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Referring to 2020, Dr Mahathir said the year is close to his heart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I helmed the Malaysian administration for the first time, the government, through Vision 2020, set the target for Malaysia to achieve developed nation status in that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHowever, of late, we realised that the objective cannot be fully achieved and, as such, we drew up a new blueprint that we have identified as the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn other words, we have pushed forward the target to 2030 and, we believe, we will be able to achieve the objective,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Mahathir said the government often talks\u00a0about efforts to develop and prosper the country because \u201cwe have been entrusted with the trust (to do so) when we accepted the responsibility to be the government\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Mahathir said the government cannot just leave the fate of the country to chance without crafting suitable strategies and plans to develop and prosper the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn short, we have to continue to strive and not depend on fate to develop ourselves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prime minister also spoke of the need for Malaysians to rise above political polemics that he said will get them nowhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile some of us are still trapped in political polemics which will not help self-development, the fact is that the external situation does not promise us a smooth journey,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Mahathir\u00a0pointed\u00a0out that the challenges brought about by the trade war between the superpowers and fast-paced technological development are factors that will determine the direction of the world and the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have to accept this situation and strive to develop ourselves to address these changes and challenges,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prime minister said the development of digital technology has changed the way of doing business and providing services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThose who understand this transformation have found avenues for employment and to earn an income. Those who did not change have found themselves without a livelihood,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, he underscored that the government will continue to help the people face these new challenges through existing and new programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is the government\u2019s hope that the people will take advantage of these opportunities and develop themselves along with the government, he said, adding that when they are successful, the government and the country will ride on that success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Mahathir also referred to the KL Summit that Kuala Lumpur hosted recently and said it provided an opportunity to explore new essential and critical areas not only for the benefit of Muslims but also Malaysians of other faiths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the summit showed to other Islamic countries how Malaysians of various religions are able to live together peacefully without excessive conflicts and rifts in a scenario of diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt never crossed our mind to introduce laws to segregate the people or immigrants based on religion or race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAlthough we have provisions for Bumiputeras, these are to ensure their survival and are not intended to negate or rob others of their rights,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Mahathir said that it is for this reason that the country\u2019s wealth is not only in the hands of the Bumiputeras as it is also shared with and, in many cases, held by the other races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A country\u00a0can overcome challenges when its people\u00a0have strength by way of industriousness and eagerness for knowledge, he said, adding that a high level of knowledge can strengthen the nation\u00a0in various disciplines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
–NNN-BERNAMA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 31 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today called on Malaysians to pay attention to self-development just as the government was taking efforts to bring progress to the country. In his New Year 2020 message, the prime minister said that despite Malaysia not being able to fully achieve a developed nation status, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":21023,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[288,318],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57026"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}