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Increase Potential To Enhance Development, M'sians Told

KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 (Bernama) - The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Syed Putra Jamalullail Monday urged the people to increase their potential to further strengthen the progress achieved so far.

He said noble values such as being clean from malpractices, honest, trustworthy, fair, ethical and people-friendly were vital qualities for the people to enhance self-esteem and character development to realise the vision of building a nation of excellence, glory and distinction.

He was confident the Ninth Malaysia Plan, to be tabled in Parliament by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on March 31, would accelerate the nation's economy towards achieving objectives of Vision 2020.

"I am sure the plan will provide the policies and strategies to strengthen our economic fundamentals to sustain growth and improve quality of life.

"The five-year development plan will also give priority to measures to boost the country's competitiveness," he said when opening the first meeting of the third session of the 11th Parliament Monday.

The session till May 4 will see at least two significant documents being tabled. They are the Ninth Malaysia Plan and the Bills related to the country's water industry.

The plan -- which will chart the course of the country's development up to 2010 -- is Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's first.

The Bills -- the Water Services Industry Bill and the National Water Services Commission Bill -- will provide for a total revamp of the country's water supply structure and also for the sector to be privatised.

Among the other Bills expected to be tabled are the proposed amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code and the Penal Code.

Besides the above issues, opposition MPs are expected to raise the heat in the House by bringing up several issues such as inflation and the petrol price hike, independent commission to check on police abuse and press freedom after the fallout from the offensive Danish cartoon issue.

Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin said improving competitiveness, productivity and efficiency were crucial elements to attain high and sustained economic growth.

"As such, the private sector should return to assume the role of engine of growth by increasing investments in the latest technologies, human resources and research besides exploring new frontiers to add value," he said.

On the nation's economic achievements, the King was grateful to God as many economic sectors were continuing to grow though the global economic outlook was moderate and world oil prices were soaring.

He said eventhough the inflation rate had increased slightly, it was still under control.

The country still enjoyed full employment and trade surplus continue to increase since 1997, contributing to the increase in the country's foreign reserves.

"With the poverty rate at 5.7 per cent in 2004, it is clear the objective to rid the nation of hardcore poverty is expected to be realised under the Ninth Malaysia Plan," he said.

His Majesty also touched on various sectors including agriculture, tourism, education, transportation, welfare and public services in his speech.

On agriculture, he said attention should be given to modernise the sector using high technology and production of value-added agriculture produce.

Efforts should also be made to strengthen the role and contributions of the commodity sector to the nation's economy, he said.

Syed Sirajuddin also expressed happiness with the progress in the tourism industry, describing as "encouraging" the yearly revenue from tourist receipts amounting to about RM31 billion from 16 million tourist arrivals.

He, however, called for concerted efforts to improve the services and tourist products to woo more people to the country, he said.

The King said the government would continue to strengthen national schools, bridge the education gap between rural and urban areas and improve the prestige of the teaching profession to uplift the education standard in the country to be of world-class.

"The system of learning based on information and communication technology will continue to be given priority while teachers' training will be upgraded to produce more teachers of quality," he said. On tertiary education, His Majesty said the curriculum in universities must be relevant to the economic requirements and stressed on achieving a global perspective among academics and students by having exchange programmes with the world's top institutions of higher learning.

On transportation, he said, the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal, to be operational this month, would be able to attract more arrivals in line with efforts to make the KL International Airport a regional aviation hub.

He also urged the society to play its role in coming to the aid of the less fortunate like orphans, single mothers, disabled people, senior citizens and victims of abuse.

Social ills including deviant teachings must be tackled wisely, he said.

On the National Service Training Programme, the King said improvements must be made periodically with emphasis on unity, culture appreciation, common values and better spiritual development.

He also urged civil servants, especially members of the defence forces to improve efficiency, be steadfast in ethics and give undivided loyalty the King and country.

He also wanted weaknesses in the government's delivery system to be addressed to meet the people's expectations.

For people in the interior areas, His Majesty said the government would continue with various infrastructure projects, especially in Sabah and Sarawak and Orang Asli settlements.

Human capital programmes for life-long learning, poverty eradication and ICT development would be intensified to improve the living standard of the people in rural areas, he added.

-- BERNAMA