Petty of Mahathir to compare TN50 to Vision 2020: Khairy

PETALING JAYA: Khairy Jamaluddin, who is in charge of National Transformation 2050 (TN50), said he regretted Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's recent personal attacks against the initiative.
The Youth and Sports Minister said it was discouraging to see the former premier simply dismissing TN50, a collective aspiration of young Malaysians, and comparing it to the latter's own Vision 2020.
"I refer to Dr Mahathir's statement (TN50). I am extremely disappointed by his statement which is inaccurate and personal in nature.
"TN50 is the voice of young Malaysians, for the future. Millions have come forward to share their hopes, dreams and aspirations to build the future, together. But for you, it is just about your personal legacy.
"It has been reduced to Vision 2020 versus TN50. How sad. And how petty. I have explained countless times in great detail how both are part of the grand narrative of the Malaysian story," he said in a statement today.
He was responding to Mahathir's statement on Wednesday that TN50 was a copy of Vision 2020, and that it was an admission that the government needed 32 more years to complete what Mahathir had started in 1991.
Khairy explained that TN50 was merely a continuum of Vision 2020 and the previous New Economic Policy, and that it was necessary to take into account recent developments that were not present when Vision 2020 was introduced.
"Is Mahathir saying that after year 2020, we do not need any more long term plans and new aspirations to bring our country forward?" he questioned.
Khairy, who is also Umno Youth chief, also noted that TN50 is a bottom-up initiative, with aspirations from the rakyat being considered, unlike Vision 2020 which he claimed was a top-down vision.
He also dismissed Mahathir's claim that TN50 was an admission that Vision 2020 had failed, pointing that the World Bank projects Malaysia to surpass high income nation status as early as 2020, and by 2024 at the latest.