A new transformation plan for Malaysia, announced during the tabling of the 2017 Federal Budget in October last year, is set to be the new ‘vision’ to bring the country into a ‘nation of calibre, with a new mindset’. Named Transformasi Nasional (TN50), the plan will be the country’s roadmap for the next 30 years post-2020.

A series of national discourses with the ‘younger generation’ of Malaysians are expected to take place leading up to the development of TN50’s policy document. The objective of these discourses is to include the opinions of over 1.5 million Malaysian youths in creating the direction of the nation’s transformation plan.

The first dialogue session involving 500 young Malaysians took place in mid-January 2017 and issues related to the economy, government administration, education and national unity were among those brought up. In the context for education, Malaysian youths stressed that they hoped for:

• A more transparent and accessible education system beyond race, creed and colour
• A move from an exam-oriented to a more industry-led education system
• A globalised education system which focuses on creativity, innovation and thinking skills

The Prime Minister concurred with the youths and stressed the importance of thinking skills and creativity syllabus being implemented in schools nationwide. The Prime Minister has also called for Malaysian youths to be prepared for jobs of the future which may not yet be in existence including data sciences and digital technology, in which the country lacks but is set to grow. The digital economy is one of the key areas Malaysia is set to focus on, with a MYR 162 million allocation in the 2017 Federal Budget to develop the Digital Maker Movement and a Digital Free Zone.

Vision 2020 was developed by Malaysia’s former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mathathir Mohamed in 1990, replacing the New Economic Policy (NEP). The ambition then was for Malaysia to become a progressive and fully-developed nation by the year 2020, which the country is reported to be on-track to achieve. With Vision 2020 due to be coming to an end, the current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak launched the TN50 as a roadmap to bring the country forward post-2020, with the ambition of placing Malaysia as the top 20 nations of the world by 2050.

The key difference between both transformation plans is of course, in the development and implementation of the plans. While Vision 2020 had used a top-down approach, where the government sets the targets, TN50 utilises a bottom-up with a focus on how the future generation can contribute and lead in the nation’s transformation. The draft policy document is expected to be ready by early 2019, before 2020.

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