The founder of Vision 2020 and Bangsa Malaysia, Tun Mahathir Mohamad did the greatest disservice to both concepts this week when he questioned the loyalty of the Indian Malaysians and Chinese Malaysians to the country.
Is he suggesting that Datuk Seri Samy Vellu, who was in his Cabinet during the 22 years during his first premiership, was not loyal to Malaysia?
Were Lee San Choon, Ling Liong Sik, Lee Kim Sai, Ting Chew Peh, Lim
Ah Lek, Neo Yee Pan, Chong Hon Nyan, Chong Siang Sun, Ng Cheng Kiat, Richard Ho, Lim Keng Yaik, Paul Leong, Ong Kee Hui, Stephen Yong, Law Hieng Ding, who had served in his Cabinets, were not loyal to Malaysia?
It also raises the fundamental question whether Vision 2020 and Bangsa Malaysia were the path-breaking initiatives of the Mahathir premierships or whether it was a national fraud as the creator was not loyal to these concepts.
During his first 22-year or his second 22-month premiership, Mahathir never questioned the loyalty of the Indian Malaysians and Chinese Malaysians to the country.
In fact, in a speech in 1995, he said:
“There was fear among the people that they have to give up their own cultures, values and religions. This could not work, we believe that Bangsa Malaysia is the answer.”
Clearly, Mahathir was offering Malay nationalism and multi-culturalism as the basis of the construction of the Bangsa Malaysia.
This was what Mahathir said about ending the policy of assimilation (Time Magazine December 9, 1996):
Mahathir: The idea before was that people should become 100% Malay in order to be Malaysian. We now accept that this is a multi-racial country. We should build bridges instead of trying to remove completely the barriers separating us. We do not intend to convert all the Chinese to Islam, and we tell our people, the Muslims, ‘you will not try to force people to convert’.”
But both concepts of Vision 2020 and Bangsa Malaysia were classic failures, for all nine strategic challenges of Vision 2020 failed to materialize, in particular, the first challenge in establishing a united Malaysian nation with a sense of common and shared destiny – a nation at peace with itself, territorially and culturally integrated living in full and fair partnership.
Malaysia has never been so divided as in the recent past, where it had five Prime Ministers in five years and where the 3R issues of race, religion and royalty were exploited with the help of the lies, falsehoods, fake news an d hate speech in the social media to divide instead of uniting Malaysians.
However, another Minister during the entire span of the 22 years of the first Mahathir premiership, Rafidah Aziz redeemed the situation when she pointed out that Vision 2020 and Bangsa Malaysia encompassed the diverse racial and hereditary origins of all Malaysians and that there was no need for Malaysians to question one another on their loyalty and love for the nation.
For the last five years, there had been minimum talk about Malaysia’s future or the vision for the future.
We need a new vision to unite all Malaysians, regardless of race, language, religion or culture and ensure that Malaysia can rise up again to reverse the national decline of the past quarter of a century and be a great world-class nation.
Malaysia has no time for Mahathir as he is engrossed with a long forgotten past.
Malaysian must find its destiny in a new common vision for the future