Budget 2025: Our Tanah Air Of Opportunity

After a commendable 2024 for Malaysia, Budget 2025 - our largest budget so far at RM421 billion - was tabled in Parliament on 18 October 2024 with the theme of “Reinvigorating The Economy, Driving Reforms And Prospering The Rakyat”.?

With all these resources being set aside for our beautiful yet budding country, Malaysians can truly take the next steps towards building our land to reach greater heights. What about you, a Malaysian living abroad? What part in our development can you play despite the distance? Let’s take a look at how our fellow Malaysians have contributed or collaborated in the past few years.

Keeping An “AI” On Local Opportunities?

Budget 2025 has spotlighted the importance of AI for us - and with major tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft investing nearly USD 17 billion into Malaysia in 2024, our tech industry is on the rise. 2025 sees RM10 million going to the National AI Office, and another RM50 million to AI education, which will spread into Malaysia’s AI infrastructure and the private sector’s inclusion. It’s a boost that’s all-rounded: the education sector too will benefit with special tax deductions under the new Investment Incentive Framework for private higher-education institutions when they offer students courses in Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics and other areas of tech.?

Speaking of the private sector’s inclusion, Wei Siong Tan is a Malaysian abroad who recognised our government’s growing support in the AI industry even earlier on, and seized the chance to establish his firm, Glow AI , in his home country. Glow-AI offers AI visual inspection solution that started out by scanning products such as fresh palm fruit bunches during palm oil production. Glow AI has the potential to create major changes in both the AI industry, and the palm oil sector, expediting production and cutting costs.?

Sustaining A Lasting Impact?

Budget 2025 is also intrinsically how Malaysia is building our way into a more sustainable future, while climbing the green energy leaderboards. Along with a significant increase in the sustainability budget this year at RM300 million, the Green Technology Financing Scheme (GTFS) is also being continued until 2026. This scheme was crafted to help green businesses develop, targeting the green sector at a foundational level. We the rakyat can look forward to more sustainable products like EVs and clean energy being developed, even right now.

One such Malaysian making major contributions to our New Energy Vehicle (Electric Vehicle)? industry is Umar Zakir Abdul Hamid . Formerly serving as Senior Lead Strategy at ZEEKR in Europe (part of the GEELY Group) based in Sweden, Umar returned to Malaysia through the Returning Expert Programme (REP) to take on the role of Head of Global Product and International Market Strategy at PROTON International. He now leads PROTON’s international expansion strategic efforts while heading the NEV export task force, simultaneously shaping Malaysia’s presence in the global automotive landscape.

But of course, sustainability is not limited to clean energy. Ts. Dr. Hj. Muhammad Khusairy Bin Hj. Bakri is another Malaysian contributing to the way we build things. Although he currently resides in the US, he actively gives back to Malaysia in the realm of sustainable and green construction materials and practices, not just through his role in Malaysian Board of Technologists (MBOT) but through mentoring, writing, research and discourse.

Healing Our People

Under the ‘Prospering the Rakyat’ umbrella, the second highest allocation this year has gone to the Health Ministry at RM45.3 billion. RM25 million of this goes to the Rare Disease Fund, established by the government in 2022, to help with the specialised drugs and medical costs. This is a crucial area where not just supplies are needed, but skills - which many Malaysian doctors have.

An example of this is Dr. Syed Ajmal . After 8 years in the UK, he came back to Malaysia bringing along his expertise in Interventional Pulmonology and Pleural Procedures. These are advanced techniques that give patients going through lung cancer, Tuberculosis and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease the expertise they need to press on towards healing.

And not to mention Dr. Catheryn Lim , another Malaysian talent abroad who supports our growth in this field. She specialises in developing genetic and gene therapies for neuromuscular diseases and collaborated with TalentCorp to share her knowledge to over 180 biology and science students, the young bright minds of Malaysia’s medical profession.

Injecting Youthfulness

We can also take note of the industries in the background, such as the arts. This was not left out in Budget 2025 -? the MADANI Creative Youth Program with an allocation of RM30 million, aims to attract 16,000 young people to enter the creative and arts industry. These young people drive the future of the industry, where Malaysians like Samantha Chong, a mezzo-soprano currently based in Hong Kong is already paving the way by conducting several masterclasses to aspiring opera singers in Kuala Lumpur and Sabah in the past two years.

Samantha has built her name in Hong Kong’s classical opera circles, and starred in lead roles globally. On one of her trips back home to Malaysia, she collaborated with TalentCorp on their first MyCollabs project and held a 2-day seminar for aspiring professional Malaysian opera singers from the Kuala Lumpur City Opera. Besides technical advice, she also gave them much inspiration that will channel through their work and beyond into the industry.

A Valuable Investment Into 2025

Malaysia’s potential is growing exponentially. In 2024, the Ringgit was recognised as one of the best performing currencies in the entire world, and the country recorded RM329.5 billion in investments - billions of ringgit worth of hopes and expectations. In 2025 and beyond, can these dreams come into fruition? Yes - with the right skills, minds and hands. Truly, Malaysia’s growth story is being written by those on home soil and abroad, and it is always open to new authors: those living abroad ripe with overseas insight and ready to contribute. Our tanah air, full of opportunities, awaits!

Are you one of us, a Malaysian waiting to contribute? Getting connected with fellow Malaysians around you is a great start to your journey in contributing to our nation. Visit the MyHeart portal today to get started, or even to explore the stories of Wei Siong Tan, Umar Zakir and Dr. Hj. Muhammad Khusairy.