Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced on March 19 that most of the objectives of the government's transformation plans were achieved.

The PM was quoted by Bernama as saying that these fulfillments led to an improvement in the people's living standard, a strong growth in the economy and the country’s stronger financial position.

He said the planning and execution of the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) and Government Transformation Programme (GTP) not only proved the determination of the government to steer the country based on the "1Malaysia, People First, Performance Now" concept, but were also the boldest experiments ever undertaken by any government in the world in practising the principles of transparency and accountability.
In his speech in conjunction with the launching the National Transformation Programme's 2012 Annual Report, he said as a result of thorough and rigorous planning and execution of effective development policies, Malaysia had been transformed from a low-income agricultural nation to a modern industrial economy with moderately high income.

He said three years after the government started the GTP, seven NKRAs (National Key Economic Areas), among them the NKRA on Addressing the Rising Cost of Living, had succeeded in bringing relief to the people in the lower income bracket.

With the Raising of Living Standards of Low-Income Households NKRA, the government succeeded in reducing the poverty rate to 1.7 percent and that efforts to improve the living standard of people in the low income group would not only be continued, but expanded.

Under NKRA on Improving Rural Basic Infrastructure, more than 3,300 kilometres of roads had been built, more than 1.4 million households gained access to clean water supply while 470,000 households had access to uninterrupted electricity supply.

Under the Improving Student Outcomes NKRA, total pre-school enrolment increased to nearly 770,000 last year, or 80 percent of the age cohort compared with 67 percent in 2009.

On the NKRA Against Corruption, the PM said Malaysia was the only country that made the fight against corruption a Key Performance Indicator or country KPI.

"This NKRA demonstrated its effectiveness when Malaysia 's position in the Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International improved six places to 54th position in 2012 and was ranked third among ASEAN countries," he said.

"Achieving a high-income developed country status is our goal. What is important, we want to become a high-income developed country in our own mould, in which the happiness of individuals, families and communities is the primary basis, not purely economic indices,” the PM said.-VNA