On Malaysia Day, September 16, 2014, Youth Academy and Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) launched a consultation process called “Masa Depan Malaysia – MDM” (Future of Malaysia).
It is a series of consultations with stakeholders, especially civil society organisations (CSOs), business organisations and individuals aimed at producing a peoples’ document on the future direction of the nation. The document will be presented to the government and it is hoped that it will serve as input to be taken into account in the formation of nation-building policies and programmes.
The rationales of MDM are, firstly, that the country needs a new vision as a continuation of Vision 2020, and secondly, that the people have the right, responsibility and resources to play a pro-active and constructive role in the thinking and planning for a better Malaysia for all.
The consultation will involve various methods – for example, discussions, interviews, surveys, etc – and will be organised throughout the country. For now, we are planning to organise it until the end of the year.
The launch was conducted as a roundtable discussion. Thirty CSOs attended, including newly-styled student/youth groups – for example, Universiti Terbuka Anak Muda (Young People Open University), Buku Jalanan (Street Book), Sekolah Undang-undang Rakyat (People’s Law School), Sudut Kiri (Left Side), Mahasiswa Progresif (Progressive Students), YouthsToday, Thinklab, Faith Malaysia, Dapur Jalanan (Street Kitchen), RamadhanAid, Englishjer and Jordan Prisma Orator Club.
We also invite memorandums. The Malaysian Aids Council, for example, has sent its input in writing.
Stakeholders are also encouraged to organise their own consultations and submit to us their recommendations.
We also gather resolutions from seminars or conferences organised by, or in collaboration with, various stakeholders. Examples are a declaration from a programme called “Voices of Moderation” co-organised by GMM, The Star, Youth Academy and Taylor’s University on September 11, 2014 and ideas from Kolej Yayasan UEM (KYUEM) Summit on September 20, 2014 which was attended by delegates from KYS Business School, Taylor’s College Subang Jaya, Kolej Tuanku Jaafar and KYUEM.
Besides that, we provide space for online conversations. To date, we have started a Facebook page, www.facebook.com/MasaDepanMalaysia, and a Twitter hash tag, #MasaDepanMalaysia.
Based on the input thus far, the content of the MDM comprises the following:
- We need an honest evaluation on the nation’s current status (quantitatively and qualitatively). In some aspects, our success was better yesterday. Today can actually be better. And tomorrow, we are faced with more complex challenges.
- We should start by having a “new conversation”. A genuine new conversation can only happen when we widen the “public sphere” (Jurgen Habermas) and end the “culture of fear” (Frank Furedi) by upholding rights to information and freedom of speech and academic freedom. In this regard, the Sedition Act must be repealed.
- We must be brave and bold to ask the hard questions, make difficult decisions and take impactful actions.
- We need to define our real goal, for example, establishing a “good society” or a “great nation” that is based on happiness and achieved through fundamental thrusts: shared values, knowledge culture, civilisational, unity, social justice, democratic principles, meritocracy, opportunity, etc. The goals must be in accordance with and taking into account the pillars of the nation: federal constitution, Malaysia Agreement, Rukunegara, social contract, history, culture, etc.
- There are many aspects in nation-building. Education is premium. Foreign policy is becoming more important.
- We need to continue with the democratisation process, ie. the positive outcomes of the contestation between “transformation” vs “reformation” and between “developmental hopes” vs “democratic hopes” that hopefully will result in new politics (political integrity, new governance framework, innovations in democracy and progressive political thoughts) towards a more mature Malaysian democracy.
- There is a dire need to emphasise “inclusive development”, for example, a migration from “race-based policies” to more of a “needs-based policies”, and that the inclusive principle of the New Economic Model (NEM) be re-launched.
- Use “moderation” (“middle path”, “balanced way”) as the major approach in nation-building. In the context of national unity, a majority of Malaysians are moderates. The moderates must speak up in order to drown the voices of the extremists.
- We should embark on another level of transformation, ie. “transforming institutions”. The current transformation programmes are comprehensive and produce most of the desired outcomes. But the institutions as a whole are not yet transformed. Talents, leaders and programmes matter. But even those need an institutional framework to turn and optimise them into a positive force and to ensure sustainability. Hence, we need to comprehensively transform our political, economic and socio-cultural institutions.
Finally, MDM is not about numbers, rankings and ratings. It is about the people, full stop. – September 26, 2014.
* Saifuddin Abdullah is chairman of Youth Academy and CEO of Global Movement of Moderates. He is active on Twitter (@saifuddinabd).
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.
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