A shared vision for the future
Najib: Young Malaysians will be behind plans for country’s new roadmap
As the nation enters its 60th year of independence, it is now time to set the direction for the next 30 years, says Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. And the people who should do so are not just the leaders but also the youth. ‘I want this new vision to come from the people, so you have a sense of ownership and belonging. It is only a shared vision if it comes from all of us,’ the Prime Minister told 500 youths at the launch of the 2050 National Transformation ( TN50) policy.
PETALING
JAYA: The 2050 National Transformation (TN50) policy will be a shared vision that will give everyone, especially young Malaysians, an opportunity to shape the nation in the years to come.
This, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, is because 2050 belongs to young Malaysians.
“I do not want to get up on a platform and just deliver a speech and ask the people to accept that as their vision. I want this new vision to come from the people, so you have a sense of ownership and belonging.
“It is only a shared vision if it comes from all of us,” he said at the launch of TN50 at the Dewan Tunku Canselor Universiti Malaya last night in front of 500 young Malaysians.
The TN50 is Malaysia’s roadmap for the next 33 years.
Najib stressed that as a leader, it was important to listen to the views of the people who could help shape the future of the country.
He added that many things had changed in the last 60 years since Malaysia attained independence. As such, it was pertinent to look at the next 30 years that would shape the country’s future.
Relating his own childhood experiences, Najib said his late father, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, used to tell him stories of his younger days.
Najib said that despite coming from an aristocratic family, Abdul Razak still had to go to school bare- foot and did his arithmetic on sand.
“That’s because we were a poor country then. Even I did not have an easy life.
“When I went to school, I was only given 30 sen as pocket money, I used to cycle from Seri Perdana to Tang Ling Hospital to buy nasi lemak.
“I remember the old man who sold nasi lemak under the cherry tree for 30 sen, but if you wanted the sotong and daging (squid and meat), it cost 50 sen.
“But that is in the past. Things have changed today and this is a reminder, we have come a long way,” he said.
Najib explained that TN50 would take time to bear fruit, likening it to the New Economic Policy (NEP) which started in the 1970s and Vision 2020 that followed.
“The world will change radically in the next 30 years, so the time is right for us to look into the future. We begin so with this dialogue tonight (yesterday),” he said, adding that it was a historic and meaningful moment for all Malaysians.
Najib said that when he came into power in 2009, the MRT was merely a plan on paper, but six years down the road, the first phase had been completed and was now running.
Similarly, projects such as the High-Speed Rail, which will link Malaysia and Singapore, the Pan Borneo Highway and the East Coast Rail Line are among the visions for the country.
“This is all in our capacity as a nation. We can do it if we own this vision through proper planning. In the last 60 years, we have delivered,” he said.
Najib outlined two medium-term goals – to grow the economy from RM1.3 trillion today to RM2 trillion in eight years.
The second goal is for Malaysia to be a top 20 nation in the world. However, Najib said the rankings could be measured in terms of the gross domestic product (GDP) or the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).
He said in terms of PPP, Malaysia is higher, standing at about US$24,000 (RM106,770) while at GDP, it was at US$10,000 (RM44,500) per capita.
“We also want to measure public happiness, but we cannot measure private happiness,” he quipped.
Najib said it could also be measured in terms of innovative or creative indices.
“I only mentioned these for now because I want a bottom-up approach, I want it to come from all of you.
“Our journey has started,” he added.