SHAH ALAM - What will Malaysia look like when it turns 100 years old?
It may sound like a question for the distant future. But 2057 is only about 30 years away.
And for the children growing up today, it will not be a distant future at all. It will be their adulthood — a time when they could be parents, teachers, doctors, entrepreneurs, public servants or even leaders of the country.
So, the more important question may be: What kind of Malaysia will they inherit?
This is the thinking behind #Malaysia100, an effort to get Malaysians to imagine, discuss and help shape the country they want to see when Malaysia celebrates 100 years of independence.
Founder of Yayasan Warisan Ummah Ikhlas and Yayasan Sinar Untuk Malaysia Datuk Hussamuddin Yaacub said the idea was not simply about building a more developed country.
It was about thinking beyond buildings, roads and economic growth and asking what kind of education, institutions, society, values and Malaysians the country should have in 2057.
And he believes there is no time to waste.
“Thirty years is not long. It is only one generation,” he said, stressing that decisions made today would eventually become the reality inherited by the next generation.
For Hussamuddin, the issue is personal.
As a grandfather, he knows his generation may not all be around when Malaysia reaches its centenary. But his children and grandchildren will.
That leaves a simple but difficult question: What Malaysia do we want to leave them — one they can be proud of, or one they will regret inheriting?
Hussamuddin believes #Malaysia100 cannot belong to one political party, government, race, religion or organisation.
It belongs to everyone.
Whether someone lives in a city or a village, works in the public or private sector, runs a business, studies at university, teaches in a school or simply raises a family, everyone has a role in shaping the country's future.
And Malaysians do not have to agree on everything.
Differences are part of a democracy. But there are surely things most people can agree on — wanting their children to receive a good education, wanting to live in peace, having an economy that provides opportunities and being able to trust the country's institutions.
That common ground, Hussamuddin believes, is where the journey should begin. For one year, starting today Aug 31 to Aug 31, 2027, should be the year for national dialogues intended to provide space for the people to voice their concerns and demands; not to get answers but a year to listen.
Listening to what Malaysians want, asking difficult questions and deciding what direction the country should take before embarking on the next 30 years of building towards 2057.
And the conversation should not happen only in Putrajaya or Kuala Lumpur.
It can happen anywhere — at home, in schools and universities, workplaces, places of worship, community groups, businesses and civil society organisations.
Most importantly, #Malaysia100 is not meant to be another platform simply for Malaysians to complain about what is wrong.
The invitation is to move from complaining to building.
If something is broken, ask how it can be repaired. If something is working, protect it. If there is injustice, do not look away. If institutions need strengthening, start the conversation.
Because the problems we ignore today could become burdens carried by our children tomorrow.
Hussamuddin describes every generation as a trustee of the country — receiving Malaysia from those before us and eventually handing it to those who come after.
The baton, he says, is now in our hands. We can run fast, we can travel far but if we drop the baton, we do not win.
So, what is #Malaysia100? Perhaps it is simply an invitation.
An invitation to stop asking only what Malaysia can do for us, and start asking what Malaysia we can leave for those who come after us.
Thirty-one years may sound like a long time. But one day, 2057 will arrive.
And when the Jalur Gemilang flies proudly as Malaysia celebrates 100 years of independence, the children of today will be the ones standing beneath it.
The Malaysia they see then will depend, in many ways, on what we choose to do now. #Malaysia100 belongs to all of us. The question is no longer whether we will be there in 2057. The question is what will we leave behind when we get there?