Introduction

Vision 2020 or Wawasan 2020 is a Malaysian ideal introduced by the former Prime Minister
of Malaysia, Mahathir bin Mohamad. The vision calls for the nation to achieve a selfsufficient industrialized nation by the year 2020 and encompasses all aspects of life, from
economic prosperity, social well-being, world-class education, political stability, as well as
psychological balance. The main idea is that, by the year 2020, Malaysia can be a united
nation, with a confident Malaysian society, infused by strong moral and ethical values, living
in a society that is democratic, liberal and tolerant, caring, economically just and equitable,
progressive and prosperous, and in full possession of an economy that is competitive,
dynamic, robust and resilient. When Vision 2020 was introduced during the tabling of the
Sixth Malaysia Plan in 1991, Mahatir identified nine strategic challenges which must be
overcome if Malaysia wants to achieve Vision 2020.
These 9 challenges are:

Challenge 1: Establishing a united Malaysian nation made up of one Bangsa Malaysia

(Malaysian Race).

Challenge 2: Creating a psychologically liberated, secure and developed Malaysian

society.

Challenge 3: Fostering and developing a mature democratic society.

Challenge 4: Establishing a fully moral and ethical society.

Challenge 5: Establishing a matured liberal and tolerant society.

Challenge 6: Establishing a scientific and progressive society.

Challenge 7: Establishing a fully caring society.

Challenge 8: Ensuring an economically just society, in which there is a fair and

equitable distribution of the wealth of the nation.

Challenge 9: Establishing a prosperous society with an economy that is fully

competitive, dynamic, robust and resilient.

However, in recent times, there has been a lot of doubts as to Vision 2020 can be achieved or
not. According to Dr.Mahatir, the architect of Vision 2020, the Malaysian government is more
focused on Datuk Seri Najib Razak as prime minister, rather than placing importance on
national development. (Ng, E., 2015) Also, in view of changing global conditions amid
the Financial crisis of 20072010, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had in August 2009, said that
there was a need to redefine and recalibrate the vision in terms of how to achieve it, as well as
its timeline. Najib also mentioned that in order to achieve vision 2020, the country had to grow
at an annual rate of 8% and that even a lower hypothetical growth of 6% would delay the vision
by 10 years.
Therefore, in this essay, we will be looking into Vision 2020 in depth and analyze how much
progress has been made to actually achieve this goal.

References
Ng, E. (2015) Dr Mahathir doubts Malaysia will achieve Vision 2020, : The Malaysian Insider.
Wawasan 2020 (2008) Malaysia As A Fully Developed Country - One Definition
TallyPress (2015) 9 Challenges Stopping Malaysia from Achieving Wawasan 2020, : Vulcan Post.