As we head towards the year 2020, many Malaysians feel that

much remains to be done in order to improve the quality of our

life. Do you agree? Give your opinion. You should write at least
350 words.

Vision 2020 is a Malaysian ideal introduced by the former Prime

Minister of Malaysia, Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir bin Mohammad during the
tabling of the Sixth Malaysian Plan in 1991. The vision calls for the
nation to achieve a self-sufficient industrialized nation by the year
2020, encompasses all aspects of life, from economic prosperity, social
well-being, educational world class, political stability, as well as
psychological balance. Now, we still have 4 more years to go to
achieve Vision 2020. Four years time seem not long enough and not
short too. Yet, many Malaysians feel that much remains to be done in
order to improve the quality of our life.

In order to achieve a developed-nation status, the quality of life

has to be improved. Basically, the quality of life can be improved by
providing complete basic amenities to the people. Parts of Malaysia still
do not have clean piped water and electricity, namely the interior of
Sabah and Sarawak as those places are very much out of the way. Even
the local people find it difficult to get there. Moreover, not all citizens
have modern housing with proper sanitation. Hence, the government
build low cost government flats for the people to have a good life.
Unfortunately, the good life does not last very long due to its
mismanagement. Most of the flats are in a state of disrepair. Although
the government has built the low-cost flats, but still lots of poor people
cannot afford them. They then have to find other places to stay. As
time goes by, squatter areas are common and are overcrowded. These
areas normally do not have good management on rubbish collection
and cleanliness.

The second problem that Malaysians feel that need to be

improved as we head towards the year 2020 is our countrys education.
Education is still not compulsory in our country. Some children who
stayed in rural areas are deprived of education due to the lack of
schools in their places. Another factor that worsens the problem is
some schools are closed because of the small number of students as a
result of rural-urban migration. At the same time, many parents have
started to question the quality of education. Although our current
Educations Minister have published the Malaysian Education Blueprint,
still the qualification of teachers are questionable especially in teaching
of English and Mathematics. Having the Malaysian Education Blueprint
is not enough to prove the standard of our education if it is not carry
out practically. Schools face lack of funds for equipment such as
scientific instruments and the running of proper activities. Most of the
practical activities cannot be done due to many factors, like lack of
time on teaching the school syllabus and the wrong perception on
practical activities. Students and teachers have a misconception that
practical activities are a waste of time. Therefore, government
especially the Ministry of Education should play an important role in
guiding schools, teachers and students on the right track.

As we head towards the year 2020, there are still many

problems in the health system. Our country still lacks hospitals and
clinic and qualified doctors. Lots of people have to take a long journey
to reach hospitals or clinics as their districts do no have any healthcare
centers. Besides this problem, people face problem of long wait in the
government hospitals and for treatment of serious diseases.
Government hospitals offer reasonable price for medical treatment
indeed, yet they do not provide an efficient service to patients. This
really makes people fret. Medical treatments are only provided in the
city. In contrast, basic healthcare is beyond the reach of many in the
rural areas, to say nothing of any advanced medical treatments in the
urban area. If there is a distinct borderline between rural and urban
areas, how can we improve the quality of our life ?

In addition, there are many remote areas with no proper

transport system. In some places people still use primitive and
dangerous boats to cross the dangerous rivers. In Sarawak, some areas
are only accessible by very small planes or helicopters. Unfortunately,
crashes are common because of the hilly terrain. It shows big
differences when we make a comparison between the city and the
countryside. Kuala Lumpur, has the modern means of transportation
such as LRT, monorail and commuter. Such good transport system is
only available in cities. In estates and plantations, transports of people
and good are still difficult. Not only public transportations, even proper
roads are difficult to find in the rural areas. Moreover, people in that
area do not have a four-wheel drive due to its expensive price and the
not easy accessible location. Even it they have cars, they might be
spoilt easily because the improper road condition.

Overall, I think I agree that Malaysia still have lots of aspects to

be improved to achieve Vision 2020. Vision 2020 is not a programme or
plan which can be accomplished easily if we are not putting more effort
to it. We should brace ourselves to improve the quality of our life rather
than to wait passively for things to come our way. Let us make Vision
2020 to be the mission possible instead of mission impossible.