian population is made up of several ethnic groups. The country's sociopolitical structure creates stringent demands to maintain the stability of this multiethnic society through economic development, and to promote national unity among these ethnic groups over the long term. To lay the groundwork for analysis by Malaysia's economic technocrats, this report divides the country's developmental governance into three periods and identifies the particular features of development policies in each period. The first period (from the 1950s to 1970) is characterized by the building of foundations for developmental governance and by agricultural development. The second period (up to 1981) featured the establishment of implementation mechanisms for the New Economic Policy (NEP). The third period (from 1981 onward) is characterized by systemic reforms by the Mahathir administration, including the introduction of new elements and the provision of entrepreneur development programs as part of a limited government role in the operation of the economy. The common factor across these three periods has been control of development policy by the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister's Department.