Dr Mahathir pessimistic over 2020 target

SERI ISKANDAR: Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who mooted the idea of Vision 2020, does not think Malaysia can achieve developed nation status as planned.

He said the environment had changed since Vision 2020 was launched.

Noting that the nation had been achieving growth of 8% from 1987 up until the currency crisis in 1997, he said Malaysia had targeted an average 7% growth annually should it wish to realise Vision 2020.

“But we have not been growing at 7% per year and the likelihood is that we will not achieve 7% growth during the years before 2020.


Always popular: Universiti Teknologi Petronas students shaking hands with Dr Mahathir after his public lecture yesterday.

“I have my doubts about our being able to achieve Vision 2020 in terms of economic growth,” he told reporters at Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) here yesterday.

Earlier during a question-and-answer session at the end of his public lecture entitled Beyond Vision 2020, Dr Mahathir said Malaysia needed to change its course and adopt new strategies to become a developed nation.

“We are still sticking to the old strategies and these will not work in this period of time.

“For example, this country grew on the basis of foreign direct investments (FDIs) but we cannot expect any more FDIs simply because we have become a higher cost country,” he said.

Dr Mahathir, who is UTP Chancellor, in his lecture said it was difficult to imagine what the nation would be like in the future with rapid and drastic economic, social, political and environmental changes taking place in the world.

He also touched on the nation’s education system, saying that there were still many areas that were not effectively covered.

“The education system of any country should be a system that moulds the character and intelligence of the people. I don’t think we have used the education system as well as we should have.

Calling for its review, Dr Mahathir said views of the people, including teachers, should be listened to.

“The syllabus should also be looked into. Obviously, it determines what knowledge is acquired by our students and what should be the roles of the students when they become mature later on,” he added.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/4/23/nation/6113292&sec=nation