LETTERS: Malaysians have the chance of doing more for the country this Aug 31st to celebrate Merdeka Day, the 65th year of Malaysia's Independence.
We can begin by honouring all our heroes, leaders, and the people who have made the country great in many ways.
Their contributions and efforts enabled the country to achieve so much in a short time.
Malaysia's journey towards prosperity worked in three interconnected phases.
In the first phase, the "Made in Malaysia" stage emphasised on projecting the country's image as a producer of tin, rubber, palm oil and petroleum, pushing the country's development and economic progress.
The high point has been Vision 2020, brought into motion in 1991 to move the country into developed nation status. This must be understood within the context of diplomatic initiatives led by the respective prime ministers.
Examples include Tunku Abdul Rahman and the country's alignment to the West; Tun Razak and neutrality policy; Tun Hussein Onn and Islamic unity; Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the Look East Policy and South-South cooperation; Tun Abdullah Badawi and the World Islamic Economic Forum, and Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Global Movement of Moderation.
In the second phase, "Malaysia in the Globalised World" was a busy period of intense building of regional confidence and trust among countries of Southeast Asia.
We saw the founding of Asean on Aug 8, 1967 which culminated in the strengthening of relationship into an Asean Economic Community in 2015.
Another big achievement during this phase would be the attempts to involve the people in deciding change on the areas to pursue in the foreign policy sphere.
These would involve Malaysia's relations with the world, Asean, China, India, and West Asia.
In the third phase, "Globalwise Malaysia", we can consider this as the time of futures thinking and scenario planning.
Of interest are the attempts to go for a shared sense of sovereignty among countries in a world that is getting smaller and smaller but weighed down by excesses in many human endeavours.
In this list of imponderables are how our relations are going to shape up with the United States and China.
In the context of the Malaysia, China and US nexus, there is a need for a new preparedness and the impact of multilateralism upon global peace and how to steer the country in the coming years.
In remembering this auspicious day of Merdeka 2022, we need to manage ourselves, including how we can sustain the world and its wealth with our present lifestyles.
DR AZHARI-KARIM
Former Malaysian ambassador
Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times