Malaysia on the move 
The Manila Bulletin Online – 16/5/2006

"The Malay habit of calling foreigners "tuan" or "master" was taken as an acceptance that Europeans were in fact the master of the Malays." — Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad, "The Malay Dilemma" (1970) 

LAST week, May 11, 2006 at its birthplace, Istana Besar, Johor Baru, the ruling coalition party, UMNO (United Malays National Organization) celebrated its 60th founding anniversary, and continuous government majority, since independence in 1946 from British colonial administration. 

At last week’s festivities, UMNO’s sixth President and Malaysia’s fifth Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi reminded Malaysia’s more than 25 million multi-racial population of Malaysia’s mission, that is, "Failure is not an option. We must achieve the objectives of Vision 2020 and emerge as a developed race by 2020." 

Hence, Malaysia believes that it has achieved near-developed economy status. Now, it aims to achieve a Keconomy sustainability i.e. knowledge-based economy, by 2020 which is ongoing. 

It goes without saying that Malaysia , the former British Malaya, as it savors the sweet smell of success has had its own share of oppositionism, Communist insurgency, racial riots, party scandals, internal rivalries, corruption, and even murder. 

UMNO, like Malaysia , went from crises to crises before achieving sustainable economic growth. 

For starters, Doctor of Medicine Mahathir Bin Mohamad, an important Party member, was expelled from UMNO shortly after the 1969 elections over policy disagreements with party leaders, and for publishing his controversial book, "The Malay Dilemma" which sought not only the liberation of the Malay race from colonial bondage but also to explain the suppressed resentment of the bumiputers at the other races, principally the economically dominant ethnic Chinese, and the "imported" Sind and Sikh Indians, and others which total half of the population that exploded into violent racial riots in 1969 that killed and injured thousands of civilians. 

Thus, the continuing struggle and issue within UMNO is whether to admit non-Malays, whether Muslim or otherwise, into the Party. 

Be that as it may, it can be said that the rapid economic growth of Malaysia accelerated principally during the 22-year continuous leadership of Dr. Mahathir Mohamad from 1981 to 2003 when he voluntarily retired, and passing the "baton," so to speak, to current Prime Minister Badawi. 

The new PM was mainly responsible for successfully steering the Party back to prominence and strength after the stressful Ibrahim Anwar crisis. 

Indeed, racked by conflict for 60 years, UMNO’s ability to survive, thrive, sink and rebound is remarkable which can substantially be attributed to its leaders and continuity. 

Today, Malaysia, "Truly Asia," can boast of impressive infrastructure, natural wealth, such as, oil, palm oil, tin, rubber, forests and others, modern airports, super expressways, the Petronas Twin Towers, Penang and Langkawi world-class tourist resorts, small population, diversified manufacturing industries, and significant IT industries which is the main objective and focus towards the Vision 2020 mission. 

By contrast, the Philippines has had 10 presidents since 1946; vanishing forest cover; unaccounted gold production, 85 million population, an archipelago smaller than the landmass of Malaysia, or Thailand, or Myanmar, or Vietnam; and huge potentials that have never been taken advantaged of due to lack of leadership, inconsistent policies, no continuity of administration, corruption and politics. 

For these reasons, we hail the success of Malaysia as a reminder to Philippine leaders to get their act together, move the country forward, shift to parliamentary system for direct accountability to the people, and to stop the political bickering. 

From his initial pessimism of the Malays as a race, former Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has since led Malaysia from being an economic backwater to the threshold of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) era, not because of luck but because of his vision, his ability to see the big picture, guts, continuity, integrity, and "can do" attitude where the unreachable is reachable. That is Mahathir. The Malays or bumiputras of today stand tall and proud. 
Source: http://www.mb.com.ph