What's wrong with Malaysia in terms of GDP per Capita? (2012)

Addressing the issue, which Finance Malaysia thinks was critical at a time of globalization heats up, Malaysia needs to formulate and take action immediately without much hesitation. But, before we jump into action, we need to know the root of the problem. Right?

Exactly, we must find out the reason why we left behind other countries in terms of GDP per capita, which refers to the country's gross domestic products at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita. According to Wikipedia, it was the value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given year divided by the average population for the same year.

Why not using nominal GDP to measure national wealth?

Comparison of national wealth are also frequently made on the basis of nominal GDP, which does not reflect differences in the cost of living. Using a PPP basis is arguably more useful when comparing generalized differences in living standards on the whole between nations because PPP takes into account the relative cost of living and the inflation rates of the countries, rather than using just exchange rates which may distort the real differences in income.

Singapore is now the richest country in the world.
Where is Malaysia?

According to sources, some of the factors contributing to Singapore's forecast performance are its 'human capital' -- a skilled and educated labour force, the dynamic business environment, openness to trade, capital mobility and foreign direct investment. Also, it is worth noting that there is a global eastwards shift in economic activity -- Singapore is perfectly positioned to take advantage of this.

However, everything is not going well for Malaysia, although we are Singapore's closest neighbour. In terms of GDP, we moving nowhere for past few years amid competitive global environment. But, in terms of population, we believe we accelerated for past one year after government legalized some 1.6million foreign unskilled labourers. Please noted that they are non-taxpayers who consume all the benefits funded by us Tax payers.

On the other side, our brightest and brilliant are forced to mass migrate to other countries. This is a fact which is dampening the future of our country. It's sad because Malaysia supposedly was high on the list in terms of GDP per capita, given the plenty of natural resources that we had and strategic position we located in. Why?

The main reason lies within us, Malaysians. Don't blame the government. Don't blame other countries. Don't blame the statistic. Just blame ourself, Malaysians. A government was formed by its own people, and elected by us. All the while, we have this wrong mentality that we are blessed with valuable resources which can last us for a long long time. Does that mean that we do not need to compete?

Facebooking is a new norm in workplace now.

If you were to ask, Finance Malaysia would take the blame on our mindset, especially youngsters nowadays. Most of them didn't bother about the country and their future. These people go to work for the sake of working only. They follow instructions, without reinventing the way we work. How are we going to excel? Don't even think about competing. It's about time to change for a better tomorrow.