Mixed Signals: Malaysia’s 2018 Federal Budget and Education

Abstract

This Perspective focuses on education, the centrepiece of the budget speech second and third thrusts, entitled “towards TN50 aspiration” and “empowering education, skills and training, and talent development”. Education also appears in sections dealing with equitable distribution and Bumiputera economic transformation. The budget speech makes abundantly clear that education will feature prominently in Barisan Nasional 2018 re-election campaign and its crafting of a long-term vision under the TN50 banner. The budget sustains Malaysia’s record of substantial financial support for primary and secondary schooling, and boosts funding for post-secondary education, while also affirming plans for reconfiguring technical and vocational education and increasing public university funding after a series of severe annual budget cuts.