Najib Government

The Najib Government was the federal executive government of Malaysia led by the Prime Minister, Najib Razak. The government was made up of members of the Barisan Nasional. Following the resignation of incumbent Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Najib sworn in to become the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia on 3 April 2009. Najib announced his inaugural Cabinet on 9 April 2009.

Najib entered office with a clear focus on domestic economic issues and long-standing political reform questions. On his first day as Prime Minister, Najib announced as his first actions the removal of bans on two opposition newspapers, Suara Keadilan and Harakahdaily, run by the opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim-led People's Justice Party and the Pan Islamic Party, respectively, and the release of 13 people held under the Internal Security Act. He pledged to conduct a comprehensive review of the much-criticised law which allows for indefinite detention without trial. In the speech, he emphasised his commitment to tackling poverty, restructuring Malaysian society, expanding access to quality education for all, and promoting renewed "passion for public service." In a speech given to the media on 6 April 2009, Najib stated that Malaysia must establish "a new national discourse," based on the principles of "transparency and accountability", "service to all"; and "respect and fairness in the public dialogue", in which "world-class, fact based reporting" including the new media led to better governance through "vibrant public dialogue."

In his first month in office, Najib announced two packages of economic reforms, the first focused on the services sector, and the second on the financial services sector.

On 23 April 2009, Najib announced immediate liberalisation of 27 services sub-sectors, covering health and social services, tourism services, transport services, business services and computer and related services accounting for 57 per cent of the total employment in Malaysia. Najib announced that the liberalisation was designed to attract foreign investment, and technology to create what he termed "higher value employment opportunities," and to enhance Malaysian competitiveness. The liberalisation included scrapping a 30 per cent Bumiputera ownership requirement for investment in some services sector to help boost the country's flagging economy, with immediate effect. Najib also announced that five foreign law firms would be allowed to offer services in Islamic finance. Independent analysts described these actions as a positive move that needed to be accompanied by further action to move beyond historic preferences for Malays to have a substantial impact on the economy.

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