Malaysia ranked world’s 16th most peaceful country by Global Peace Index

While even developed democracies in the West are witnessing progressive deterioration in the practice of democracy, Malaysia has improved its ranking in The Democracy Index to 43rd last year from 52nd in 2018 from the total of 167 countries surveyed.

According to The Democracy Index 2019 report released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Malaysia scored 7.16 points from a maximum of 10, its best score ever.

Malaysia scored good marks for electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government and political participation, and political culture.

“Since its inception in 2006, the Democracy Index has highlighted the progressive deterioration in the practice of democracy in the West,” the report said, adding that the US was demoted from a “full democracy” to a “flawed democracy” in 2016.

The report also quoted Larry Diamond, a renowned democracy scholar, as saying the world has been going through a “democracy recession” with a trend towards authoritarianism in the developing world.

Malaysia has come a long way since the index began in 2006 when it scored 5.98 points, followed by 6.36 (2008), 6.19 (2010, 2011), 6.41 (2012), 6.49 (2013, 2014), 6.43 (2015), 6.54 (2016, 2017) and 6.88 (2018).

“By contrast, Malaysia, which scrapped its ‘fake news’ law in August 2018 (having introduced it in March of that year), made further democratic gains in 2019.

“Its score improved and the country rose nine places in the global ranking as campaigning opportunities for all parties, including the opposition, improved, especially in the realm of social media,” the report said.

The Democracy Index is based on the ratings for 60 indicators and five categories including electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation and political culture.

Countries with a score higher than eight are considered full democracies; countries that scored between six and eight, flawed democracies; four to six, hybrid regimes; and below four, authoritarian regimes.

Norway, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand and Ireland are ranked among the top and in the full democracy category while Syria, the Central African Republic, Congo and North Korea are marked as authoritarian regimes and trail at the bottom of the rankings.

Thailand registered the biggest improvement as it jumped 38 places to 68th spot and moved out of the “hybrid regime” category into the “flawed democracy” category.

Interestingly, the study also pointed out that almost half (48.4%) of the world’s population lives in a democracy of some sort, with only 5.7% residing in a “full democracy” and more than one-third under authoritarian rule.

Out of the 167 countries covered by the index, 22 were considered full democracies, flawed democracies 54, hybrid regimes 37 and authoritarian regimes 54.

Source: Bernama

Malaysia rises nine spots to 43rd in Democracy Index

Malaysia has moved up to the 26th position out of 88 countries in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2020 (GTCI 2020), two spots higher than its 28th ranking last year.

In a statement today, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) said Malaysia’s newly earned accolade for talent development had dominated in multiple categories.

“It is the only country from the upper-middle income bracket that is in the top quartile of the report.

“Malaysia has outperformed high-income economy countries in the list such as China, South Korea, Spain, and Portugal,” it said.

The GTCI 2020 report is jointly produced by INSEAD University, Google and Adecco which track and measure the world’s talent performances.

In terms of performance ranking, Malaysia scored strongly in the Enable, Attract, and Vocational and Technical Skills pillars, due to the concerted efforts in developing digital tech talents and upskilling the nation’s next-generation workforce.

MDEC said the country had also improved its ranking significantly in the Retain pillar, adding that these pillars are the key thrusts in Malaysia’s continuous investment in talent development and acts as the pivot to empower businesses to deploy new technologies that enable and sustain business performance and continuity.

The report also commended Malaysia’s impressive ability to consistently match labour market supply and demand, coming in at 6th place globally for Employability.

“These achievements clearly reinforce the fact that Malaysia is on the right track to develop industry-ready digital talent. We must continue to level up our workforce and provide a conducive environment for digital innovation and creativity to thrive.

“More importantly, businesses now need such talents as entire industries must be digitalised as the global economy explores a new norm for a post-COVID-19 period,” said MDEC chief executive officer Surina Shukri.

Source: Bernama

Malaysia’s moves up in latest global talent competitiveness index 2020

Malaysia has risen four notches to rank 47 in the World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index 2020.

WJP is an independent, multidisciplinary organisation to create knowledge, build awareness, and stimulate action to advance the rule of law worldwide.

In a statement today, WJP said Malaysia’s overall rule of law score increased 5.1% in this year’s index.

It said significant trends for Malaysia included an improvement in the factors measuring Constraints on Government Powers, Fundamental Rights, Regulatory Enforcement, and Civil Justice.

Malaysia’s score places it at no. 7 out of 15 countries in the East Asia and Pacific region, and no. 12 out of 42 among upper middle income countries.

It said that regionally, East Asia and Pacific’s top performer in the index was New Zealand followed by Australia and Singapore.

The three countries with the lowest scores in the region were the Philippines, Myanmar, and Cambodia.

Meanwhile, Denmark, Norway, and Finland topped the WJP Rule of Law Index rankings in 2020.

Venezuela, Cambodia and Democratic Republic of the Congo had the lowest overall rule of law scores — the same as in 2019.

WJP said more countries declined than improved in overall rule of law performance for a third year in a row, continuing a negative slide towards weakening and stagnating rule of law around the world.

It said the majority of countries showing deteriorating rule of law in the 2020 index also declined in the previous year, demonstrating a persistent downward trend.

“This was particularly pronounced in the Index factor measuring Constraints on Government Powers.

“The declines were widespread and seen in all corners of the world. In every region, a majority of countries slipped backward or remained unchanged in their overall rule of law performance since the 2019 WJP Rule of Law Index,” it said.

WJP founder and chief executive officer William H. Neukom said the rule of law is not just a matter for judges or lawyers.

“It is the bedrock of communities of justice, opportunity, and peace.

“We are all stakeholders in the rule of law and therefore we all have a role to play in upholding it,” he said.

Source: The Edge Markets

Malaysia rises 4 spots to 47th in WJP Rule of Law Index

Kuala Lumpur has been ranked seventh in the Asia and Oceania region in the International Convention & Conference Association (ICCA) Statistics Report 2019, thanks to the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Last year, the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre hosted 91 international association meetings, which helped Kuala Lumpur to obtain its best ranking in seven years, three positions better from 2018 .

On the world ranking, Kuala Lumpur took the 22nd position, up 12 places from the previous year.

On the ICCA rankings, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre general manager Alan Pryor (pix) commented that the position revealed the high number of international meetings held in Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia last year and each of these delivered economic contribution, knowledge sharing opportunities and social impact benefits to the country.

“We hope that in view of the current situation, this ranking demonstrates a strong case for the government in facilitating the reopening of the business events industry, which will play a vital role in stimulating Malaysia’s economy,” he said in a statement today.

Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) CEO Datuk Seri Abdul Khani Daud said MyCEB and its industry partners have supported 331 business events in 2019, which contributed an estimated RM3.1 billion economic impact to the country. This reflected the magnitude of the business events industry’s value to the country.

“It is great to see the industry’s efforts are paying off and international associations are recognising the many benefits of Malaysia as an attractive business events destination. These meetings are also important contributors to the development of some of Malaysia’s key industries,” said Abdul Khani.

In addition, Pryor added that it was a particularly strong year for medical conferences at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre last year.

“We feel that Malaysia’s excellent track record in successfully attracting and hosting medical meetings; the government’s ongoing focus on the healthcare sector; and the country’s relative success in tackling Covid-19, means we are well positioned to benefit from any post-Covid surge in medical and healthcare-related meetings,” he said.

In 2019, the convention centre hosted several international meetings which had attracted over 3,500 participants and delivered RM24.3 million in economic impact.

Source: The Sun Daily

KL takes 7th spot in Asia for international conference

Malaysia has tumbled five rungs in a ranking of most competitive world economies this year, weighed down by a decline in its scores on government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.

The country is now ranked 27th out of 63 countries in the World Competitiveness Ranking 2020 report by the Institute for Management Development (IMD), which analysed global economies and ability to generate prosperity.

Last year, the report ranked Malaysia the 22nd most competitive economy in the world, the same spot it held in 2018.

According to the IMD report, countries that overtook Malaysia in the world competitiveness ranking in 2020 were the United Kingdom (19th), South Korea (23rd), Saudi Arabia (24th), Belgium (25th) and Israel (26th).

The Switzerland-based business school noted Malaysia’s government efficiency ranking dropped six positions to 30th, while business efficiency fell 11 rungs to 29th and infrastructure dropped three spots to 31st.

However, Malaysia’s economic performance ranking improved two spots to 9th.

Economists told StarBiz the IMD report served as a reminder to policymakers of the need to continuously improve on the country’s efficiencies, lest it loses out to countries that are aggressively making improvements.Bank Islam chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid, for one, said there are areas that the Government can work on to boost the country’s competitiveness.

Citing Bank Negara’s 2017 report on Rethinking Investment Incentives, which featured a long list of incentives administered by various government agencies, Afzanizam said streamlining the procedures, monitoring agencies and reducing red tape would be a step in the right direction.

“I would like to think the country has a decent infrastructure such as electricity, water, highways as well as pool of talented people which can always be the catalyst to improve the level of competitiveness.

The government would just need to harness these so that the businesses can operate almost seamlessly, ” Afzanizam said, adding that it was also necessary to beef up the country’s ICT infrastructure to bolster the digital economy.

Another economist noted that Malaysia is in a fierce competition to attract foreign investments, particularly now that major companies are looking at relocating out of China to other countries within the region, hence the need to boost competitiveness.

“While the Government has implemented many economic-stimulative policies in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, policymakers need to improve on the structural weaknesses so that the long-term competitiveness of the country can be improved, and Malaysia can remain an attractive investment destination and a place to do business, ” he said.

“Business-friendly policies aside, the Government also needs to step up its effort in eradicating corruption, improving transparency and reducing bureaucracy… government performance is also important and it has long-term implications on the country’s competitiveness and economic performance, ” he added.

Within Asean, Malaysia remained the second most competitive economy after Singapore, which had also retained its the top position in the global ranking for the second year in a row.

As for the other regional peers, the Philippines was the only country that saw improvement, up one spot to 45th, while Thailand fell four places to 29th, and Indonesia saw the largest drop from 32nd to 40th.

IMD said the impact of Covid-19 on the competitiveness ranking was partially captured by executives’ opinions about the effectiveness of the different health systems.

“In the ASEAN countries included in our sample, only Singapore (remains at 4th) and Thailand (improved from 28th to 22nd) have a positive performance in the effectiveness of the health infrastructure, ” it said.

“Indonesia slightly declines from 36th to 38th, and the Philippines from 45th to 49th. Malaysia experiences the largest decline in the health infrastructure (from 17th to 23rd) among ASEAN countries, ” it added.

In Asia-Pacific, Malaysia was ranked the 8th most competitive behind South Korea, New Zealand, China, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

With the exception of Singapore, the Philippines, Taiwan and South Korea, most Asian economies dropped in rankings this year, IMD pointed out.

“The reason for the Asian economies’ less stellar performance as a region this year is partly the result of the trade frictions between China and the US, particularly because these economies are highly dependent on trade with China, ” it said.

“Therefore, any negative economic repercussions felt in China also ripple to other countries in the region, ” it explained.

China dropped six rungs to 20th place in the rankings this year.

The top five were Singapore, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, IMF noted Malaysia faced several challenges this year that could have implications on its global competitiveness ranking.

These included minimising the impact of Covid-19 to the country’s economic, social and environment with sound policies; accelerating workforce up-skilling with application of strong online platform mechanism; strengthening productivity and competitiveness through change of mindset and creativity; strengthening infrastructure development to push for economic recovery; and intensifying the adoption of fourth industrial revolution technologies for SMEs.

IMD noted among the criteria that saw biggest declines in Malaysia this year were exchange rate stability; population growth; risk of political stability; state ownership of enterprises; public sector contracts; bureaucracy; pollution problems; bribery and corruption; skilled labor; and social cohesion.

Among the criteria that saw major improvements, however, were long-term employment growth; high-tech exports; electricity costs for industrial clients; gasoline prices; and start-up procedures.

Source: The Star

Posted on : 18 June 2020

Malaysia 27th most competitive nation