A timeline of all of Malaysia's Economic Plans, with charts on GDP, inflation, unemployment, and government spending during each five-year period, and speech as well as article excerpts.
Malaysia has always subscribed to long-term economic plans. The first of these was the First Malaya Plan, introduced in 1956, and spanning five years.
The main emphasis of the plan was to develop the country's basic infrastructure and modernise agricultural production in rural areas.
Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) was established on July 1, 1956 under the Land Development Ordinance of 1956 for the development of land and relocation of settlers with the objective of poverty eradication through the cultivation of oil palm and rubber.
Tunku Abdul Rahman, the President of UMNO and one of the key negotiators for Malaya's independence negotiations with the British, became the first Prime Minister of independent Malaya in 1957, after the country was officially independent on 31st August 1957.
Under the leadership of Tun Abdul Razak, who was the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Rural Development at the time of Malayan Independence in 1957, rural development took primary importance.
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) Incorporated was established to act as the government's investment holdings company.
In a 1961 newsletter, Mr. Gayl D. Ness, a Fellow of Institute of Current World Affairs (ICWA) at the time (and now Professor Emeritus of Michigan University, US), wrote of the benefits of The Red Book in Malaya's rural development:
"The three main focuses of rural development during the Tun Razak Period (1960s) were:-->1. Infrastructure development such as building roads, schools, bridges, clinics,irrigation schemes, mosques, community halls, water supply and electricity; --> 2.The opening up of new land schemes to resettle landless peasants; • Modernisation of agriculture and diversification of agricultural crops. --> 3. A few agencies related to rural development were established during this period in addition to the Rural and Industrial Development Authority (RIDA) and the Federal LandDevelopment Authority (FELDA), established a few years prior to independence. These include the Federal Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (FELCRA);Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA), Agricultural Bank Malaysia (BPM),Malaysia Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), Council of Trustfor Indigenous People (MARA- replacing RIDA)." (Source: Rural Development in Malaysia, Assoc Prof Dr Ibrahim Ngah,Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Built of Environment, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia)
The Second Malaya Plan was implemented with input and assistance from The World Bank.
The Second Malayan Plan: -->1.created 344,000 jobs, --> 2.attained 6.4% annual output growth, surpassing the 4.4% target -->3.achieved 2.7% per capita income growth -->4.developed more than 40,000 hectares of land under the FELDA scheme (Source: Development Planning in Mixed Economies, ed. Miguel Uruta & Setsuko Yukawa, UN University)
