ON Sept 16, 2023, our nation Malaysia turned 60. It is our diamond jubilee year. For 60 years, we have been together as a nation. We have been through thick and thin in building our nation to be progressive and prosperous.
We have introduced many plans and blueprints to guide our journey towards prosperity. Many have lost count of the number of strategic initiatives that we have launched to make our nation great.
We know we are blessed with many resources which others see as our advantage. Many countries are envious of our natural assets. We have petroleum deposits that have delivered us wealth. We have a climate which is very suitable for agriculture.
Water is not a problem since every year we receive much from the monsoons. Our crops, namely rubber and oil palm, have achieved world-class status. We are among the 12 nations of the world rich in biodiversity.
We are not in the direct path of the major natural disasters of the earth. What more do we need?
We are ahead of many others in terms of the natural assets that would naturally propel progress as a nation. But, many are asking, why are we still considered among the laggards of the global economy?
Despite all the economic transformation plans that we have embraced, why are we still stuck in the middle-income trap? Why are we still talking about food security when we have at our disposal all the prerequisites for producing enough food?
What has happened to all the agricultural plans to increase food production? Do we know why we have failed when many others will fewer assets succeeded? Have we truly capitalised on the riches that we gained from our oil? Have we invested such wealth wisely?
Or, have they all been wasted on the wrong investment? It is supposedly so because many of our people are still poor. Our farmers are poor while their produce creates riches for the nation.
Rightfully, if the wealth has been well distributed, poverty should have been history long ago.
Is it because of the toxic politics that we have failed to capitalise and benefit from our natural treasures? Some say the many plans that we have launched failed miserably at implementation. Do we know why?
Our leaders blame our lack of collaboration for the failed blueprints. Our agencies and ministries mostly operate in silos. Each wants to be a better champion than another. This may explain the fact that often we have technology blueprints hosted by one ministry but duplicated in another.
Our leaders always cite the divide-and-rule tactics of the colonial powers as retrogressive for the nation. Are they not repeating those tactics? Why do we continue to vote those with that colonial mindset into power? They say one thing but do another.
Do we not realise that the progress in the economy we have so far achieved is owed to our diversity in people? If we look around, most of the developed economies around the world achieve progress because of people diversity.
It can be diversity in culture, ethnicity, religion, talent, and more. We always hail the power of biodiversity in keeping the world intact. However, we do not appreciate the same potential of people diversity.
It baffles many to watch such double-standard leaders preaching aspiring words for togetherness but practising divisiveness.
Many among such leaders continue to galvanise sizable support from the people. Even the intellectuals among us dare not raise constructive narratives to make the public understand the negative consequences of such misplaced support.
We are fortunate to have our own Datuk Lat, a cartoonist who has gained much international repute through his creative art. He has come up with a very apt tagline for Malaysia Day 2023 — "We are greater together".
Many see that as a timely message for all Malaysians as the country continues to miss many opportunities because of divisiveness. Let us hope and pray that our leaders, especially the young upcoming ones, see the value of that calling.
Many agree there is not much we can do with the ageing and stubborn leaders stuck with their refusal to admit that harmony is the real recipe for progress.
The writer is a professor at the Tan Sri Omar Centre for STI Policy, UCSI University
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times
