"The unorthodox way of doing things is still with us," Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nor Mohamed Yakcop said today.

He said the major transformational agenda initiated by the government under Prime Minister Najib Abdul 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" in Kuala Lumpur.

NONE 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.

- Bernama