Ms. Elizabeth Lee, the Executive Director of Sunway University College

Global competitiveness, high income economy and Vision 2020 were discussed by three panelists at the ‘Malaysia in A Globalised World: A Forum for Greater Understanding’ on 24^th September 2010 at Sunway University College in Petaling Jaya, in conjunction with the Perdana Leadership Foundation – MPH Essay Competition 2010, opened to all Malaysians aged 18 and 25 and closed on 31^st October 2010. More than 60 people attended the Forum which included Sunway University students, lecturers and administrative staff as well as  members of the public.

Ms. Elizabeth Lee, the Executive Director of Sunway University College applauded the Foundation’s effort to organise an essay writing contest for Malaysian students as well as its initiative to collaborate with higher learning institutions in Malaysia to organise the Essay Competition Forums in her opening speech. The speakers at the Forum were Ms. Olivia Tan Swee Leng, Australian Degree Programme Law lecturer, Sunway University College, Mr. Tan Seng Lee, representing Sunway University College School of Business and a special guest, Datuk A. Kadir Jasin, Editor-in-Chief, Berita Publishing. The discussion was moderated by Associate Professor Dr. Foo Yin Fah, the Head of School of Business, Sunway University College.

Ms. Olivia Tan

The first panelist, Ms. Olivia Tan, informed the audience that Malaysia’s global competitiveness ranking had dropped from 24^th in 2009 to 26^th place among 139 countries in September 2010, based on the World Economic Forum’s Competitiveness Report. Ms Olivia went on to explain that Switzerland, Sweden, Singapore place at the top three, based on 12 pillars of competitiveness and commented that Malaysia did well in most pillars except on the aspects security and higher education. She also suggested the Malaysia needed to improve the quality of its higher education to boost its ranking position.

Mr. Tan Seng Lee

Mr. Tan Seng Lee briefed the audience on the topic, “A Panacea for Malaysia”, his views on Malaysia’s journey to become a high income economy. He began his topic by highlighting the four pillars of national transformation; 1Malaysia, Government Transformation Plan (GTP), Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) and the 10^th Malaysian Plan under Dato’ Sri Najib Razak’s administration. Mr. Tan highlighted that corruption is often cited as the main reason Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) deteriorated since 1998. Innovation is key to strengthening the economy but the latest survey shows a weak level of domestic innovation and a low ratio of researchers.

Datuk A. Kadir Jasin

The last speaker was the highlight of the Forum as the audience was eager to listen to his experience and views on Vision 2020. Datuk A. Kadir Jasin, former Editor-in-Chief of the New Straits Times and the Editor-in-Chief of Berita Publishing narrated how Vision 2020 was introduced during a speech, “The Way Forward”   by the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in 1991 to the Malaysian Business Council, and was a thirty-year goal for Malaysia to become a developed nation. He quoted a paragraph from the original document, addressed to future Malaysians where Dr. Mahathir said that the key challenge of Vision 2020 was to become a developed nation in “our own mould” and the country should not be developed in only the economic sense, but in all dimensions, including in terms of  national unity and also social justice.

Associate Professor Dr. Foo Yin Fah moderating the Forum

Malaysia should be a truly united nation and to achieve this, he stressed on the nine challenges of Vision 2020 <please link to the nine challenges>. He also shared his personal views on Malaysia, and reminded the young audience to be optimistic about Malaysia, which, according to him, “is not a bad country”. Datuk Kadir also said Vision 2020 is a reasonable goal document, but Malaysia had encountered unexpected, unprecedented economic crises, and thus its target of 7% or more growth a year towards achieving Vision 2020 has not been met.

During Q&A

A dialogue session was then held between the panelists and the audience, where the subjects of 1Malaysia (the panelists agreed that what was needed was an elaboration of the concept by the government), the progress of Malaysia towards achieving goals of Vision 2020 (the economic crises of 1997 and 2008 had slowed down Malaysia’s progress considerably), poverty and income inequality in Malaysia (all agreed that these issues must be tackled effectively by the government so that economic growth would be shared more equitably amongst Malaysians) were brought up. Essay writing tipswere also part of the discussions (clear and direct points, solid research and evidence of critical thought are much sought after by the judges!).

Puan Zarina Abu Bakar and Ms. Elizabeth Lee

The Forum exposed the attendees to issues of national concern, some for the first time. Through the Forums and the Competition, the Foundation hopes to stir up thoughts and ideas on the essay competition issues amongst young Malaysians.