Short-sighted leaders took us away from Vision 2020, says Dr M

 

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia was well on its way to achieving the goals of Vision 2020 but poor execution of the plans that had been drawn up led to failure, according to Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

In an interview with FMT, the former prime minister said the country was on track to achieving the goals he had set when he stepped down as prime minister in 2003.

But those who took over from him deviated from the plans he had laid out and took the mission off track, he added.

“When we launched it in 1991,” he said. “We were growing at a very high rate, and it seemed that the policies were good. I thought the policy would continue throughout the 30-year period to the year 2020.

“Unfortunately, when I stepped down, Abdullah (Badawi) and later Najib (Razak) went in different directions. They did not emphasise developing the country. They emphasised big projects so they could make money for themselves.”

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was Mahathir’s immediate successor. Naib Razak replaced him in 2009 and remained prime minister until Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan won the 14th general election in 2018, the first time the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition had fallen since independence.

Mahathir said Malaysia would have remained an “Asian tiger” and not be in its present condition if those administrations had continued along the path he had laid out.

“We couldn’t achieve Vision 2020 because they took the wrong direction.”

Mahathir said he thought he had done enough to groom leaders after him to take over the country’s administration.

However, they consciously veered from the path that could have proven successful, he alleged.

“I thought they had seen how the country was developing, how we got things done, how we planned, what our general policy was. All these things were known to the people who succeeded me, but they deliberately decided not to follow them.

“They wanted to establish a name for themselves, so to speak, to have their own legacy. But as it turned out, they failed very badly. Their legacy now is a kleptocracy, a government of thieves, and that is not something of an achievement.”

If Pakatan Harapan had been given five to 10 years in power, he claimed, it could have been able to elevate Malaysia to developed nation status and fulfil the aims laid out in 1991.

Vision 2020 encompassed a number of goals that Mahathir thought would make Malaysia a developed nation. These included the establishment of a fully moral and ethical society, a competitive economy and a mature democracy. - FMT