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Sunday, December 20, 2009

High Income Economy equals Highly Focused Nation


The prime minister, Dato' Sri Najib have mentioned again and again that for Malaysia to achieve the vision of a developed nation by 2020, we must strive to become a high income economy. What is a high income economy? A high-income economy is defined by the World Bank as a country with a Gross National Income per capita of $11,906 or more in 2008.

By an analogy, if an average person who has a salary of RM3,000 to RM10,000 is considered a middle income, and RM10,000 and above is considered high income, what he should do in order to get that range of salary? Of course the first thing that he can thought of is to get back to school. A Master degree might get him there but a phd will definitely get him to that range. But this approach may take some time, and probably not cost effective.

Another option is some refocussing on his strength and skills. If he works now as an engineer, he still may be trap with that middle income, but by becoming a specialist engineer, he can get to that range. All that he needs is to focus on one niche area and be good at it. Malaysia can do the same. Look hard into what Malaysia is good at, focus very hard on it, be tremendously good at it and the global market will bend down to your knees and will forever be at your doorstep. Look as an example, Japan become a developed nation by focussing on automotive and electronics. Malaysia needs a niche area where the nation is already good at, focus all its resources to it, and become a specialist whereby all the global market recognise and will source it in Malaysia.

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