Gear in Reverse, or N?

I'm currently reading 'The Malaysian Way of Life' by Julian C. H. Lee and now is on the politics section of the book. Rather than delving straight into the flaws of Malaysian politics, the author for each articles within the politics section who are mostly anthropologist used a twist of wider analogy to explain about how things are presently in regards to the political scene and the effects of past years' decisions on the current scenario.

Among the thing I recalled from the articles was how theme parks in Malaysia were made to feature the country as a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society but if we dig deeper into these theme parks we are to discover how it's mostly made to represent the major ethnic in Malaysia. Not that I'm being bias or betraying my own race, but to showcase our own country's cultural values to the foreigners, we must have equal proportions of display that exhibits and represents the whole country's citizens and if a thorough and proper planning were made prior to the building of these theme parks, it would eventually manage to bring that equal distribution into play and henceforth provide a stronger and more solid foundation for multi-cultural integration between the now increasingly apparent disparity among Malaysians of different races.

Another article touched specifically on the post title which revolves around the policies and development plans that have been devised to help move the country towards a developed nation. Since our forefathers, the government and private sectors have made plenty of plans which were supposed to ensure we are on the right track towards achieving a developed country and making sure the country becomes the home to its citizens. But these plans did not come without flaws. Perhaps it was because these plans that we're still in the third world mentality and the person behind the creation of these plans should have thought carefully on the proper and suitable execution measures to ensure that the objectives of each and every single one of these plans are delivered.

What were the problems with the plans and policies? Since our post-'Merdeka' days, policies like New Economic Policy, Wawasan 2020, National Integrity Plan, and now New Economic Model alongside GTP and ETP, have all been created with specific objectives and intended outcomes that aims for the betterment of Malaysia and Malaysians. Much like the people in KL who lives on the present days, moving at a fast pace that everything seems to be auto-regulated, these plans were carried out and keep on living in the present. There were no deadline or measures of whether the objectives were achieved. The problems lies in the plan itself whereby the strategies to get the outcomes became entangled with the purpose of devising the plans in the first place. This was the result of a research done by an anthropologist which looked into the National Integrity Plan. When these plans and policies were announced, it promises a future Malaysia which is modern, harmony, safe and developed, partly reflecting its people which by that time should already have the country deeply embedded in their hearts.

But Malaysia has become so experts at making plans that when the time comes to deliver them, it became an infinite execution of a never-ending road into the abyss. After the launching of these development strategies, we have the picture of future Malaysia in mind, but we're stuck with the present Malaysia in reality. When we hit a brick wall, we devise more plans and strategies to overcome it yet again the same thing happens like a never ending cycle.

To put it in simple terms, we put our gears, which drives the country into the N position, or perhaps its already in the R mode. In order to put a stop to these cycles, a careful and thorough plan that incorporates both the aims and achievable measures of delivery must be devised. The plan must take into account the whole aspect of present situation and methods of sequential improvements while performing intermittent efficacy measure when the plan is actually carried out. At the end of the day, then only we can say we've achieved what we want from the plan. Then only we're moving closer to that dreamed future Malaysia.