Vision 2020 will be a failure because of Tun Mahathir - Musa Hitam

Former Deputy Prime Minister Tun Musa Hitam said that Vision 2020 will be a failure and has blamed it on former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

According to Musa, as brilliant as Dr Mahathir was, he forgot that in order to make Vision 2020 a success, he needed to train leaders, especially political leaders, at all levels.

However, Musa said that Dr Mahathir’s leadership record shows that he had removed many potential leaders when he was in power.

“Dr Mahathir had removed many potential leaders one by one and by group and retained his loyal followers instead.

“These followers are trained to be dedicated and loyal to whoever sits at the very top. The principle is as simple as that. They just have to be loyal if they want to survive,” said Musa in his speech at the commemoration of the 113th birthday of Malaysia’s first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, organised by the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) yesterday.

Musa also expressed his disappointment at the country’s current political situation.

He said that Vision 2020, to be achieved in four years’ time, is now falling apart and doomed.

Dr Mahathir had announced Vision 2020 when tabling the Sixth Malaysia Plan in 1991. It was aimed to transform Malaysia into a developed nation.

In June last year, Dr Mahathir said he did not expect Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s administration to achieve Vision 2020, claiming that the government was focusing too much on using per capita income to measure development.

Before this, Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak also said Vision 2020 will be a failure because Dr Mahathir had failed to take into consideration economic factors and financial crises when he mooted the idea.