UNORTHODOX WAY OF DOING THINGS STILL WITH US - M'SIAN MINISTER

KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 (Bernama) -- "The unorthodox way of doing things is
still with us," Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nor Mohamed
Yakcop said Thursday.

He said the major transformational agenda initiated by the government under
Prime Minister Najib Razak was unorthodox in nature.

These national re-engineering initiatives through the Economic
Transformation Plan and the Government Transformation Programme would transform
Malaysia into a high-value and high-income nation by 2020, he said at the launch
of a book titled "Notes To the Prime Minister: The Untold Story of How
Malaysia Beat the Currency Speculators" here.

He said the "1Malaysia: People First, Performance Now" motto reflected
Najib's philosophy and aspiration that the main beneficiaries of development
must be the people at large.

Within two years, he said, the government had successfully ensured that
everyone was on board on the national transformation agenda and now the results
were being delivered.

Nor Mohamed said the measures that the Malaysian government undertook in
1998 during the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997/98 were by definition unorthodox.

"Today, as this book is being launched, the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) has changed its stance, and Malaysia's 1998 measures, based on today's
definition, may no longer be considered as unorthodox.

"In 1998, Malaysia was certainly well ahead of the curve -- 13 years ahead
of the IMF, to be exact," he said.