KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) performance improved in 2019, according to Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
At the launch of the “SDG Indicators, Malaysia, 2019” report today, he said good performance was seen for all 17 goals.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes 17 goals based on five areas of focus, namely social progress, protecting the planet, prosperity, peace and partnership.
The goals are measured according to 247 indicators set at the global level in 2019.
On indicator assessment, he said in Malaysia, 128 indicators or 52% were available while 73 indicators or 29% needed to be developed.
“A total of 13% or 31 indicators are not available while 15 indicators or 6% are not relevant to Malaysia,” he said.
Mustapa said the national SDG progress status was also measured based on the performance of 108 statistical indicators.
Among aspects that showed positive progress was the people focus area, with the overall incidence of poverty improving to 5.6% (405,441 households) in 2019 from 7.6% (525,743 households) in 2016, he said.
Meanwhile, the prosperity focus area showed the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita at constant prices grew 3.9% in 2019 compared with 3.6% in 2018.
“In line with the growth in the digital economy especially in the new normal following Covid-19, the percentage of individuals using the internet rose 3.0 percentage points to 84.2% in 2019 from 81.2% in the preceding year.
“For internet usage in the cities and rural areas, they increased 2.6 percentage points and 3.3 percentage points, respectively,” he said.
He added that the five focus areas would continue in the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) after it was incorporated into the country's developmental policies such as the 11th Malaysia Plan and Shared Prosperity Vision 2030
“In fact, a new approach will be taken under 12MP to deal with poverty through a targeted programme based on local needs across all races.
“This is because poverty issues differ according to demographics and current situations. The way to handle it must suit the local conditions,” he explained.
“Hence the role played by the All-Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia on SDG (APPGM-SDG) is very critical to assist in achieving the Agenda 2030 goals.
“The group, which was established following the Dewan Rakyat approval on October 19, 2019, comprises 10 Members of Parliament including me,” he said.
Mustapa said APPGM-SDG was involved in SDG at the Parliamentary level by conducting local issue mapping activities and recommending solution ideas.
Next year, he said, APPGM-SDG would do the same programme in 20 parliamentary areas, especially in states that were not visited in 2020.
“The implementation of SDG goals is a continuation from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that ended in 2015.
“The legacy and achievements of of MDGs over 15 years have provided valuable lessons in our effort to achieve SDG goals,” he added. – Bernama, December 10, 2020
