The Year 2020

There was much excitement in Malaysia when Vision 2020 was unveiled some 30 years ago. Vision 2020 was heralded as the game changer that would hugely transform the Malaysian economy. There was much hope — not to mention the hype — that Malaysia could finally take off on a long ambitious journey towards the coveted developed-country status.

It even seemed easily doable in the early 1990s when the Malaysian economy was flying high at near-double-digit GDP growth rates. Calculations showed that it would take annual GDP growth of only 7%, on average, for the country to reach the high-income goal. The…