#Malaysia100: A people's plan to defuse the nation's 'time bomb'

SHAH ALAM - Concerns that Malaysia is sitting on a "time bomb" of political squabbling and racial tension were among the triggers behind the #Malaysia100 idea.

Yayasan Sinar Untuk Malaysia (Rasuah Busters) chairman Datuk Hussamuddin Yaacub said Malaysians appear increasingly weary of infighting over minor issues, raising questions about who is actually thinking about the country's future.

"Honestly, we are all tired. We are tired of the political situation, of people quarrelling among themselves over small issues. Trivial, petty matters are being turned into major disputes.

"So we have started to worry about what will happen to Malaysia if this atmosphere of anger continues, with politicians and their supporters fighting among themselves," the founder of Yayasan Warisan Ummah Ikhlas (WUIF) said.

He was speaking at the Interviu programme "#Malaysia100 Tahun: Masa Depan Negara Di Tangan Rakyat", hosted by Haizir Othman at Kompleks Karangkraf on Friday.

The programme also featured Yayasan Sinar Untuk Malaysia (Rasuah Busters) chief executive officer Nurhayati Nordin as a panellist.

Hussamuddin, 72, said the concern was one he shared personally as a grandfather, having watched Malaysia's development over the years and worried about what it means for his grandchildren's future.

"When I look at how Malaysia has developed and become like this, I've started to worry about my own grandchildren's future," he said.

He said #Malaysia100 is proposed as a people's movement to shift society's thinking away from squabbling and towards planning the country's future, with every individual and family encouraged to draw up their own 30-year plan, since change needs to begin with the individual.

The movement will also serve as a platform to bring Malaysians from various groups together to discuss and shape ideas for the country's future, and Hussamuddin stressed it needs to be driven organically by the people, not the government.

"This is a people's movement built on the people's own awareness of how we shape our future. We hope that throughout this year, everyone will be busy thinking about ideas for the next 30 years," he said.

He said a proposal drawn from ideas gathered throughout the movement could then be submitted to the government on 31 Aug next year.

"The government and prime minister may change, but the country's plans and vision for the future should not. So we leave it to the government to act on what the people believe is best for the next 30 years," he said.

He said the ultimate goal is for Malaysia to become a nation of integrity, prosperity and harmony by the time it reaches 100 years of independence.

"Right now we are essentially sitting on a kind of time bomb, because everything, even accidents, gets turned into a racial issue. That is what worries me.

"#Malaysia100 is an answer to my own concerns and those of many others, about the future of our children and grandchildren," he said.