CONTRARY to popular opinion, I believe we have already achieved Wawasan 2020.

We need to realign our perspective and expectations of what a “developed” nation meant when the vision was conceived, and compare it to what such a nation looks like now. “Developed” nations are untangling as we speak, and the systems supporting the status quo in the West throughout the past century seem to have run their course. To me, an ordinary tax-paying, law-abiding citizen, the proof is all around us, in plain sight in our everyday lives.

I’m a fan of Malaysian Politics – the capitalisation is intentional, referring to our spectatorship akin to that of a TV show. I’ve been following this show since the late 1990s, when I was a university student in Australia.

I recall the reports carried by Australian media on the first Reformasi protests at Dataran Merdeka. The reporting painted a grave picture of the situation, with close-up shots of protesters being hauled into Black Marias, and red Federal Reserve Unit trucks firing water cannons on everyone in sight. I panicked and called home, and my parents told me that they were on a grocery run. As dramatic and important as the unfolding events were, they were happening only in a particular part of the capital.

My generation had never expected street protests in our backyard to play out on TV. Who needs Netflix when you have Malaysian news?

To add some context, I am of the Wawasan generation, i.e. the generation that was fed a steady diet of the Malaysian Dream in classrooms in the 1980s, and witnessed Dr Mahathir Mohamad driving the first Proton Saga across the newly constructed Penang Bridge. I grew up watching with my late Atuk Berita Dunia Jam 10, presented by the inimitable news anchor Farit Ismeth Emir with his stoic eyes and baritone drawl. In that half-hour segment, I learnt about a world in shambles: tornados in the US, militias in South America, floods in neighbouring Southeast Asian countries, war in Africa and governments crumbling in Europe. In Malaysia, all was rosy, and Dr Mahathir was the central figure of our relative peace and prosperity.

As the years went by, I got intrigued by what was going on behind the political scene, and started to really dig into the news before heading abroad. I still considered myself apolitical, but in a period of impending enlightenment.

I remember reading a Time magazine article on Anwar Ibrahim, hinting at him becoming “the next Malaysian prime minister”. Then came the economic crash of the late 1990s, and boy, did the show take a sharp turn. It left even a young spectator like me perplexed… and hooked.

This politicised my generation – the cauldron was boiling and the scum rose to the top – and we finally saw Malaysia’s warts and all. For the first time, we beheld the country in all its glory and ugliness – when you love somebody, you love them for their virtues and shortcomings. That is true love. And after knowing where the leaks are, we can start plugging them.

Wawasan 2020 is an ideal, something to attain, and not a product that can be scrutinised in a physical, reductive way. It’s a journey, not a destination.

We have achieved Wawasan while heading towards it over the last two decades: a more robust and vocal civil society, a noisy (and let’s face it, entertaining) democracy, elections that serve their function (still imperfect, but we’re getting there), a stronger sense of ownership of the nation, and expensive coffee that costs as much as your lunch (not sure if this is a hallmark of all developing countries, though).

The current political impasse is part of the journey. Malaysia is a teenager, folks, not yet an adult. It’s still finding itself, mood swings, sulking and all. But, we still love each other to bits, and love is the acceptance of who we are, not who we think we might become. – February 28, 2020.

* Azmyl Yunor is a touring underground recording artiste, and an academic in media and cultural studies. He has published articles on pop culture, subcultures and Malaysian cultural politics. He adheres to the three-chords-and-the-truth school of songwriting, and Woody Guthrie’s maxim “All you can write is what you see”. He is @azmyl on Twitter.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.