Voices from Abroad: Vision 2020

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4 are we connected though?As we grow up we begin to understand what is the true goal of this lucrative vision, is not just for the status, but to be interconnected.

8 being liberal and accepting othersPoliticians are not benevolent social planners, but individuals who maximize their objective functions with collectively personal ambition.

16 #jomjadiorang2yangberfikirAsking the question whether or not we are close to achieving challenge number 6, it is in my humble opinion that I say, NO. Not as long as the problems that came with it are not solved.

20 ouch-ing tiger, hidden g-dragonHarimau Malaya is sick. We were once heralded as part of the East Asian Miracle because of our incredible economic boom. But now we seem like a train wreck of corrupt governance and economic mismanagement.

26 molding malaysian first-class societyBig question will always arise, which is, who going to determine the best social value for Malaysian citizen? Another question often follow up is who are we going to follow?

32 industry insightCredits to Penn State Malaysian Student Club (MSC) Career and Leadership Development Team led by Balqis Awang Dahlan.

36 inside: winter wonderland in the midwestIt was also probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life, and I’m going to share some of the highlights of my time in the City of Four Lakes – Madison, Wisconsin.

2 C O N T E N T S

V o i c e s F r o m A b r o a d | M a r c h 2 0 1 6

CONTENTS

3E D I TO R ’ S C O R N E R


Dear readers,

With God’s willing, we’re now back with our second issue. Here, I would like to voice our appreciation to you, our loyal readers. We wouldn’t be here without your support. Thank you so much!

We also want to thank H.E. Datuk Dr. Awang Adek Hussin, Malaysian Ambassador to the United States for launching Voices From Abroad during the East Coast Festival 2016 at The Ohio State University on March 12, 2016. We are so excited that this magazine has been officially launched by our Ambassador. This is a huge step forward for us. Thank you also to Education Malaysia for believing in us, and supporting us since Day 1. You have been such a great moti-vator and supporter of this magazine. We are also grateful to have generous backing from TalentCorp Malaysia.

This time we discuss about our Vision 2020. We believe it is important for us to discuss about this as we are now in 2016, just 4 years away from 2020. The biggest question is that can we achieve it? When Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad announced Vision 2020, he had outlined number of challenges that we need to overcome to achieve Vision 2020, to be a developed nation. In this issue, we will discuss the challenges, and what should we do to overcome it. In addition to that, we also include a new section which is Industry Insight. This section informs you on the career opportunities in a specific field of study. For this issue, MSC Penn State have prepared for us Industry Insight on Biotechnology.

Keep this in mind, this magazine is published for you, Malaysian students community. This is your magazine, this is your chance to have your voice be heard. Your voice matters as your voice is a pro-jection on how our nation will be shaped in the future. We have right to voice out our opinions, so, do not be afraid. Approach us if you like to be our writers.

With that being said, now it is time for you to enjoy this issue. Flip to the next pages, read the articles, think about them, talk about them with your friends. Again, thank you readers for your greatest support. We are honored to have your support.

Xoxo,

Mohammad Hifni M As’ari, Editor.

Mohammad Hifni M As’ari is a sophomore in

Economics at Penn State. Love to read articles on

WSJ, The Economics and Politico. Interested in politics, economics,

and global issue.

LETTER FROM EDITOR

Are we connected though?“We claim that we are tolerant but evidently we are not even close to that. I can see that we are very comfortable to just mingle with people of the same race, myself included.”

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L E A R N I N G F R O M A M E R I C A

Wawasan 2020 is one of the poignant notion that our country adheres dearly to up until this day as it is coined by our former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who is the father of modernization of Malaysia in the year 1991. He views this vision can potentially guide Malaysia to reach its aim of becoming a well-devel-oped state.

However, as we grow up we begin to understand what is the true goal of this lucrative vision, is not just for the status, but to be interconnected. Interconnected in a global scale where a state not only has to deal with its people but also it has to make connections with other nation-state. In fact, an individual can become as impor-tant as a world leader with regards to this new concept in which people today see as cliché, globalization. The question that I’d like to raise here is, how interconnected are we as we lack tolerance and fail to understand the whole concept of tolerance which are the root to weak unity among races over the past years.

In Wawasan 2020, the number one challenge is to create a united Malaysia where all Malaysians share the same ideal in reaching that ‘developed’ status. We are a blessed with people of diverse backgrounds; having inter-sectionality within their identities, however, given this situation we have the tendency to not appre-ciate this blessing. Studying in Irvine, California helps me to put things into perspective where the state of California itself has a demographic of different ethnicities such as White American, African American, Asian American, Latino and Hispanics, ‘Dessi’ American, Middle eastern American, Native American and other identities we could think of. Given this cir-cumstance, they manage to live together due to their adherence to the notion of tolerance.

Tolerance here is to say that they are willing to adopt the American identity and at the same time are proud to be an American. White American, to some extent, do admit what they have done in the past and that is why we

by AFFAN OTHMANUniversity of California, Irvine.

“Is it too late then? Of course not.”

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V o i c e F r o m A b r o a d | M a r c h 2 0 1 6


see the current American presi-dent is an African American and not somebody who’s white. Black History month is also celebrated

in the month of February here in the US in remembrance of the African Diaspora which shows that Americans do admit some of their mistakes in the past and they are trying to make up for the things they did. My argument is that, if Americans are not tolerant, then the president will stay white and people of color in the US will stay uneducated, unemployed until the end, and will be stuck in the low class group. Conversely, people of color, now, are being elected in Congress as compared to a hundred years ago. They are now professors, doctors, engineers as they have integrated into the tolerant American society. The American version of tolerance can also be seen as when they open doors to immigrants from all over the world to inhabit and work. They share the place they call home with mere strangers which shows that they are very accepting although those people do come from a world that is strange to them.

The significant difference that we have is, we claim that we are tolerant but evidently we are not even close to that. I can see

that we are very comfortable to just mingle with people of the same race, myself included. We lack the comprehension of what tolerance is all about and what I can see is that we discriminate others through

racial stereotypes. Excluding our-selves from others is not going to do us good, in fact it makes us ignorant. Yes, Bahasa Malaysia and English are integrated in our education policies but, why not make an effort to learn Mandarin or Tamil. I feel that television adverts are misleading. Showing a Malay guy being able to speak Mandarin or a Chinese lady speak-ing fluent Tamil is not representa-tive of Malaysia at all because not everyone knows a third language. We would not be surprised at all if an Indian guy speaks English in a television ad. Why? Because English is seen as a norm while other languages or dialects aren’t. What I am saying is that unity will not just happen if no one makes an effort. Learning other people’s languages can be a way of forging unity as we are trying to portray

our efforts to understand each other. By that I mean every race in Malaysia should stop turning a blind eye and start learning each other’s culture as this is the key to unity.

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Is it too late then? Of course not. Historically, there is a cycli-cal trend of good rule ship, where people have good ties with the rules, and bad ones, where there is revolution. As long as we can maintain a good relationship with our fellow Malaysians, we then can definitely achieve our collective goals. The purpose of me writing is just my humble way of saying, there can be so many external pressure advocating for unity but

at the end of the day, only we can decide for the change to happen. I hope that we as Malaysians would start on building a good rapport among each other since 2020 is just 4 years away.

“Figuratively speaking,

everyone yearns for unity but no one is actually

willing to commit.”

1Malaysia is a campaign, whose main purpose is to unite all races and ethnics of Malaysia. It is to cultivate tolerance among Malaysians so that people are aware of how interconnected we are. Figuratively speaking, every-one yearns for unity but no one is actually willing to commit. Sticking with your race and failure to inter-act with others is a perfect example of hoping without action. We cri-tique others at kedai kopi like how

people should act in order to be but doing that will not do us good by a bit. This can be tied to the concept of utopian hoping we try to create a better world but as for Malaysians, we hope for the better but we just sit idly by, hoping for someone to unite us all. If we want change, be that change. Only then campaigns like 1Malaysia will work. Yearning is good but make sure we act upon it in order to make it work. Besides, if we are learning other people’s language or make an effort to understand other their culture,

these actions can show people that we sincerely care about them.

There are many exam-ples across history where states are able to live harmoniously as state leaders work together with the people. Take the Ly Dynasty of Vietnam in the 10th century where their rulers basically are able to rule for two centuries with this idea of cohesiveness between the people and their ruler. Another

example can be seen in Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau who’s a proponent of equality where he makes sure the cabinet is representative of Canada, that includes equal male-female ration, fair racial representation and edu-cated cabinet members. Malaysia also has a prominent example of cohesiveness historically, for instance, during the great Melaka empire as Sultans are very close with the people, as they go and mingle with their fellow subjects as a normal human being.

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8


BEING Liberal and Accepting

OthErs Vision 2020

and thE Empowerment of thE people of

Malaysia


“Politicians are not benevolent social plan-ners, but individuals who maximize their

objective functions with collectively personal ambition.”

In 1980, Tun Dr. Mahathir announced that Malaysia will be a self-sufficient industrialized nation by the year 2020, encompassing economic prosperity, social well-being, political stability, as well as psychological balance. Since then, the belief that Malaysia could achieve this dream has been drummed into the imagination of the Malaysian people for well over a generation. I still remember when I was in elementary school, teach-ers would often instruct the stu-dents to write about ‘Vision 2020’ and how to achieve it. I imagined everybody would be wealthy and well-educated, driving floating cars and eating pills instead of a meal. Well, clearly I was ignorant then pertaining the aspiration of Vision 2020, but there’s nothing wrong with dreaming big, right?

Now that all of us are more mature and realistic in our expecta-tions, I began to wonder how close are we to Tun Dr. Mahathir’s vision

and what has actually happened that prevented Malaysia from turning the vision into a reality. Unfortunately, we don’t need a team of expert researchers to tell us that Malaysia is still far away from being the advanced, indus-trialized country touted nearly 30 years ago. So what do we do now?

The answer to that ques-tion is manifold. While many point fingers to the government and blame them for everything nega-tive, they don’t realize that their unified voice is the very power to correct the government when it runs astray from its role of repre-senting the needs of the society. We need to realize that politicians are not benevolent social planners, but individuals who maximize their objective functions with collectively personal ambition. Likewise, the society gives the government their consent in the form of votes, which validates the government’s author-ity. This idea is the main argument

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by adam faridUniversity of North Carolina Chapel Hill, North Carolina.


for democracy, and Liberalism is the platform to make us capable of being democratic to our advantage.

Before I continue, the word ‘Liberalism’ is a taboo especially in the Malay culture, but I wish to invite you to don your thinking hat and think rationally before dismiss-ing it. It is not wrong to reject it, but do so with academic integrity and provide a better proposal than the one which I am going to make.

So what is Liberalism? Liberalism is the belief that we have the freedom to dictate our lives according to our moral prin-ciples, ruled under a government

which we freely chose and by the collective economic power of supply and demand, we should be able to consume what we have earned. For this reason, liberal countries have often dominated the scene of progress and equal-ity of opportunity. Whether you like it or not, you should have real-ized that Malaysia progressed the fastest from ideas stemming from Liberalism. Aren’t the fundamental

liberties of the freedom of expres-sion and speech, of assembly and association guaranteed by the Constitution of Malaysia? Weren’t the members of the society encour-aged to increase their economic well-being through effort, free from gender or racial discrimination? These are all the undisputed fruits of Liberalism.

Nonetheless, as mentioned earlier, the power of the people rest in their unified voice. But lately, the increasingly conservative govern-ment has only provoked more people which threatens the deli-cate racial harmony. At the same time, the government has slowly

‘regulated’ the voices of the people through legislation, muffling our cries when we need to be heard most desperately.

To illustrate this point, do you know that in 1984, the Printing Press and Publication Act (PPPA) were utilized by the government to gain control over the publica-tions and silence them from criti-cizing the ruling party? When the

internet was born and more people were using it as a fast and efficient form of communication, the gov-ernment realized that it had to put a rein on it too so it passed the 1998 Communications and Publications Act? The point is, people should be able to contribute ideas without fearing retribution from the author-ity, and also have the freedom of criticism to debate the best idea for implementation.

In addition, Liberalism advocates the freedom of the economy and trade on the larger sense. While this may seem ele-mentary, many nations including Malaysia are falling into the trap of an oligarchic economy which often emerge after a period of prosperity. Paul Krugman, in his book The Conscience of a Liberal, argued brilliantly the boon of a liberal economy by analyzing the New Deal of President Franklin Roosevelt. It is a series of eco-nomic programs in response to the Great Depression of 1929 which centered on liberal ideas

“People should be able to contribute

ideas without fearing retribution

from the author-ity, and also have

the freedom of criticism to debate

the best idea for implementation.”

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that empowered labor unions and ethnic minorities. The result was an unprecedented distribu-tion of wealth enjoyed by millions of Americans for several decades following its implementation.

In Malaysia, it is undeni-able that the economy is much stronger and larger than what it was 30 years ago. According to Bank Negara, Malaysia’s GDP in 2014 was RM 1.18 trillion and the latest unemployment rate is a low 3.3%. When compared to Tun Dr. Mahathir’s Vision 2020 of achieving a GDP of RM 920 billion, we may incorrectly con-clude that Malaysia has achieved the economic goal of Vision 2020. However, this simple numbers far from reflect the economic dispar-ity of income in Malaysia, where the concentration of wealth in the hands of the very few wealthy businesspeople is increasing at an alarming rate. In other words, Malaysia has definitely become richer as a whole, but fewer people are actually enjoying this prosper-ity. The cause of this phenomenon is one word: cronyism. Cronyism

arise when business depends on close relationships between busi-ness people and government offi-cials, itself is inherently acceptable but would prevent economic capital from being efficiently distributed.

In a liberal economy, the government would let the open market decide the equilibrium of supply and demand such that the

vast majority of citizens will benefit. In addition, Liberalism accepts government intervention to prevent monopolies from forming and to distribute public good. According to conventional economics, when the agents of the economy are given the necessary resources to fulfill the demand of the society in addi-tion to improving the products to remain competitive, only then can the economy be “dynamic, robust, and resilient”, as envisioned by Tun Dr. Mahathir in The Way Forward. Furthermore, a liberal government supported by liberal minded people is imperative to ensure fair distribu-tion of wealth among members of the society. This is simply because

the main tenets of Liberalism was born to counter the centralization of massive wealth in the hands of a select few royalties; people born in Warren Buffet’s ‘Lucky Sperm Club’.

In conclusion, if you didn’t have the time to read everything, just know that Liberalism has a lot to offer to the average Malaysian,

more so when it is the key to real-izing the long-awaited Vision 2020. At the same time, all of us should remember that the realization of Vision 2020 is not instantaneous the moment the clock strikes mid-night at New Year, but it is a long process of hard work and unity to develop a better place for us and our next generation. Unlike build-ing a house, where it is obvious when the building has completed, building a nation requires every-one to be vocal when addressing public issues and the government to be responsible to ensure that the economy is an open place of trade and the wealth generated is spread justly among the people.

“Malaysia has definitely become richer as a whole,

but fewer people are actually enjoyingthis prosperity.

The cause of this phenomenon is one

word: cronyism.”

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“Science is not actually a mysteriously complicated territory, but simply a way of thinking, then they may feel like engaging it more often.”

12 L E A R N I N G F R O M A M E R I C A

a scientific mindset

have not realized it. A scientist is a person who finds solution to a problem using scientific methods, and believe it or not, we all do!

Let’s say: You have just connected your phone that had ran out of battery to a charger but nothing happens. By then, you would most probably be asking something like: “Why won’t it charges?” You then came up with some ideas as to why. “Maybe the power outlet is not working. It could be the charger, or may be some-thing is wrong with my phone.” So, in a situation like this, how do you figure out which one is the actual problem? It’s easy right, you try another power outlet. Still not charging? Then you try using another charger. It doesn’t work? Then you connect your roommate’s phone and “A-ha!” Apparently that phone is charging just fine, so there must be something wrong with your phone. Now, not that it was a desirable conclusion but it was a discovery nonetheless.

Ever been through a same or kind of similar situation? Congratulations, because you are a scientist.

“What? That simple? How exactly am I a scientist?”

Our Common Misconception You see, here lies the problem. When people think of science or scientist, they usually picture someone with a thick pair of glasses in a lab coat, shaking flasks of chemicals or writing ridic-ulously-long and complex equa-tions. Need a proof? Here are what I found with a simple Google search of the word ‘scientist’:

What people tend to forget is that ‘science’ is also a way of thinking. To quote the definition of science from Google, it is “the intellectual and practical activ-ity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experi-ment.” - Which is just a fancy way of saying that science is a system-atic approach to solving a problem.

“Wow. After all, I guess science is not just about labs, test tubes, chemicals and lab coats!”

I just got home on a Wednesday evening from my Abnormal Psychology lecture when I received a call from Fareed, the current Chief Editor of the recently-launched Voices From Abroad magazine. He asked whether I would be interested to write a piece about challenge number 6 of the Vision 2020. Now, you might just be wondering, “What exactly challenge number 6 is about?” The same question came up on my mind until I looked it up on the Internet (thanks Mr. Google!) and here is what I found:

“The sixth is the challenge of establishing a scientific and pro-gressive society, a society that is innovative and forward-looking, one that is not only a consumer of technology but also a contributor to the scientific and technological civilization of the future.”

Whoa, now those are a quite a lot to be addressed in an article with a maximum length of 1200 words! So, here is what I am going to do. For this piece, I’ll be focusing on ‘A Scientific Mindset’. It is true. Everyone is actually a sci-entist. It is just that many people

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B u s i n e s s M a g a z i n e | A p r i l 2 0 11


by achmad bakhtiar m yuniRutgers University New Brunswick,

New Jersey.

make predictions and design new experiments.

My point is, maybe, if more people realize that science is not actually a mysteriously compli-cated territory, but simply a way of thinking, then they may feel like engaging it more often. And I believe that this will kick start the development of a scientific and pro-gressive community, where people will act and respond to things that are going on more effectively by making just observations, analy-ses and relying on evidences.

At any point of your life, you might have encountered a

situation when something sud-denly goes viral on the news and the Internet, followed by an over-whelmingly huge amount of cover-age and opinions by many different people. Let’s assume that it was about a crime. To start, you were not even there at the crime scene at the time of occurrence. You most probably didn’t hear about it directly from the witnesses either. You really wanted to try figuring out the case, and possibly how it should be dealt with; but with so many different and contrasting arti-cles going around, which sources would be good to trust?

Here is the thing, science

No, sir! Science is made up of a series of elements: Questions, hypotheses, predictions, experi-ments, analyses, and conclusions. Now, let’s try to see how the previ-ous example fits into these:

Question: Why won’t my phone charges?

Hypotheses: My charger is not working.

Prediction: If my charger is broken, then using another charger will fix the problem.

Experiment: Try using another charger.

Analysis: Tried a different charger - phone still did not charge.

Conclusion: My hypothesis was not supported - my charger is not broken.

Many people actually use this process in solving problems without even realizing it. Whether it be “Why can’t I connect to the Internet?”, “Why do my brownies always get burned?” or “Why can’t I get myself to go to the gym more often?” We all use problem solving (science!) on a daily basis.

Our Common Misconception Another thing that people always misunderstood about science is that - it is not like a set of rigid rules. It can change as nec-essary and still remain scientific. You can keep questioning, exper-imenting and discovering. More often than not, observations from experiments lead you to new ques-tions, or probably some novel, pre-viously unconsidered hypotheses. From that point, you may decide to

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does not deal with absolute cer-tainty. The purpose of science is to get a better grasp of reality. And this is done through a process that attempts to produce the best explanations for what we observe.

It is important to note that ‘making an observation’ is not the same as ‘seeing’. For example, if you find a small hole near the bottom of your kitchen wall and some mouse droppings in your cupboards, you don’t need to lit-erally see a mouse to infer that there is likely one in your kitchen. Like any crime scene investigation, you ‘observe’ the evidence, inter-pret the facts, and with sufficient

evidence, you arrive at an expla-nation of the events. Your level of certainty correlates directly with the amount of confirming evi-dence. Now, this is the essence of science.

Applying the Scientific Mindset “So, how exactly engaging with science would be helpful to people in general?”

A scientific mindset has a fundamental role and significant impacts in:

1. Shaping the way we think about problems

2. Influencing our approaches to work and life

3. Guiding us to distinguish emotive responses from evidence-based reasoning

4. Making informed decisions and opinions

As a country that is trying to become a developed nation, I agree that there are a lot more to be done by Malaysia. At the same time, I do believe that we, its citi-zens also have as much or even more things to be accomplished. As a start, develop a scientific mindset and see how it will trans-form the way you see and deal with your everyday life.

Build up and explore your curiosity. Observe the problems that you see closer and try to solve it systematically. Let’s be a commu-nity of people that solve problems instead of waiting for other people to solve them for us. Scientists, creators, and innovators are all people who discover solutions and create products in an attempt to solve daily problems. So how do they get there? It is because of their high level of curiosity, and the desires to better understand and solve problems. Therefore, if we want to be a progressive nation that discovers, creates, and inno-vates, then we really need to start somewhere; and I believe, that by changing our perception towards science and adopting a scien-tific mindset, we will be better off towards realizing the target of chal-lenge number 6 of Vision 2020.

“The purpose of science is to get

a better grasp of reality. And this is done through a process that attempts to

produce the best explanations for

what we observe.”


15L E A R N I N G F R O M A M E R I C A

and technological civilisation of the future. (Woah, boleh ke kita? This is Malaysia man, semua boleh.)

But asking the question whether or not we are close to achieving challenge number 6, it is in my humble opinion that I say, NO. Not as long as the problems that came with it are not solved.

Why do I say so?

Malaysian Gen Y kids would all agree when I say, we have all heard about Vision 2020. We have all sang the ‘Wawasan 2020’ song in our schools, drawn posters with flying cars and magnif-icent towering structures, watched ads stating ‘Wawasan 2020’ and acted plays as if we were living in an age where Malaysia was futur-istic and modern! This ‘Wawasan 2020’ motto had a profound impact on our imagination as kids, once

upon a time ago. In fact, even some of us are unconsciously singing it (the ‘Wawasan 2020’ song) right now as we are reading this. Gotcha! Haha

Today, I want to focus on challenge number 6 which is estab-lishing a scientific and progressive society; a society that is innovative and forward-looking, one that is not only a consumer of technology but also a contributor to the scientific

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#jomjadiorang�yangberfikir

by raja akif raja zahirudin & akid amni aliasPenn State University, Pennsylvania.

Global Competitiveness Index & Opportunities Let’s look at our Global Competitiveness Index (GCI). This index measures technologi-cal advancement and the stages of development of a nation according to the set of institutions, policies and factors that set the sustainable current and medium-term levels of economic prosperity. Data from World Economic Forum (WEF) allows us to compute the availabil-ity and accessibility of resources for the people of the nation.

Surprisingly, overall we ranked 18th from 144 countries. For comparison, let’s look at South Korea and Vietnam. Malaysia is at stage 2 - 3 of development while South Korea is at stage 3 and Vietnam at stage 1. In the overall 2015 GCI ranking, we were better than both countries with South Korea ranked 26th and Vietnam ranked 56th (Fuyoh Malaysia!).

WEF also ranked us an impressive second place on Venture Capital Availability, 5th on Strength of Investment Protection, 6th on Quality of Education System, 3rd on Government Procurement of Advanced Technology Products and 5th on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Technology Transfer. It is undeniable that in some sectors, we are lacking. We were ranked 77th on Internet bandwidth and 47th on Technology Readiness. Technology readiness is a method of estimating technology maturity of Critical Technology Elements of a program during the acquisition process. In a sense, it is more or less the capability of a country to produce new technology.

Picture 1 http://reports.weforum.org/global-competitive-ness-report-2015-2016/

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Picture 2 http://reports.weforum.org/global-competitiveness-report-2015-2016/

What does all of these mean? It means that we have low risk on investment, low risk in getting funds for innovative and risky projects, a good education system and good exposure to latest technologies through FDI. Great for innovators in science and technol-ogy. What strikes the mind is, con-trary to the data where Malaysia

has high FDI and Technology Transfer, Malaysia seemed to be lacking on Technology Readiness. Why so? The data also suggests that Malaysia has set up some of the right ingredients be it resources or opportunities for the nation to become a scientific and progres-sive society. With all of this in mind, why do I say, we are not achiev-ing a progressive and scientific society? We’ll answer this ques-tion later.

Education & The Young“If you want to look at the future of a nation, look at the young.” - anonymous -

Next, it is fair I would say, if we assess where we as a nation are with regards to science and

progress, by looking at our youth. The PISA test does this superbly. It is the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). According to their website, PISA is a triennial inter-national survey which aims to eval-uate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowl-edge of 15-year-old students. It gives a general understanding of where the students in a nation are in mathematics, sciences and

reading and provides the platform for international comparison. Data presented below is for the 2012 cycle.

For consistency’s sake, let’s also look at Vietnam and South Korea again. The OECD Average is also marked in dark blue.

From the chart, it is seen that Malaysia’s 15-year old stu-dents scored below Vietnam and South Korea. We even scored below the OECD Average. For instance, student performance in maths in Malaysia was a mean score of 429 whereas, in Vietnam and South Korea, it was 491 and 552 respectively (Takkan lah wehh). I have always thought that the Malaysian education system was ok if not good (Well…. It pro-duced me. Eh. hehe). Even the GCI data backs up this claim.

Picture 3 http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results.htm

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Then, why do our 15 year old stu-dents according to PISA, have poor performance in those mea-sured skills compared to students in South Korea or Vietnam? What went wrong?

Putting all the pieces together Both disconnects; first being between high FDI and Technology Transfer but low Technology Readiness and second the contradiction of data based on system oriented GCI and perfor-mance oriented PISA, creates a puzzling question of where the

missing links are. In my humble opinion, one of the answers to both missing links could be actu-ally us (Malaysians). There is also the matter of inefficient implemen-tation of the system.

Elaborating further, I strongly believe that we Malaysians have a mindset problem. Our biggest flaw is probably our infe-riority complex. It seems that somehow it is etched in our mind that Westerners or even other countries are better than us and that fact could never be chal-lenged. Maybe, this is the effect of colonization but it has been 59 years since our independence. We should now have a better view of who we are in this world. The phrase ‘Malaysia Boleh’ is there so that we embody the principle that we can strive to be the best. We shouldn’t easily settle with being second. This is more often than not proved by some of us Malaysians out there. Look for them and be inspired by their stories!

Our second flaw is prob-ably our attitude. We lack initia-tive and participation in being a part of the solution. We may have vast amounts of opportunities and resources (even though sometimes cari tak jumpa.) but if our attitude is still at ‘Biarlah orang lain buat. Ramai lagi yang belajar jurusan yang sama’’. How are we going to progress ahead? The people who are learning those fields should not be the first ones to bolt at the onset of a hard challenge. I really do believe Malaysians are compe-tent and not selfish. If we are still only being critical without putting our personal efforts in improv-ing systems or solving problems that we personally observe, how can we be better? Friends, let’s take the initiative. Start thinking of

things that we want to achieve in life and work towards it. It takes a very strong why, to drive the how’s and what’s. I believe that we Malaysians need to start taking the first step in that respect. So, Malaysians, Jom find our why.

It is not my intention to paint everyone with the same brush here. My intention is to just spark the discussion so that, we all would reflect and think. #jomjadiorang2yangberfikir

So, what now?

I guess, knowing all of these reaffirms our doom? NO. Knowing something and not doing something about it, that is what guarantees failure. We could all choose our very own stand in building a scientific and progres-sive society. We could in a way, ‘lepas tangan’. But remember, a person would only truly appreci-ate something, once it is lost. We don’t want to lose our Malaysia just because we did not do something when in fact we can.

So, let’s step up friends. Take the first step. Who knows, perhaps that small push could create a massive wave? Let’s put a target of another 10 years and make it happen, together. Make a better Malaysia and a better world, for us and for future generations to come. As this life is not only, solely for our own selves. Wallahualam.

p/s: Mind the use of ‘bahasa rojak’ here. I believe it tells the story better; more close to the hearts of us Malaysians.

“A person would only truly appre-ciate something, once it is lost. We don’t want to lose our Malaysia just

because we did not do something

when in fact we can. “

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“Wawasan dua puluh, dua puluh. Satu pandangan jauh”

Growing up, I remember singing this with gusto in my school assembly every Monday morning. It was one of my favorite songs and I suspect that my love for shitty karaoke music started here. The lyrics didn’t matter much to me, for this national vision felt so far way; felt so unreal.

But today, we are only four years away from that dream. The dream of roaring into the 21st century, pouncing on every growth opportunity and becoming a global economic and political beast. 2020 feels so close that we could almost, metaphorically, stick our claws into it.

But Harimau Malaya is sick. We were once heralded as part of the East Asian Miracle because of our incredible economic boom. But now we seem like a train wreck of corrupt governance and economic mismanagement.

How do we get our economy back on track?

Challenge 9 of Vision 2020

Challenge 9 of Vision 2020 is the establishment of a pros-perous society with an economy that is fully competitive, dynamic, robust and resilient. Market liberal-ization is the best way to improve competitiveness and boost our economy. The removal of trade

barriers makes our country more enticing to potential investors and businesses. A key aspect of lib-eralization is the removal of pro-tectionist policies. Protectionist policies are good in theory, to protect key and/or nascent indus-tries; however, these policies have often been abused to protect polit-ically-linked rent-seekers. A good example was when we raised the excise tax on foreign cars to protect Proton. After thirty years and bil-lions of ringgit spent bailing it out, it’s still a failure. It is long overdue that we stop protecting inefficient corporations at the expense of the Malaysian public. And it is due to the benefits of economic liberaliza-tion that Malaysia has increasingly taken part in free trade agreements (FTAs). Malaysia has signed 21

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ouch-ing tiger, hidden g-dragon

by tharmellingam pillaiVirginia Tech, Virginia.

FTAs and 74 bilateral trade agree-ments so far.

One particular free trade agreement of note is the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). The TPPA is a multilat-eral trade agreement that presently involves 12 prospective member countries in the Pacific Rim. The 12 countries collectively accounted for about 40% of the global economy, with a cumulative gross domestic product (“GDP”) of almost USD30 trillion, and a population of more than 800 million, as of 2014. While there have been intense debates on social media regard-ing the TPPA, Malaysia’s partici-pation in the TPPA is projected to achieve a cumulative gain in GDP of USD107~211 billion over 2018-2027. Numerous safeguards have been put into place to maintain Bumiputera rights, national sov-ereignty, etc. Export based firms such as those in textiles or automo-tive components stand to benefit massively from this deal, while the construction and retail sectors would be facing more competition. But, most importantly, consumers would benefit from being able to purchase quality foreign goods at cheaper prices. The signing of the TPPA and the removal of certain protectionist policies are bold steps in the right direction.

Market liberalization isn’t just significant economically. The free market means greater freedom. The weakening of gov-ernment control onto the economy means that they have less direct control over the lives of individuals in society; citizens are less depen-dent on government. This lack of dependence does a few impor-tant things to social dynamics. One, it means that citizens do not feel indebted to the government

anymore. Two, it means that citi-zens are not afraid that the govern-ment could fire them from the civil service for dissent because they are working for private enterprises, not the government. Three, it shifts cultural norms from a state-centric one to a cultural norm that empha-sizes liberty and individualism. This change in social dynamics is crucial towards developing a true culture of democracy in Malaysia.

However, one of the biggest issues that are associ-ated with market liberalization is the increasing disparity of income. Incentives are greater for innova-tion and entrepreneurship when inequality is pronounced. The less-wealthy members of a society work harder, create new businesses, or invent new products to become a member of the highest income group. Hence, it can be argued that inequality is not only an inevitable consequence of a free market, but it is a fundamental part to its success.

Challenge 8 of Vision 2020

Challenge 8 of Vision 2020 is ensuring an economically just society, in which there is a fair and equitable distribution of the wealth of the nation. While the disparity of income is inevitable in a free cap-italist system, excessive concen-tration of wealth into the hands of the economic elite is harmful. This

is where a responsible government must step in and enact policies to ensure that wealth is relatively fairly distributed.

One of the key elements for a robust economy is a healthy middle class. These are the indi-viduals who contribute mas-sively to the nation’s coffers via income tax and they help the local economy due to consumerism. This is known as the local mul-tiplier effect, where money that stays within the local economy gets spent again and increases

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overall well-being. While the middle and lower income groups rechannel the bulk of their salaries into the local economy, the upper class often has a significant chunk of their income tied up in stocks and bonds or just lying dormant in the bank. However, the widening wealth gap caused by inflation in the cost of living and stagnation of the real median household income has harmed those who are in the middle and lower income brackets significantly. This is known as the middle-class squeeze.

Comprehensive policies must be put in place to relax the chokehold on the middle-class. The current government policy of dolling out BR1M is short-sighted and ineffective. The earned income tax credit (EITC) policy allows a taxpayer to subtract from the amount of tax that they owe to the government. This policy boosts the income of low to moderate-income working individuals and couples, particularly those with children. The EITC can also be used to promote specific behaviors,

such as investing or parenting. Expanding worker rights is also an important step forward. Malaysia’s restrictions on freedom of associa-tion are among the most extreme in Asia. Currently, Malaysian workers have to fight through absurd reg-ulations which are designed to prevent workers from establishing unions and fighting for their rights. The ability to have trade unions is crucial in pushing for better wages and safer working conditions.

Whether it is our obses-sion with K-pop, Harry Potter fandoms or the popularity of Malay hip-hop, the youth of today have enthusiastically embraced artis-tic and cultural ideas from around the world. Globalization is not a foreign concept for our Malaysian youth. But together with the cul-tural acceptance, I would hope that we now learn to welcome new economic and political viewpoints. Unlike our elders, we don’t have the luxury of relying on government handouts to become wealthy. It is time that we learn to innovate and become competitive at a national, regional and global scale. Unlike our elders, it is not acceptable for us to tolerate corruption and politi-cal mismanagement. It is time that we learn to love freedom; not only the free market, but freer politics and greater individual rights.

Vision 2020 is more than a simple Key Performance Index. It should not be a mere mile-stone. It is a dream for a better, more powerful Malaysia; one that is united internally and dominant internationally.

“Challenge 8 of Vision 2020 is ensuring an economically

just society, in which there is

a fair and equi-table distribu-

tion of the wealth of the nation.”

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25L E A R N I N G F R O M A M E R I C A


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Vision 2020by Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the

4th Prime Minister of Malaysia

C E N T E R P I E C E


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Vision 2020

On Feb 28, 1991, Vision 2020 has been introduced with the objective of transforming Malaysia into a developed nation by the year 2020 with its own mold. Mahathir outlined nine strategic challenges that Malaysia must overcome to achieve Vision 2020:

Challenge 1: Establishing a united Malaysian nation made up of one Bangsa Malaysia.

Challenge 2: Creating a psychologically liberated, secure and developed Malaysian society.

Challenge 3: Fostering and developing a mature democratic society.

Challenge 4: Establishing a fully moral and ethical society.

Challenge 5: Establishing a matured liberal and tolerant society.

Challenge 6: Establishing a scientific and progressive society.

Challenge 7: Establishing a fully caring society.

Challenge 8: Ensuring an economically just society, in which there is a fair and equitable distribution of the wealth of the nation.


On Feb 28, 1991, Vision 2020 has been introduced with the objective of transforming Malaysia into a developed nation by the year 2020 with its own mold. Vision 2020 is a strategic planning for Malaysia to able to fully achieve the status of “Developed Country”. To be a developed country, eco-nomical aspect is not the only main concern of a country. Malaysia also need to be well developed in politi-cal and social aspects. To be well developed in social aspect, a big question will always arise, which is, who going to determine the best social value for Malaysian citizen?

Another question often follow up is who are we going to follow?

Japan The Look East Policy which was announced by our fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, have surely give us a new perspective on how a developed society should be. Malaysian who only used to look at the western society as the sole ref-erence in shaping the society, have broadened our horizon through the Look East Policy.

For the Japanese, being polite and respectful is a must. And they were trained to behave that way/as such since primary school. A specific course was built to teach them moral values and shape the students’ character. Bowing is also a gesture used by the Japanese as a greeting and to show respect towards each other. Not only that, the older you get, the wiser you are considered and you will be treated more respectfully. You will get in big trouble if you use informal lan-guage towards your elders. And this is why, you rarely meet out-spoken Japanese.

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molding malaysian first-class society

by mohammad fareed rosliPenn State University, Pennsylvania.

What lies beneath the surface

Well this whole good behavior comes with a price. In 2012, more than 27,000 people committed suicide. Well, that is about 74 people every day! Even though it does not make Japan a

country with the highest suicide rate among developed countries, it is almost 3 times the suicide rate in the United Kingdom. So why did this happen?

Historical practices

People often mention Japan’s long tradition of “honor-able suicide” as a reason for the high suicide rate. What they are referring to is the Samurai prac-tice of committing “seppuku” or the “kamikaze” pilots during WWII. Instead of viewing suicide as a sin, it is a way of taking full responsibil-ity. The elders thought that instead of burdening their children, they might just as well take their own lives.

The youth

However, the fastest growing suicide demographic is young men. According to the research by Hokkaido University, 1 in 12 Japanese elementary school-aged children, and 1 in 4 junior

high school student suffer from clinical depression. It is believed that, school-related problems are the main cause of Japan’s youth suicide crisis, such as bul-lying and academic pressure. Not only that, in order to remain polite and respectful, many of the youth believe that they are not allowed to complain, and choose to keep their problems to themselves. The youth are unable to find a healthy way to express their emotions such as anger and frustration. They find suicide as the easiest and conve-nient way to eliminate all of these suffering, so why not do it?

America What’s so special about America? Two things that I would like to point out, (well, not only me, but also those who admire America) are liberty (freedom) and equality.

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The fight for freedom in

America is real.

In 1984, Gregory Lee Johnson burned an American flag outside of the convention center in Dallas, Texas. Johnson burned the flag as a sign of protest toward the President Ronald Reagan’s poli-cies. He was arrested and charged with violating a Texas statute that prevented the desecration of a venerated object, including the American flag, if such action were likely to incite anger in others. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals tried and convicted Johnson. He then appealed, arguing that his actions were “symbolic speech” protected by the First Amendment and the Supreme Court agreed to hear his case. The majority of the Court agreed with Johnson and held that flag burning constitutes a form of “symbolic speech” that is protected by the First Amendment. The majority noted that freedom of speech protects actions that society may find very offensive, but society’s outrage alone is not jus-tification for suppressing freedom of speech! This is enough to show how strong it is the power of liberty or freedom in America.

For the sake of equality

In 1992, New York City adopted the “Children of the Rainbow” curriculum, which requires elementary schools to teach tolerance towards LGBTs. Daddy’s Roommate is among the book that has been used in the class. The book shows the picture of gay couple’s daily life, includ-ing a picture of two men in bed. The Americans surely have done a great job in fighting for LGBT rights.

Yet, to achieve equality between the white people and people of color is still a long journey ahead for America.

Islam: The Complete Way of Life With approximately 60 percent of Malaysia’s citizens being Muslims, the motion to have

Islam as a guideline to shape the society is inevitable. Even in our curriculum, Pendidikan Islam has become one of the required sub-jects to be taught among Muslim students. Not only that, it is also one of the subjects being tested in SPM.

Unden iab ly, I s lamic Civilization was once one of the greatest civilizations ever existed, yet is it still relevant as it claims?

“Is it still practi-cal to have Islam as a guidance to

shape the society especially in Ma-laysia? To what extent are Ma-laysians able to

comprehend with the idea of having Islam as the pri-

mary ‘mold’ in es-tablishing today’s modern society?”

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Or that will it be reclaimed again? Well, in the eye of Islam proponent, it is still is and it forever will! It is indeed a fact that the teaching of Islam is one of the main reason that makes Islamic society great during the Golden Age. Islam has shaped the civilization during that time to become one of the great-est. Yet, is it still practical to have Islam as a guidance to shape the society especially in Malaysia? To what extent are Malaysians able

to comprehend with the idea of having Islam as the primary ‘mold’ in establishing today’s modern society?

Credits should be given to the Islamic NGOs in Malaysia. They are able to present to the community with a more compre-hensive (or correct) ways of Islam that are coherent with the ever-fast growing world. By using the contemporary Ulama views, these

Islamic NGOs, such as IKRAM, ISMA and ABIM, are able to open up people’s perceptions about Islam. Although, some mistakes did happened along the time, why not give them more time to present a fit way of Islam in Malaysia. They are still ‘young’. Even America took more than 100 years to pass federal law that allow women’s right to vote in general election.

I personally hope to read a book like Utopia written by Thomas More, yet, instead, the content is about what Malaysia will be if Islam is taken as the main guidance from the viewpoints of every races, reli-gions and even the government policy. Maybe from that, people can see that Islam can be a great solution or maybe a great problem.

Our own mold So are we going to be like Japan, which has great civil moral value, yet the youth are not able to express their voices more freely, or America, which has huge liberty, freedom and equality, yet maybe too free that the moral values sink with it, or Islam, which once shaped one of the greatest world civilization, yet is it acceptable for the multi-racial society in Malaysia to accept Islam as the main refer-ence in every aspect of life?

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Industry InsightCredits to Penn State Malaysian Student Club (MSC) Career and Leadership Development Team led by Balqis Awang Dahlan.

32 I N D U S T RY I N S I G H T


Winter Wonderland in the Midwest

Inside: university of wisconsin madisonby syaza nazura noor azmi

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin.

36 I N S I D E S T U F F


Winter Wonderland in the Midwest

Inside: university of wisconsin madison

37I N S I D E S T U F F


Bucky Badger, our mascot, even came along to join the fun.

High up in the sky

I stayed in the university housing during my freshman year. At the end of my first year, one of the seniors on my floor asked me if I would like to join her and her pro-fessor on a short plane flight over the city. Obviously, I said yes. I mean, who wouldn’t, ride? A plane ride overlooking the beautiful city? I wouldn’t want to miss that one!

Being able to see the city and campus from a small plane in the air was just breathtaking. Granted, the view could be nicer during the summer when it’s green and bright, or during the fall when the leaves are colorful and pretty. But it was breathtaking all the same. My friend’s professor, who was also the pilot, also flew us over

downtown Madison and the capitol, as well as over Devil’s Lake State Park, up north of Madison.

A couple of months after-wards, I went for a short hike at the lake with a couple of friends. It was just a short hike, but it was worth the trip to the lake as the view at

I’m not much of a fan of the cold. Before I came to the United States, I didn’t even like sleeping with the air-condition-ing on. Heck, a setting of 20oC can even cause me to shiver and hide in my blankets all night. So coming to Wisconsin, where it can get to as low as -30oC during the winter months and where snow in

May was possible, was a hell of a choice for me. But it was also prob-ably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life, and I’m going to share some of the highlights of my time in the City of Four Lakes – Madison, Wisconsin.

Battle for Bascom 2k15

When I first came to Madison, I heard rumors about the annual campus-wide snow-ball fight on our beloved Bascom Hill. However, I was not aware of anything happening during my first winter here. During my sophomore year, a Malaysian then-junior (cur-rently a senior) decided to have a small snowball fight among us Malaysians. Some people (includ-ing me) decided to invite a few of our non-Malaysians friends to the Facebook event, and within hours, it got bombarded and became

a campus-wide snowball fight. Apparently, bad news and infec-tious diseases aren’t the only ones that are spread around like wildfire.

The much-anticipated snowball fight was perhaps one of my best memories here. Because of a bad fever that I was having a couple of days before, I decided

not to join in the fun of throw-ing snowballs at cute and hand-some strangers. However, I still came along with my camera with the intentions of immortalizing the moments, and I’m pretty glad I did (even though my camera and I got hit by snowballs thrown by people who have seriously bad aim).

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I N S I D E S T U F F

the top of the trail (and along the trail, for that matter) was beautiful.

Reaching, Internationally

The International Student Services at UW-Madison has a vol-unteer program for international students called the International Reach program. Through this program, volunteers have the opportunity to share their experi-

ences, culture and stories with dif-ferent groups of people, ranging from university students on campus to middle school students in the nearby areas.

I have been a Reach vol-unteer since my first semester on campus, and it has really helped me to give something back to the community in Madison. I’ve given numerous presentations to middle and high school students, both on and off campus, about the culture and life in Malaysia, as well as par-ticipated in a student panel right here on campus. Through this volunteer program, I’ve also met different international students from various countries, which has

helped me to learn more about other cultures as well.

Malaysians are Family.

Let’s face it, while we come to the States to be independent, to learn about the American culture, to meet new people and get new adventures, there are some things that we need our Malaysian friends for. We need to have them around

for comfort, to help with the home-sickness, and just to make things feel more like home, even if we are thousands of miles away from home. Having to celebrate Chinese New Year / Deepavali / Aidilfitri or Aidiladha away from your family sucks, but having a small celebra-tion with your friends here makes it a lot better, especially if you have a friend who is an excellent cook and can make the greatest rendang ayam that makes your mouth drool.

Here in Madison, we have tons of events to cater to the Malaysians (as I’m sure most uni-versities have too). We have Game Nights, Graduation Nights, ski trips,

and, obviously, the three main cel-ebrations. Recently, we also held the annual Temasya Jaguh Malaya here in Madison where students in the Midwest area came to Madison to compete in multiple sports competition.

The “Hardcore Gamer” Lake

My top favorite part about Madison is our beloved lake, Lake Mendota (I’m wondering why they named it Lake Mendota and not Lake COD though, but who am I to question it). Walking down Lakeshore Path by the lake all the way until Picnic Point (or halfway, if you’re not a fan of walking long distances like me) is a great way to release stress and provides a sense of tranquility and peace (but not at night, obviously, it’s super creepy, trust me). The lake itself is a fun place to be at, with a great view from our Memorial Union terrace (even though it’s closed off for renovations now). During my first year, I went kayaking in the lake with my dormmates, and during the cold winter months, you may have the chance to walk on the lake when the water freezes over.

So there you have it, a one-sided perspective of why Madison is a fun place to be at. Trust me, there are a lot more interest-ing things on campus, and defi-nitely a lot more reasons for you to come and visit Madison (there’s a new cat café near the campus for catlovers like me!), but being the introverted extrovert that I am, I am probably not the best person to ask about the other events. But if you do decide to visit us, I’ll be more than happy to bring you around to some of the cool places on campus or in the area, so what are you waiting for?

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exclusive report

Dato’ Sri Najib visits So Cal at Arcadia, Los Angeles, on February 13th to meet with students and Malaysian diaspora

for a high tea session.

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It was definitely great timing when Malaysia’s sixth prime min-ister Dato’ Sri Najib came here to So Cal at Arcadia, Los Angeles, on February 13th to meet with students and Malaysian diaspora for a high tea session. His main purpose of coming to California was for an Asian Relations Summit where other Asian leaders met to discuss about their foreign policy. President Obama was said to also attend the Asian Summit at Sunnyland, California and Mr. Najib that he was proud as Malaysia was appointed to be the head in coor-dinating the conference.

On a different note, Mr. Najib mentioned that he made it to a point that when he goes on visits to countries, he would meet with Malaysians just to pass on an ‘amanat’. This amanat that he was talking about was to call upon all Malaysians to be on board with Malaysia’s developmental strat-egy as the government has been investing money to send off bright Malaysians studying abroad. He mentioned that Malaysians must not necessarily “uproot them-selves” from Malaysia, instead, they should be on board with him making Malaysia great. We will certainly be able to reap the benefits by maintaining our love towards our great nation, Malaysia. Mr. Najib stated there is a reason

why students study abroad which is student could bring back what they have learned and implement back home so that the investment will come to fruition in the near future. America is one of the coun-tries whose cultural climate is ever changing due to its openness and we can see a trend where country who is very open in their foreign policies get the benefit of having free trade and growth; which is most country’s goal. One of the important key point that he was trying to convey was it is impor-tant to strengthen ourselves indi-vidually but it will be more benefi-cial if we do things collectively. The main point was directed towards unity but it was more than just uniting where everyone should be on board in trying to improve Malaysia since we have our own strengths but putting those strengths together makes it more impactful.

I believe that Malaysia is in the right track due the fact the we are producing young and intel-ligent Malaysians through a lot of incentives; studying abroad being one of them. Mr. Najib stated that given the “external environment” which is referring to the global fall in oil price, it has impacted Malaysia adversely given the fact that Malaysia is highly depen-dent on exporting oil. Due to this

external circumstance, Malaysia had a loss of 40 billion Ringgit and he added that that was why the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was necessary to compensate the unforeseen external shocks. It also has been affecting Malaysia’s rate exchange due to fall in oil prices as the foreign exchange market is highly sensitive to oil price, due its dependency on oil exports.

Before Mr. Najib ended his speech, he listed some of the statistics about Malaysia’s perfor-mance especially in business per-formance as the World Bank had stated Malaysia is 18th in global business and competitiveness. According to Bloomberg, Malaysia is the 5th most promising devel-oping market while in a separate independent study Malaysia is one of the top global Islamic economy, led by a large margin. From all these statistics, the future can be said to be bright but it is definitely up to us, the younger generation, either to sit idly by or to start con-tributing to the national develop-mental strategy. The younger gen-eration has been exposed to the perks of globalization which can be both good and bad, but the impor-tant lesson here is to be able to be pragmatic in making a decision will benefit Malaysia.

reporter-on-duty: AFFAN OTHMANUniversity of California, Irvine.

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ADLIN IZYANA jaafarEditor, Penn State University.

[email protected]

MOHAMmAD FAREED ROSLIEditor-In-Chief, Penn State University.

[email protected]

anis nadhirah jamilMarketing Director, Penn State University.

[email protected]

Muhammad hifni as’ariEditor, Penn State University.

[email protected]

arif asyran jamalulailCreative Director, Penn State University.

[email protected]

E D I TO R I A L B OA R D A N D S P O N S O R

Documents

Voices from Abroad: Vision 2020