Wawasan 2020 was coined by the likes of the late Noordin Sopiee and Rustam Sani.
They coined Wawasan 2020 in 1990 with one vision in mind: to give Malaysia a perfect vision forward. Regardless of the partisan divide, all Malaysians embraced it.
Be it MCA or DAP, there was nary a dissent against such a view, articulated by then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the Malaysian Business Council.
Among the list of goals was a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.5% each year to double the size of the Malaysian GDP every decade.
This did not happen and Wawasan 2020 (Vision 2020) has to be pushed back to 2025, no thanks to the alleged kleptocracy of former prime minister Najib Razak that has had Malaysia hammered to the wall of debt.
Regardless of the “tsunami” that wrested power from the hands of Umno and Barisan National, the grip of the old government was still strong.
It needed policy-preneurs and strategists across all parties that formed Pakatan Harapan and, more importantly, deep connections to civil society organisations, even overseas Malaysians, who have never renounced their ties and sentiments to Malaysia, be they in Hong Kong, Hanoi or Hannover.
Take footballer Lim Teong Kim for example. He could have made his bread, forever, in Bayern Munich. But the Malacca-born Teong Kim returned home to spearhead the growth of Malaysian youth football. Why would the likes of Teong Kim return? The reason was Malaysia. We feel at home to serve the country well.
When people like me talked about the groundswell feeling against Pakatan Harapan, after losing by-elections in Cameron Highlands and Semenyih, we did it out of sheer passion for the country to set the country right.
Blockchain technology, for example, is not just cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, which Bank Negara has banned. Blockchain technology, which is increasingly favoured in Japan, the land to which Malaysia is supposed to Look East to, is also gaining in prominence in China and South Korea, too.
All exports, be they bird nests or the certificates of education or even Bahasa Malaysia or khat can be blockchained and certified by keying in a series of alphabets.
Malaysia is still stuck in the mindset of 4G, when the world has moved to 5G; with a caveat whether we want to put all our faith in Huawei or something else.
The point is simple: countries don’t grow unless there are strategists of all shades and background to put their minds together. As a policy strategist of PPBM, my job is to provide critical analysis and the brutal truth to steer the country forward.
The seven academicians who once helped Emir Research, which I founded, to get the electoral analysis in 2018 right, can get the election analysis for 2023, or sooner, right again. Privacy and exclusivity do not allow me to name them individually.
But one day, history will rename them as visionaries, too. There are countless other Malaysians who put on their thinking hats that created Bersih I to V to tilt the balance against Umno and PAS, too. No one leader did it on his own.
If the focus is on the National Economic Policy, it was a team effort since 1998 or 1970, even earlier when the late Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tan Cheng Lock and VT Sambanthan went to London to lay the ground for independence. Even Lee Kuan Yew, prior to the separation of Singapore from Malaysia in 1965, played a role.
Pakatan Harapan will be in trouble when the leaders do not do three things — ignore the PH election manifesto, conceived by the strategists through laborious constructive engagements with all stakeholders and research; form parliamentary select committees mapped out by forward-looking thinkers; and do not listen to the PH Presidential Council. Indeed, some intentionally absent themselves from the meetings, either at the PH or party level.
All strategists, according to Carl von Clausewitz, a German military expert in the 19th century, will find that their “strategies” will face “fritchon” (friction).
One of these “frictions” is the difficulty of putting into practice the strategies when the top or middle-management do not listen fully.
Thus, the strategy drawn up becomes just a document that faces enormous resistance even from the word get-go.
PPBM has that problem, as does DAP.
Liew Chin Tong, a top strategist of the party, affirmed clearly that there was a “swing” of 20% of the votes against Barisan National and Umno in 2018.
But he finally admitted that these votes were not due to the love for PH, but the loathing for the former “first couple” in the previous administration.
PPBM is a party that seems to want to move Malaysia forward on freedom of ideas, contestation of ideas, a new manifesto and a solid Vision 2025.
But it would not be correct to have the top leadership of PPBM chastising people who are sensing the gloom and doom of PH.
When New York University economist Nouriel Roubini foresaw the Asian financial crisis, he was not dismissed as a quack. When Urjit Patel, former Reserve Bank of India governor, was dismissed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2018, he left quietly.
Professor KS Jomo, in Malaysia, is also warning of the headwinds to be faced by Malaysia. The same goes for Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, who has warned of erosion of support for PH.
Thus, there is constant need for an optical correction by speaking the truth; even if this has to be spoken to the powers that be within the ranks of the government.
This is for the good of Malaysia, especially when we are celebrating our Independence Day on Aug 31.
The fact that many have started asking tough questions on the direction of this nation is a sign that many are not in favour of the new Malaysia which PH is trying to create.
I have delivered a wake-up call that is not fully formed in the minds of many. The last thing anyone should do is to shoot down the messenger.
Strategists are the early warning predictors. And, if we have got it right before, despite what other political scientists were saying, we will get it right again as our methods are numerically and methodologically rigorous.
Happy 62nd Independence Day!
Rais Hussin is head of PPBM’s policy and strategy bureau.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.