The economy is always an important fundamental for a country to stay fine and develop. However, a good economy is always not an easy thing to be done. From before, Malaysia is not yet developed as well as now. At that time, the economy of the Malaysian is mostly drive-by manual labor such as crafting, weaving, farming, and so on. Most of these jobs are based on manpower but less depending on the knowledge or specialization. However, the time will always go on and not waiting, there are actually many things that have changed while the time flows forward into the future. Especially the development of technology has totally changed the focus, direction, and skill needed for the job’s occupation.
Let say while the time
before Malaysia was independent, specifically at the time that the British
colonized Malaya. The government of the British very focused and strongly
promoted the people to engage in the mining, and also the plantation which
belongs to the first sector of the economy such as the production of raw materials.
This is because the land of Malaya was rich with many types of material such as
tin ore, gold ore, aromatic woods, and so on. To obtain these resources, the
British are forcing people at Malaya to work on them. This action was actually
affecting the economy at that time by providing working opportunities and
material trading. More than that, the action was taken by the government
British is actually also become one of the turning points of the economy of
Malaysia which change the input-driven to the knowledge-driven economy.
After that, the coming of
the British, the government of the British have actually done many changes in
Malaya. For example, the British have put effort into constructing
transportation facilities such as the railways and road network which linked to
each other. This has really smoothened the carriage, transport by providing a
more flatten and safe route for trading and so on. This shall be able to
decrease the time usage, cost, and risk. Other than that, another thing that British
do is bring few types of the plant to be planted on the land of the Malaya,
which is the pepper, tobacco, gambier, oil palm and also the rubber. Inside all
of these plantations, few of them have actually become the breadwinner that
support the economic development of Malaysia at the early stage. Even nowadays,
Malaysia has become one of the main export countries of palm oil in the top
three side by side with Indonesia and Nigeria.
With the enhance of the
field of mining and plantation, Malaysia finally has the basic ability and
power to stand well on the platform of the world economy and perspective. The
best sell and high export of the mineral and food have made Malaya become
popular and know by more merchants and countries. Even more, Malaya is locating
at a strategic place that really suitable for sea transportation. All of this
change that brings by the British has actually become one of the most important
fundamental and pillars that support Malaya to shift the economy from
input-driven to the knowledge-driven in the future time.
Time come to nowadays,
Malaya has independent from the British and becomes Malaysia so that Malaysia
is having control over its own economy. Malaysia has used the advantages that
come from the field of mining and plantation and start to develop other
facilities, infrastructure especially the school. This is because the Malaysian
government understands that if Malaysia wants to develop, it must come with the
improvement of the knowledge of its people. It was the first most important
step to do before shift the input-driven economy to the knowledge-driven
economy. This is actually because that education was not taking seriously at
the time while the British colonize Malaya. So that these have caused the
knowledge level of Malaya people was lower than average.
However, nowadays the
education level of Malaysians was finally reaching the average. For example,
more than half of the younger generation will have their own diploma or degree
level of education. Within the development of the education field, the
government is also focused on other important fields, such as the E-economy,
development of information technology. Nowadays information technology has
become more important and permeate people’s lives and everywhere. One of the
most important economic changes will be the selling of the product through the
internet platform. For example, the creation of Lazada and Shopee which was the
two biggest platforms available for e-business in Malaysia. This change will be
one of the results Malaysia has successfully shift its input-driven economy to
the knowledge-driven economy.
Even so, Malaysia has
improved their education level and reach the average line, but the
knowledge-driven economy was not that easy which means the knowledgeable
workforce is yet not enough to fill the need of the Malaysia economy shifting.
Nowadays, most people may know about technology, but it was only a little bit
and just the surface knowledge about the technology. What it means is the
Malaysia knowledgeable workforce is still not enough good and less of them can
really professional in the specific field. Nevertheless, if Malaysia really
wants to stand full and stable in the knowledge-driven economy, a professional
knowledgeable workforce is still highly needed to bring up Malaysia’s
technological strength and economy.
Furthermore, what Malaysia should do now to really stand in the knowledge-driven economy is still the same which is to enhance education more and more. The government needs to continuously enhance and encourage their people to continue learning new things and new knowledge, especially higher education. Most of the people may just stop learning after form 5 in secondary school and not consider continuing learning in higher education. This was the first problem. Secondly, the economy nowadays is still not strong enough to enhance the life of the lower-class citizen. This is because if the lower-class citizen has a better buying power, they would have easier to access better technology and increase their knowledge and broaden their horizons and perspective. As the last conclusion, the Malaysian government should provide more help and support in terms of chances of opportunities to learn and access, financial support to increase life. Increasing effectiveness and efficiency of the education and training delivery system. After having enough workforce, the Malaysia government should also prepare the platform to let those workforces to show their talents. If all of these were successful, Malaysia will have a high chance to step in and stable in the knowledge-driven economy.
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