A year of many achievements

The New Straits Times
by ALANG BENDAHARA

PM lists down significant events during this year

KUALA LUMPUR: PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has described this year as a very colourful year for him filled with many positive development and achievements.  

"... and I must take this opportunity to thank all Malaysians for your show of support," he said in his latest blog entry titled "2011 In Review" at www.1Malaysia. com.my blog.

"Especially to my online friends,  rest assured that I do read all your comments, ideas, complaints and well wishes and I do my best to respond to them."

Najib hoped Malaysians would continue to join him in making more positive progress next year in the spirit of 1Malaysia.

In his review of the year, the prime minister listed down significant events for the country and its people that he had documented through the social media.

These included the 1Malaysia government efforts such as the 1Malaysia Housing Programme or PR1MA, 7th National Key Result Area to the Government Transformation Plan -- Tackling Rising Cost of Living, Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia or KR1M, Menu Rakyat 1Malaysia, 1Malaysia Youth Fund -- to finance ideas and projects by youths, and Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia programme or BR1M -- to assist households that earn less than RM3,000 a month.

On the economy, Najib said the World Bank's 2011  business report listed Malaysia at  the top 20 position, and ranked Malaysia as No. 1  in the world when it came to getting credit for businesses.

The Economic Transformation Programme's progress update in September reported that for the first-half of the year, Malaysia received foreign direct investments of up to RM21.3 billion.

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

Among Najib's international duties was  engaging the international market and strengthening Malaysia's networking.

His first official visit as prime minister to the United Kingdom, and his lecture on "Coalition of Moderates and Inter-Civilisational Understanding" which  he presented in Oxford contributed towards this.

During his visit to the United States, he attended Invest Malaysia New York 2011, an event that secured between RM5 billion and RM6 billion new investments for the next two to three years for Malaysia.

Najib also spoke about development of the Digital Malaysia Masterplan at the Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council meeting at the New York Academy of Sciences, which he chaired, and attended the 17th International Nikkei Conference in Tokyo, during which some RM3.8 billion worth of investments were confirmed to come from Japanese firms.

Najib also attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth, Australia, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit in Honolulu, Hawaii, and the Asean Summit in Bali, Indonesia.

In Hawaii, he gave his views on the Global Movement of the Moderates at the prestigious East-West Centre.

This year, the prime minister had also been exploring a variety of ways to increase his interaction with the people, using social media platforms.

These included inviting the people to ask him questions on Twitter and Facebook, an afternoon tea session with 600 of his online friends, and introducing Mari Berjumpa, Mari Berhubung gatherings to meet his online friends living outside the Klang Valley.

"I had many opportunities to engage with the youth this year, most notably was at the Konsert Suara Kami which I attended after receiving overwhelming tweets and responses online asking me to  attend.

"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."

Najib introduced in June the 1Malaysia Roundtable, an interactive platform for Malaysians to provide fair and constructive comments, suggestions or ideas to better the lives of Malaysians.

He then introduced some official 1Malaysia merchandise and gave plenty away through the 1Malaysia Merchandise campaign over the Merdeka and Malaysia Day period.

In light of his busy work schedule, he started 1Week That Was, a short weekly update on his activities on his blog, in September.  

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

Najib  said his 1Malaysia website would have a new look next year, based on  the feedback he received  from participants in an online survey.