KUALA LUMPUR: The Special Taskforce to Facilitate Business (PEMUDAH) has an important role to play in assisting the government to strengthen business legislation and enhance government efficiency, said Minister in the Prime Minister Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.

       Mustapa, who is also PEMUDAH co-chair, said this is in line with the 12th Malaysia Plan’s target for Malaysia to be among the top nine economies in the Government Efficiency Sub-Index of the International Institute for Management Development's World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY).

       "In moving towards high-income nation status, the quality of our regulations must be further improved.

       "Our regulations must have the following features: responsive and agile towards current needs; transparent in formulation and delivery; and inclusive and comprehensive," he said in his pre-recorded opening remarks for the PEMUDAH 15th Anniversary Forum today.

       Mustapa said the taskforce must also leverage its platform to make Malaysia an even more attractive investment destination.

       Through PEMUDAH’s efforts, he said, Malaysia has made progress in terms of the ease of doing business.

       He noted that Malaysia’s global competitiveness improved last year, with the nation moving up two notches to 25th place among 64 economies in WCY 2021 from 27th in 2020.

       "In collaboration with several technical agencies in the construction sector, PEMUDAH successfully cleared the regulatory backlog and enabled businesses, which have been impacted by COVID-19, to restart their businesses faster.

       "This intervention is estimated to yield RM1.75 billion in compliance cost savings annually," he added.

       As for the private healthcare industry, regulatory experimentation was successfully conducted to reduce significantly the duration for private hospitals to obtain their operating licence from 800 to 300 days.

       "By leveraging on digital technology and ready-to-build drawing, the goal is to reduce this further to 100 days,” Mustapa added.

       Meanwhile, PEMUDAH co-chair Datuk Dr Andy Seo Kian said fast-track regulatory reform by PEMUDAH is timely to accelerate the process of business revival and recovery in the current situation.

       "We benchmark the top performers in global competitiveness such as Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Hong Kong.

       "They share three common characteristics. The most competitive economies drive regulatory reform agenda through strong public-private sectors collaboration, adopt regulatory experimentation approach, and build their initiatives based on outcomes and data.

       "These are the practices that PEMUDAH emulates to boost productivity and competitiveness," Seo said.

       Towards this end, he said, PEMUDAH has presented its wishlist for regulatory experimentations to boost competitiveness during the Economic Action Council meeting in November 2021, which was chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

       The meeting agreed that all ministries, government agencies, state governments, and local authorities would participate in regulatory experimentations to improve Malaysia's business environment and regulatory delivery.

       "2022 reinforces PEMUDAH's role as the public-private sector collaborative platform to improve the country's business environment.

       "Recently, the membership in PEMUDAH has gone through a change with the appointments of new members from the government and industry to align with the dynamic shift in economy. We are gearing for future excellence," Seo said.

       Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali said quality regulations necessitate strong and forward-looking public-private collaboration.

       "While we may have differences, our goal is to build a prosperous Malaysia where every citizen enjoys a better quality of life.

       "The government and, in totality, the public service is committed to improving, strengthening, and reforming regulatory delivery and service to achieve this goal,” he said.

       Mohd Zuki said integrity, transparency, and efficiency are the order of the day in realising this commitment.

       "I urge the government officials, policymakers, and regulators to shift from the control mindset to a facilitative mindset in performing our duties to serve the rakyat and business community and ease the day,” he added. - Bernama