PM committed to Vision 2020
The Star – 5/4/2006
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is committed to the objectives of Vision 2020 to make Malaysia a developed nation by that year although the vision is the icon of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.  
He said there was no reason for him to create a new vision just for the sake of promoting himself.  
Vision 2020 was spawned when Dr Mahathir was in the Government and he a member of that Government then, the prime minister said during an interview with Datuk Johan Jaafar on the Ninth Malaysia Plan in Di Sebalik Rancangan Malaysia Kesembilan programme on RTM on Monday night.  
Abdullah was asked why he carried on with Vision 2020 when it was linked to Dr Mahathir when he could have selected a new icon that could be related to him (Abdullah).  
“We have been working in various ways for the last 15 years towards attaining the objective. We are halfway there. There is no reason for me to introduce a new vision just for the sake of using my name,” he said.  
“I have already committed myself to the struggle to raise the status of the people and nation to a developed one in 2020. That is my commitment.”   
Last Friday, the Prime Minister tabled in the Dewan Rakyat the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP), which provides for a development expenditure of RM200bil over a five-year period from this year, the allocation being RM30bil more than that under the Eighth Plan.  Abdullah said the 9MP was different from previous development plans because it was part of the national mission that involved all the people in achieving the objectives.  He said he viewed the 9MP as having been drawn up in totality and not as a plan that was drawn up only according to certain sectors.  
The prime minister said the country had enough funds to support the RM200bil five-year development plan, and added that there were additional funds from the private sector. He also said that the Government's prudent expenditure policy would continue.   He said the survival of the nation would only be guaranteed when the people and the country achieved strength; and the survival of the nation was more important than self.   
“We cannot remain in a cocoon. We cannot plan, think and decide only in our environment, alienated from the outside world, as though we have no interests, being contended with our own environment. That will not do,” he said. 
Source: The Star | http://thestar.com.my