KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28 — In his address to MPs in Parliament today, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah said unity makes even the most difficult of jobs easy. 

The King said this in his opening address for the fifth session of the 14th Parliament. 

“If all are united, a difficult job becomes easy... Enough politicking day and night, focus on caring for the wellbeing of the rakyat,” said the King, as he concluded his address with the following poem wishing the MPs well for the coming days of Parliament. 

“Gunung Kinabalu sama didaki, 

Sungai Pahang sama direnang, 

Jikalau semua bersatu hati, 

Kerja yang susah menjadi senang.

 

Busana tradisi kain bersulam, 

Warnanya jingga berawan larat, 

Cukup lah berpolitik siang dan malam, 

Fokuskan menjaga kepentingan rakyat.”

In the King’s address, among others, he highlighted the importance of ensuring that the nation’s prosperity is enjoyed equally. 

“I sincerely hope that the government will focus on eradicating hardcore poverty by 2025 through integrated actions and various approaches. 

“All parties should mobilise their efforts and be highly-committed so that the living standards of the hardcore poor can be improved through sustained increases in income,” he said. 

The King also welcomed efforts led by the Malaysian Social Protection Council (MySPC), which offers a new dimension to strengthening the country’s social protection system. 

“Existing social protection programmes must be enhanced and restructured to meet the challenges that may impact the quality of life and future development potential.

“At the same time, recovery efforts for micro, small and medium enterprises as well as informal entrepreneurs affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent flood disaster are extremely important and critical. 

“Special groups such as hawkers and petty traders, women, youths, graduates, B40 (bottom 40 per cent) groups, including those worthy of zakat, and those who have lost their jobs should continue to be assisted through entrepreneurship guidance programmes and appropriate funding to enable them to continue their livelihoods,” he said.

The King also pointed out that the digitalisation of operations will be further strengthened to assist local entrepreneurs recover and contribute to the socio-economic upliftment of the people and the economic development of the country. 

He said the objectives of creating a ‘Nation of Entrepreneurs’ and transforming Malaysia into an outstanding entrepreneurial nation under the National Entrepreneurship Policy 2030 (DKN 2030) will be achieved.

The King also addressed the tourism industry, whereby he said the recovery of the tourism industry must also be undertaken immediately to maintain its sustainability. 

“The new norm post-pandemic tourism activities must continue to be created to provide vacation opportunities for the people as well as to create a culture of safe tourism for all. 

“To this end, the focus should not only be on domestic tourism but also on exploring opportunities to once again receive foreign tourists to Malaysia as one of the efforts to further accelerate recovery of the nation’s tourism industry,” he said. 

Acknowledging there is a need to ensure that Malaysians are not burdened by the rising cost of living and the cost of daily necessities, the King said price stabilisation and standardisation programmes, goods distribution programmes, and continuous enforcement must be effectively implemented. 

The King welcomed the ‘Buy Malaysian Goods Campaign’ and the ‘Malaysia Sales Programme’ initiatives to support the recovery of the domestic economy. 

“These programmes will offer new sources of employment and income through the empowerment of the franchise industry and direct sales.

“Apart from that, the implementation of the Malaysian Family Sales Programme throughout the country will enable the people to purchase essential items at affordable prices. 

“These efforts are also in line with the aspirations to care for the welfare of the people, reduce the cost of living and improve the living standards of our people,” he said. 

* A previous version of this story contained an error which has since been corrected.