Young Malaysians plot path for nation’s future

At the event in Universiti Malaya, they discussed what they want their country to look like in 2050 – three decades of the Vision 2020 policy is implmented.
Their voices and the voices of 1.5 million other young people are being sought by the government to draft the 2050 National Transformation (TN50) policy document, in one of the country’s biggest policy formulation exercises to date.
The TN50 policy document will outline the economic, social, cultural and environmental targets Malaysia aims to achieve by 2050. 
“TN50 will seek to transform the country’s economy, citizens’ well-being, environment, technology, social interaction, governance and public administration,” said the Youth and Sports Ministry, which has been tasked with managing the conversation with the country’s younger generation via face-to-face and online sessions. 
Details on the TN50 rollout provided by the ministry outline a busy calendar of events this year under what it calls the “TN50 Conversations” – a process to discover the subjects and aspirations that matter to youth and other Malaysians. 
Prime Minister Najib Razak kicked off the process at the TN50 Dialog Perdana town hall session last night, where he gave a policy speech and engaged in a dialogue with participants. 
The town hall meeting was broadcast live on RTM, TV3 and Astro Awani. from 9pm to 10.30pm. It will be the first in a series that will be held nationwide. 
Other methods that will also be used to allow Malaysians to air their views include online “e-engagement” sessions as well as short film, drawing and essay competitions targeted at schools, universities and the public. 
Other segments of society, including women and the private sector, will also be invited to give feedback. 
Next year, experts will be called in to refine all the input. 
Ideas that make the cut will go into the TN50 policy document that Najib will unveil between late 2018 and early 2019.
The ministry said potential TN50 themes will be identified from all the feedback received. 
These general themes will then be analysed and turned into more specific targets for the country. 
A list of actions that the government needs to do to meet these targets will then be identified for eventual inclusion in the TN50 policy document. 
The prime minister has set a general goal for TN50, which is for Malaysia to become a top 20 country in the world by the year 2050. 
However, the ministry said Malaysians themselves will be asked to define and specify which areas the country should be considered top 20 within the next 33 years. 
Malaysia is 60th in terms of gross domestic product per capita in the world, 47th in the Earth Happiness Index and 35th in the Global Innovation Index in various rankings by international bodies, including the World Bank. 
While Vision 2020, unveiled in 1991, was a top-down policy where the government set the targets, TN50 will aim to be “a bottom-up expression of the people’s aspirations”, the ministry said.