Najib Describes 2011 As The Year To Explore New Social Media

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 28 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak describes the year 2011 as the year for him to explore the use of the social media to increase interaction with the Rakyat.

The exploration began early in the year when, for the first time, Najib invited people to ask him questions on the social website Twitter and Facebook.

"I didn't expect such a great response but I managed to respond to some of the questions, even the peculiar ones," said Najib when recalling the events throughout 2011 in his latest blog entry "2011 In Review" in his 1Malaysia blog Wednesday.

Looking at its success, the Prime Minister said that in the following month, he had invited 600 "online" friends for an afternoon tea session at Seri Perdana in the programme "Mari Berjumpa, Mari Berhubung".

His willingness to explore new methods resulted in numerous invitations to communicate with the youths via online.

"Immediately after, I was invited to do a "Gotcha" prank on radio by the morning crews of Hitz.fm. I also made appearances on the morning shows of Radio Era, Mix.fm and Hot.fm," he said.

Based on the cyber experience he had gained, Najib said he had introduced the 1Malaysia Roundtable, an interactive platform for Malaysians to provide fair and constructive comments, suggestions or ideas to better the lives and the people of Malaysia in June.

"I also took part in one session where I discussed a budget for sustainable growth," he said.

Another important milestone in his social media journey was when he introduced his very own Mobile Application for smartphones which could be downloaded from his Facebook page and 1Malaysia website.

During the year, Najib also introduced some official 1Malaysia merchandise and gave plenty away through the 1Malaysia Merchandise campaign.

The campaign also invited Malaysians to submit photographs of the Jalur Gemilang which were then added to the Jalur Gemilang 1Malaysia Album of the Prime Minister's Flickr page.

"2011 has been a very colourful year for me and I must take this opportunity to thank all Malaysians for your show of support," he said.

Najib said all the ideas, complaints and comments sent by Malaysians via his his websites had been read and he would do his best to respond to them.

He also hoped that all Malaysians would continue to join him in making more positive progress next year in the spirit and practice of 1Malaysia.

"At the end of year, it always feels as though the year had gone by too quickly," he said.

Among the important events recorded throughout the year were his efforts to launch various programmes for the people such as the 1Malaysia Housing Programme or PR1MA to assist middle-income earners own affordable homes.

The issue of rising costs was also addressed with the launch of the Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia or KR1M - beginning in Kelana Jaya and then spreading nationwide - followed by the Menu Rakyat 1Malaysia, where restaurants take part to offer breakfast and lunch at a fixed price of RM2 and RM4 respectively.

Realising the need to address the development of the younger generation of Malaysians, the 1Malaysia Youth Fund was launched to finance ideas and projects by the youth.

More programmes were announced in the 2012 Budget, which focused mainly on the lower-income earners, rural areas, youth and public services such as the Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia programme or BR1M, a financial assistance programme for Malaysians living in a household that earns less than RM3,000 per month.

In World Bank's 2011 ease of doing business report, Malaysia entered the top 20 position and it holds equal first rank in the world when it comes to the ease of business getting credit.

"The Economic Transformation Programme or ETP has therefore bore some fruits. In the ETP progress update in September, for the first half of the year, Malaysia had already received FDI investments of up to RM21.3 billion," he said.

By its first anniversary in October, the ETP had assisted Malaysia to achieve a GNI of RM228.55 billion and committed investment worth RM171.21 billion, with an estimated total of 372,361 potential jobs, Najib said.

This year had also seen the Prime Minister engaging the international market and strengthening Malaysia's networking to help boost its major transformation programmes.

"I made my first official visit to the UK this year at the invitation of British Prime Minister David Cameron where I had a chance to invite the country's captains of industry to explore investment opportunities in Malaysia," he said.

He was also given the honour to deliver a lecture on "Coalition of Moderates and Inter-Civilisational Understanding" at the historic Sheldonian Theatre, in Oxford, England.

"In May, I attended the Invest Malaysia New York 2011 in New York, USA. The event secured Malaysia between RM5 billion and RM6 billion new investments for the next two to three years," he said.

He also spoke about a Digital Malaysia Masterplan in development at the Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council (GSIAC) meeting at the New York Academy of Sciences which he chaired.

"I was also in Japan for the 17th International Nikkei Conference in Tokyo where I received confirmation that some RM3.8 billion worth of investments will be coming in from Japanese firms," he said.

This year also saw the Prime Minister attending several international conferences such as CHOGM in Perth, Australia, APEC Summit in Honolulu, Hawaii and the 19th Asean Summit in Bali, Indonesia.

In Hawaii, I was given the honour to give my insight on the Global Movement of the Moderates (GMM) at the prestigious East-West Center.

"At the end of year, it always feels as though the year had gone by too quickly. I'd like to think that it is because it was filled with many positive developments and achievements," he said in his blog.