SO, the last day of 2020 has come and gone. It was just another ordinary day, were it not for the existing threat of Covid-19 infection looming over us as we ran our mundane chores.

Few would probably realise that not only did it mark the end of the year, but it also symbolised the end of the long-forgotten dream of Vision 2020 at the same time – that at the end of the day, it remained to be what its name suggested, merely a vision.

Truth be told, I have never really caught on to the idea of the grand vision since it was introduced in 1991 by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

As a 15-year-old schoolboy who was more concerned about my studies, social life, and family back then, the vision which was designed to span across the three decades to come was too far removed from my private life.

What was vaguely retained were a couple of key terms such as “developed nation” or “high-income country”; what had eluded my attention was the fact that the vision was intended to be a major agenda of nation-building, with a renewed attempt to engineer a national identity – Bangsa Malaysia.

Of course, nation-building and forging a nation united under a shared identity is nothing new. Since the formation of Malaysia in 1963, the country has continued the agenda through the adoption of numerous Malaysia Plans, Rukun Negara, NEP and NIP.

Under Vision 2020 alone, there are three sub 10-year development policies: National Development Policy 1991-2000 with OPP2, National Vision Policy 2001-2010 with OPP3 and New Economic Model 2011-2020 with National Transformation Programme NTP and UTP.

But now that I have taken more interests in understanding social and political issues and have acquired the ability to comprehend these well-crafted plans, I have also learned to take the call for national unity with a pinch of salt.

It is not that I hold a different set of values which conflict with those who advocate the idea of nation-building and identity. It is because I lack the confidence and trust that our government can implement policies effectively and deliver desirable outcomes as intended.

In the chapter titled “The Politics of Malaysia’s B40” from the book Regime Resilience in Malaysia and Singapore, Steven C.M. Wong wrote:

“In 2013 the government had taken pride in announcing that average monthly incomes had doubled to RM 5,000 in 2012 from around RM 2,500 a decade or so earlier. They did not trumpet the fact that 71% of households earned less than the RM5,000 average, with 52% earning less than RM 3,000 a month. In the B40 cohort, numbering 2.6 million households in 2012, the average income was RM3,050 a month or an average RM1,847 a month per income earner… Another way to show the stark unevenness is to examine the share of total household income. The B40 accounted for just 14.8% of the total, whereas the top 20 households garnered 48.6%. The middle 40% share was the balance of 36.6%.

“As recent as 2019, 5.6% of our households currently lived under absolute poverty, and a further 16.9% were relatively poor. Meanwhile, 75% of Malaysians find it difficult to raise RM1,000 cash for immediate emergencies.”

Anyone who has true concern for nation-building should take a step back and reflect: how did we end up at this point where after decades of development, millions of citizens are still left behind? How can we as a country foster a sense of belonging when so many are still struggling to live without dignity? How could we cheer for a nation that is built on marginalising a part of the population?

Perhaps one of the reasons is that a policy can only be as good as the best politician can be. More than once, Malaysians have seen political elites misappropriating public funds meant for development of infrastructure, or policies designed to trigger economic growth to serve personal or political interests.

In the absence of good governance that ensures transparency and accountability, the top-down approach with a few ruling elites playing a dominating role has opened ample opportunities for abuse of power, breach of trust and money-laundering, such as the 1MDB scandal has revealed.

The Global Financial Integrity report revealed RM1.8 trillion illicit financial flow between 2005 and 2014 alone, of which some was corruption related.

Wong in the same article offered another explanation, that the trickle-down model of economic growth has mainly benefited the top 20%, with little effect on the bottom 40%:

“Under Najib Razak’s Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), economic growth was given much higher priority, but still appeared to rely on trickle-down effects to distribute the gains. Criticisms were heard that the ETP would not significantly change the Malay-Bumiputera working-class and marginalised communities, and the Najib administration was pressured to respond with the creation of two new institutions, Unit Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera (Teraju), to look after Bumiputera economic interests, and Ekuiti Nasional Berhad (Ekuinas), a government-funded Bumiputera private equity firm.”

It was not until the situation became clear to the Najib administration that B40’s support was essential to Barisan Nasional’s retention of power did it begin to channel aid funds directly to these groups under Bantuan Rakyat 1 Malaysia. It seems like social critic Noam Chomsky was right once again, that power systems do not give gifts willingly.

So even as Vision 2020 was replaced with Shared Prosperity 2030, I have little reason to cheer it on until it translates into policies, which actually should start with lifting the millions who are currently living under poverty lines.

What I will cheer on for is any effort that demands good governance with transparency and accountability; and efforts which scrutinise politicians or political parties not by the plans or manifestos they so expertly crafted but by the outcomes that they have delivered.

Drive the government into one that is more responsible, clean and just. That would be a nation-building effort worth fighting for. – January 4, 2021.

* Chan Yit Fei is a founding member of Agora Society. He is a cellist and educator by profession, and a biotechnologist by training. He writes to learn and to think, and most importantly, to force himself to finish reading books that would otherwise not see much of the light of day.

* 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.