Vision 2020 is to transform Malaysia into a fully developed and prosperous

country by 2020. Now, nearly two decades after the vision was introduced, Malaysia has
indeed reached a significant and tremendous change. Gone are the distresses in the
early days of independence where we had to depend fully on other nations in order to build our
own nation. Malaysia deserves to stand tall now because in spite of being colonised by
the European and Japanese forces 53 years ago, we managed to build ourselves up and
became one of the most progressive and striving nations in the Southeast Asia region.
But despite all the progress and achievements Malaysia has succeeded after independence,
there are still many limitations that need to be perfected so that this vision can be
achieved.When this vision was first implemented, many were sceptical of the success it
would bring. Nevertheless there were also those who believed in it. With great vision, came
great challenges. Tun Dr. Mahathir was very well aware of this and thus he proposed the nine
central challenges that Malaysia must overcome to make Vision 2020 a reality. The challenges
summon Malaysians to unite so as to form a fair and democratic nation, besides
becoming a scientifically progressive, self-sustained, and prosperous community,
regardless of race and religion. Unity, of course, has to be strongly emphasised in this
multi-racial country. Racial discrimination must be eliminated so that all races can
progress together. As we all know, economic growth and development can only take place in a
stable and peaceful environment. Another major challenge is to produce a scientifically
progressive community that is able to withstand and compete with other nations. We missed
the Industrial Revolution and we were left far behind. We must not miss the Information
Revolution. We must participate fully in it and we must acquire the skills to make our country
as developed as possible in this new age.[1]
. To remain a strong, vital nation with a relevant voice and role in the world
arena, and to achieve Vision 2020, Malaysia needs to take steps to improve its economy,
human resources, governance and business environment.
Ahead Of Vision 2020
In 10 years time, it would be the year 2020. Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, our ex-prime
minister has visualised Malaysia to be one of the powerful nations of the world; economically,
socially and educationally. Malaysia has achieved tremendous amount of growth throughout
the years but is it comparable to the aspiration of vision 2020 proposed by Dr. Mahathir? Dr.
Mahathir Mohammad himself said that Wawasan 2020 was what our people, deep in their
hearts, had always wanted1. Every Malaysian should know that in 2020, Malaysia would be a
country fully developed with resources and achieve a self-sufficient industrial Malaysian-centric
economy.
The Challenges, The Past, Present And Future
To achieve the goals of vision 2020, Dr. Mahathir outlined nine strategic challenges that
Malaysia must overcome. The first challenge is to establish a united Malaysian nation made up

of one Malaysian race2. Recently, our Prime Minister Dr. Najib Tun Razak has introduced 1
Malaysia, an on-going public relations on September 16, 2008, calling for the cabinet,
government agencies, and civil servants to more strongly emphasise ethnic harmony,
national unity, and efficient governance3. As we all know, Malaysia is blessed with diverse
ethnics such as the Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans, Bidayuhs, Kadazans and the Melanaus.
The concept of 1 Malaysia has improved the social viewpoints of Malaysians by
uniting and helping out each other no matter in what circumstances. There was once, a Singh
who accidently steered his motorcycle into a beam and I was there to witness the event. To my
astonishment, few cars stopped by and helped the poor Singh. I opened my car window and
had a closer look, I heard those people who went out helping the Singh was speaking in
Bahasa Malaysia in slang, where I could recognise that there were Malays, Chinese and
Bidayuhs.Creating a psychologically liberated, secure and developed Malaysian society is the
second challenge for Vision 20202. This challenge however proves to be a difficult task for
Malaysia to overcome, since Malaysia has been thwarted by racial issues over the past years.
At this particular moment, our society in Malaysia is not living and working as one and, sadly,
were not putting any effort in trying to do so. The May 13 incident is something that
Malaysians should be aware of. The riot, in which 196 people were killed, shows what racial
issues could do to the nation and this would give a real blow to the aspirations of vision
2020 if similar incidents happen in the near future. Recently, Malaysia has been shocked by
the news of a headmistress where she expressed racial hatred to her students and to make
matters worse, it happened during the launching of the Malaysian Independence ceremony in
her school. Certainly the second challenge is still far beyond our reach.Some people wonder
what democracy is. Democracy is a political system for choosing and replacing through free
and fair elections, active participation of the people, as citizens in politics and civic life,
protection of the human rights of all citizens and is a rule of laws and procedures apply equally
to all citizens4. From what we could see from the current political situation in Malaysia, it is
clearly unstable; with never-ending political issues and corruption. Political coalitions of Barisan
Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat show no effort in creating a more prosperous, democratic
Malaysia, but show effort in trying to prove whos right or in another context whos boss. The
third challenge, fostering and developing a mature democratic society2 in Malaysia is surely a
pain in the neck for everyone.The declining standards of Malaysians moral in society proved to
be the biggest worry of parents, teachers, religious institutions and our government today.
Divorce, sex before marriage, abortion and even sodomy considered as grievous sins are now
being accepted as norms in our society today. Malaysia seems to be unlikely to establish a fully
ethical and moral society2, the fourth challenge of vision 2020 if the moral standards of
Malaysians continue to decline. The ever-increasing cases of baby dumping over Malaysia is
one of many examples which are widely occurring proves how low the moral standards of
Malaysians are.How tolerant is our society the Malaysians? So far Malaysians are tolerant.
Although Malaysians have diverse ethnics and cultures, during festivals and such, the society
would happily come and enjoy the festivities. Not only the Muslim Malays celebrate the
occasion, but the Chinese, Indians and even the Ibans join in to celebrate too. To establish a

matured and liberal society2 is surely accomplished but what about establishing a scientific
and progressive society2? Are we there yet?The Malaysian government spent millions on new
technologies and equipment to benefit all Malaysians. Through new technologies and
equipment, Malaysians, mostly the young ones, take benefit by exploiting and creating new
theses, build amazing structures and design new ways to improve the daily life of Malaysians.
Dr. Sheikh Muszapfar, the first Malaysian astronaut to fly to outer space has lifted Malaysia as
one progressive and yet scientific country. This proves to be a jump-start for our country in
nurturing the young minds to love science and hopefully produce great leaders of
tomorrow.The seventh challenge of vision 2020 is establishing a fully caring society2. Malaysia
is well known all over the world by its caring and helpful people. Some brave Malaysians went
to Gaza, Palestine to help those people who are in need; during one event, Israel soldiers killed
nine people on the ship for the aid. But this was clearly overshadowed by the dull statement
that the government proposed death penalty to baby dumpers, which is totally irrelevant and
ridiculous. How does death penalty to baby dumpers show how caring our society is when we
could help them by giving motivations and counseling sessions? Moreover, recently Malaysians
were again shocked with the news of Datuk Sosilawati who was brutally murdered by humans
who should be labeled as animals. To add salt to injury, the event happened during the holy
month of Ramadhan, a few days before Malaysians celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Violence is
still around us and were not totally safe; thats for sure.Malaysia has to ensure that it is an
economically just society, in which there is a fair and equitable distribution of the wealth of the
nation2. Malaysia has governed millions of ringgit on scholarships for students who achieved
astounding results, for people who are in need such as the disabled, poor and for building new
infrastructures such as hospitals and public transports. Although Malaysia has already spent
millions, is our society prosperous with an economy that is fully competitive, dynamic, robust
and resilient2? Malaysia is an economically stable country with pioneering companies known
worldwide: Petronas, Proton and Perodua, just to name a few. Sadly enough, with these top
companies, Malaysia couldnt hide the fact that there are thousands of graduates jobless. This
is due to the reason that Malaysia is too dependent on foreigners to do all the dirty work.The
Improvements NeededThere are several gaps that need to be addressed for the nation to
achieve the goals of Vision 2020. Here in Malaysia, we have first-class facilities such as the
public transports, accommodates and educational but the reality is, most Malaysians have
third-class mentality. Take for example Singapore, they do have facilities similar to Malaysia
first-class as it is and most of the Singaporean mentalities are first-class too; they dont litter,
they dont smoke in public, they give seats priorities to the elders or pregnant womans and
practise healthy living which is totally in contrast what Malaysians here are practising. We want
Malaysians that think of ideas and ways to improve and inspire the nation rather than
Malaysians that are hateful and low-minded. Besides that, the ongoing racism should be given
top priority if we as Malaysians want to live in peace and harmony or else we could only dream
of it. Racism could be one of those hardest challenges for Malaysia to overcome as it involves
all the community in Malaysia. Hopefully in the future Malaysia could be a country which is
multiracial and practices zero racism.Other gaps that should be taken note are the moral

standards of Malaysians in the society. In the future, we could hope for Malaysians who are
caring, tolerant and liberal to everyone; and less or zero non-moral activities that could destroy
the young generations. Our young generations today should be exposed to education,
communities and activities that could build ones towering personality. Parents on the other
hand should play their part too in ensuring their childrens welfare in order for Vision 2020 to
aspire. Last but not least, Malaysian politics should act and stand together as one, to avoid
further turmoil in our country to ensure Malaysia prospers in the future and achieve Vision
2020.Ultimately, there are still a lot of things that Malaysia has to do to achieve vision 2020.
The nine challenges stated by Dr. Mahathir have to be overcome if we want to see a
prosperous, wealthy and healthy Malaysia. The gaps that have been addressed earlier have to
be taken seriously because these gaps show what Malaysias current situation is compared to
the Vision 2020. Were not far beyond Vision 2020 Malaysia to be a united nation, with
confident Malaysian society, infused by strong moral and ethical values, living in a society that
is democratic, liberal and tolerant, caring, economically just and equitable, progressive and
prosperous, and in full possession of an economy that is competitive, dynamic, robust and
resilient that every Malaysian dreams of.