As Najib has failed not only the nine strategic objectives of Vision 2020, but also Rukunegara and bedrock Constitutional principles, his Vision 2050 in NT 2050 cannot be anything exciting to shout about
Today is Dōngzhì (literally: "the arrival of winter") or Winter Solstice Festival, where the Northern hemisphere has the shortest daytime and longest nighttime.
Traditionally for the Chinese, the Dongzhi Festival is a time for the family to get together for the making and eating of tangyuan (湯圓), which symbolizes reunion.
In four days times, Christians in Malaysia will celebrate Christmas.
Just over a week ago, Muslims in Malaysia celebrated Maulidur Rasul and at the end of October Hindus celebrated Deepavali.
This is the best time for Malaysians to reaffirm our uniqueness and strength, which lies in the diversity of our multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-religious society, especially as in recent years, the voices of extremism and intolerance of the diverse races, languages, cultures and religions in Malaysia seem to be gaining traction, causing Malaysians to suffer the worst racial and religious polarisation in the nation’s history.
Malaysians should go back to the founding principles of our Constitution and nation-building process if we want to break away from the present trajectory towards a failed and rogue state – the building of a united, harmonious, democratic, secular, progressive and liberal Malaysia.
The first and third Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Hussein Onn, were particularly concerned that Malaysia should not waver from our founding principle to be a secular nation with Islam as the official religion and freedom of religion in the country; while the second Prime Minister, Tun Razak (Najib’s father) wanted to highlight Malaysia’s commitment to be a liberal Malaysia, embedding in the Rukunegara the objective “to ensure a liberal approach to her rich and diverse cultural traditions”.
But the sixth Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, have undone what the first three Prime Ministers had done when in his UMNO Presidential speech on Nov. 30, he virtually turned the two words, “secular” and “liberal”, into dirty words threatening not only the fabric of Malaysian society but the very survival of the Malay race.
This is of course not the case, unless we want to rewrite history and place the first three Prime Ministers in the rogues’ gallery instead of among the pantheon of Malaysia’s national father figures.
Najib has not only failed Rukunegara, which is an important legacy left the country by his father Tun Razak, he has also failed the Vision 2020 objective presented by the fourth Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir in 1991.
Vision 2020 is aimed at transforming Malaysia into a fully developed nation by the year 2020, not just in the economic sense, but encompassing all aspects of life.
But Malaysia will fail to achieve Vision 2020 with four years left to 2020 – and in all the nine strategic challenges outlined by Mahathir in 1991, viz:
- Establishing a united Malaysian nation made up of one Bangsa Malaysia (Malaysian Race).
- Creating a psychologically liberated, secure and developed Malaysian society.
- Fostering and developing a mature democratic society.
- Establishing a fully moral and ethical society.
- Establishing a matured liberal and tolerant society.
- Establishing a scientific and progressive society.
- Establishing a fully caring society.
- Ensuring an economically just society, in which there is a fair and equitable distribution of the wealth of the nation.
- Establishing a prosperous society with an economy that is fully competitive, dynamic, robust and resilient.
Is Malaysia more united, harmonious, democratic, secular, progressive and liberal than in the early decades of the nation’s independence.
The answer on all counts must be a sad “NO”, despite the 1Malaysia objective enunciated by Datuk Seri Najib when he became the sixth Prime Minister in April 2009.
As Najib has failed all the nine strategic challenges in Vision 2020, as well as Rukunegara and the bedrock principles in the Constitution, his Vision 2050 in National Transformation (NT) 2050 cannot be anything exciting to shout about.
We must save Malaysia, but to accomplish this goal, we need a nation-wide movement to launch a national campaign to rediscover our national identity, commitment and nation-building principles as laid out in the Constitution, the Rukunegara and Vision 2020.