KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 31 — Malaysia will soon be losing its tag as South-east Asia’s third largest economy to neighbouring countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines as it has lost its “competitive edge”, according to PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli.

He said that politicians need to look at solutions that could both “kill two birds with one stone” — give a significant rise to the livelihoods of the people and at the same time solve the structural problems of the country, which he said, all revolve around money.

“Natural resources, we are running out of. Oil and gas wouldn't be long, I don’t know what’s the reserve now, maybe 20 years,” he said during the “Merdeka Talk: Reimagining Malaysia's Future” at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre here last night.

“Palm oil is no longer sustainable in a situation where we have to shift to food production which is more important than commodity crops.

“Then manufacturing, we have already been left behind because our labour cost, our cost base is already too high,” he added.

Rafizi suggested that Malaysia needs to look for industries where the country can get ahead of the curve, such as the solar power industry.

He also stressed that the current systemic issues have not been resolved for decades, such as debts owed by the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN).

“When we first started counting in 2011, PTPTN’s debt to banks and financial institutions was RM20 billion. So if we had done refinancing, reallocate RM3 to RM4 billion a year to solve this education loan problem, now in 2022, this problem should be solved

“But we don’t do anything, then the problem builds up and builds up, PTPTN’s loan is now almost RM50 billion.

“It’s too big to do anything now. So now we cannot address issues that could have been solved in a good manner 10 to 15 years ago, by now it’s already water under the bridge,” he said.

He also said that institutional reforms for either the separation of powers or to fight corruption would no longer be sufficient to steer the country away from ruin.

“What I worry about is that, let’s say, hypothetically, there is a new government that is able to implement all these [institutional reforms]... it won’t guarantee that it can solve the main economical issues that are spoiling the peoples’ welfare,” he said.

"Merdeka Talk: Reimagining Malaysia's Future" is part of a series of talks organised by the Pakatan Harapan coalition under the Ayuh Malaysia campaign to push for reform in the run-up to GE15.

Last night’s talk featured five speakers including Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar and Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad who proposed ideas on five main topics.

The topics were food security, energy, technical and vocational education training, affordable housing and education.