Looking back at Tun Mahathir’s leadership in both his terms I can’t help but feel a deep disappointment. Despite the years in power, I honestly don’t believe the rakyat (people) benefited in a sustainable or transformative way. Malaysia had every advantage: abundant natural resources, a young and dynamic population, and strategic geography. But those strengths were rarely used to build lasting institutions or inclusive progress. Instead, what we got was short-termism, political drama, and personal agendas.
One issue that really stays with me is the land and durian farming controversy. Farmers regular citizens were encouraged to invest in the land, to plant, to cultivate. But just when things started to bear fruit (literally), the state stepped in. Some farmers had their land seized, others saw their crops destroyed, all under vague legal justifications. It wasn’t just an economic blow it was a betrayal. How do you ask citizens to trust the system when it turns against them the moment they succeed?
And then there’s the elephant in the room: corruption. We keep talking about mining rare earths and building high-tech industries, but what’s the point if we haven’t even fixed the basics? According to MACC, we’ve lost nearly RM277 billion to corruption over five years alone. That’s enough to change the course of a nation.
Let’s be honest we’ve tried to industrialize before. Remember Perwaja? Proton? Both were supposed to be nation-building projects, but they floundered because the supporting ecosystem just wasn’t there, its here. We had no metallurgists, no strong engineering base, and we used oil revenue to paper over poor planning. We tried to run before we could walk.
I believe part of this goes back to our colonial inheritance. We were trained to serve foreign economies, not to build our own. To this day, we still import an absurd amount of food. In 2022 alone, Malaysia imported RM75.6 billion worth of agricultural goods despite having fertile land and a capable population. (Smart Investor) That makes no sense to me. Why are we not feeding ourselves first? Why aren’t we mechanizing agriculture, making it attractive and viable for youth, and turning farming into a respectable, rewarding career?
After all these years, why haven’t our policies yielded strategic results? I think the answer is clear: we never truly built strong institutions. Lee Kuan Yew once said, “The strength of a nation lies in its institutions.” (TIME) He was right. Singapore chose clean governance, meritocracy, and systems. We chose racial politics, patronage, and populism.
Like many Malaysians, I’m tired. Tired of speeches, of slogans, of empty manifestos. These days, I don’t vote for ideals. I vote for impact. If a leader’s policy makes my life better, if my wages go up, if jobs are created, I don’t care what party he belongs to or how he dresses I’ll support him. You can call PMX (Anwar Ibrahim) an actor, a chameleon maybe he is. But if his leadership puts more money in people’s wallets, then he’s already done more than most.
We live in the real world, economic security gives people dignity. It gives them choices. It makes decent people better and makes space for them to care for others. We’ve spent far too long chasing ideals and neglecting fundamentals.
It’s time to get back to basics: strong institutions, food security, clean governance, and real economic empowerment. That’s the Malaysia I want to live in. One where people’s work is respected, where their voices matter, and where their futures aren’t stolen by corruption or incompetence.
Signed
Annan Vaithegi (annanvaithegi@icloud.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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