THE best way to satisfy a multiracial country is to make sure no one is satisfied, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.

For Malaysia, strategy is important and that was why the country saw many visions but unfortunately, some of the visions overlapped, he said.

“But that was all right as long as the targets set out are achieved,” Dr Mahathir said.

“Our strategy depends largely on the stability and peace in the country and to do that, people have to be satisfied or more or less satisfied with what is happening in the country and with the governance of this country.

“The best way to satisfy a multiracial nation is to ensure that no one is happy. When you try to make any particular group happy, there are bound to be others who are not happy,” he said at the Malaysia Beyond 2020 conference today.

The prime minister said this meant the government has to give and take from all quarters.

It is also important for the country to have a clear strategy to achieve a goal, he said.

The recently launched Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 is actually a 40-year road map instead of a 10-year one, he said, as it serves as an extension of Vision 2020 mooted in the 1990s.

“Much as we may feel somewhat short-changed because some of the targets we set out in our Vision 2020 would not be achievable by next year, having been derailed by self-serving leaders, we do not have the luxury of time to reflect too much on it unless it is to figure out what went wrong and how to remedy them.

“In 1991, our nation had a dream, one which promised us holistic and comprehensive development that will place us on a par with the rest of the developed world.”

Dr Mahathir said it was not something far-fetched. When it was presented to the nation, it was already enjoying an all-round growth that could ensure the Vision 2020 dream could become a reality.

Vision 2020, he said, was a national strategy, a master plan, a blueprint that went beyond economic development and placed equal emphasis on turning Malaysia’s  political, institutional, societal, intellectual, emotional and spiritual development to be on a par with those that enjoyed by developed nations.

He added that although some of the targets would not be achievable by 2020, they have not been abandoned. – October 21, 2019.