“Invite Tun M, Pak Lah, Najib to explain before Dewan Rakyat why Vision 2020 is a flop”

Editor’s Note: In a Facebook post yesterday (March 23), two-time former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has rebutted retired DAP’s supremo Lim Kit Siang’s accusation that he was the cause for the failure of Vision 2020 but instead shifted the blame to his successor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Datuk Seri Najib Razak who later inherited the post from Abdullah. Below is Kit Siang’s response to Dr Mahathir.

 

MALAYSIA was governed by three men in the 30 years between 1991 and 2020 to fulfil the objectives of Vision 2020: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (1991-September 2003); Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (September 2003- April 2009); and Datuk Seri Najib Razak (April 2009-May 2018); and again Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (May 2018-February. 2020).

Dr Mahathir has blamed Abdullah and Najib for the total failure of Vision 2020 with Malaysia being more corrupt, disunited and polarised along race and religious lines at the end when compared to the beginning of Vision 2020 in 1991.

Is Dr Mahathir right that Abdullah and Najib were responsible for the total failure of Vision 2020?

That Dr Mahathir is blaming Abdullah and Najib for the total failure of Vision 2020 has reinforced my argument that the Dewan Rakyat should be extended by another two days on April 5-6 to debate why Vision 2020 was a total failure.

All the three former prime ministers (PMs) should be invited to present papers to Parliament before the debate as to why Vision 2020 failed so that MPs can avail themselves of the views of the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh Malaysian PM as to why Malaysia had not been able to achieve Vision 2020 and the nine strategic challenges.

It is important that the nation find out the reasons why Vision 2020 had been a total failure with Malaysia more corrupt, disunited and polarised along race and religious lines at the end when compared to the beginning of Vision 2020 in 1991.

Lim Kit Siang

At this rate and result of nation-building in the 30 years from 1991 to 2020, Malaysia is heading to become a failed, divided and kleptocratic state in another three decades.

If we do not want to see Malaysia end up as a failed, divided and kleptocratic state when we mark our first Centennial in 2057, the nation must perform a national introspection as to why Vision 2020 and the nine strategic challenges had failed so far.

Is Dr Mahathir right that Abdullah and Najib had betrayed the achievement of Vision 2020 and the nine strategic challenges or the seeds of failure were laid by Dr Mahathir himself during his first premiership of 22 years (July 1981-September 2003) although the pace of corruption, abuses of power and racial and religious polarisation increased in the ensuing premierships, especially in the Najib years?

In the annual Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) launched in 1995, Malaysia was ranked 23rd out of 41 countries. By 2003, Malaysia slipped in score and was ranked No. 37 out of 133 countries while China, India and Indonesia improved their scores  and were ranked 65th,  83rd and 122nd out of 133 countries.

The descent in the Abdullah and Najib years were rapid. In 2009 TI CPI, Malaysia fell both in score and rank – placed No. 56 out of 180 countries – while China, India and Indonesia increased both in score and rank, placed No. 79, 84th and 111th out of 180 countries.

In the final Najib year and greatly influenced by the billion-ringgit 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Bhd) scandal, Malaysia fell further in score and rank in the 2017 TI CPI – ranked  62nd out of 180 countries – while China, India and Indonesia improved further by having ranked 77th, 81st and 96th respectively out of 180 countries.

Can Malaysia reset and return to the original nation-building principles the nation’s founding fathers (which included the first four UMNO presidents) had written into the Federal Constitution and Rukun Negara, stop the national decline and restore our potential to be a world-class nation instead of ending up as a divided, failed and kleptocratic state?

The most important question is whether Dr Mahathir still believed in Vision 2020 and the nine strategic challenges as the basis of Malaysian nation-building.

Does Dr Mahathir still believe in Vision 2020 and the nine strategic challenges? – March 24, 2023

 

Veteran lawmaker and retired DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang is the incumbent MP for Iskandar Puteri.

The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.

Subscribe and get top news delivered to your Inbox everyday for FREE

Latest News