The recent turn into this new year was especially poignant because we passed 2020; I vividly remember when Mahathir launched Vision 2020 back in 1991 and the sense of bravado it fuelled at the time when our economy was growing at 8% to 10%, and apparently only 7% was needed to get us to developed-nation GDP per capita by 2020. Vision 2020 wasn’t just about the economy, it also envisioned a “united” Malaysian nation — or a bangsa Malaysia — by then. We achieved neither and, sadly, our politics has become so dysfunctional it is hard to imagine how we can turn things around. To get straight to my main point: I am of the view that Malaysia needs a system reset or nationhood recalibration. I just don’t think you can deal with social cohesion on its own, it is too intertwined with our politics and economics. Even the most harmless reform idea is quickly racialised and sometimes translated in religious and economic terms. It then becomes a political challenge and it has been a long time since any leader has had enough political capital to make substantive moves on sensitive matters. So, rather than focus on harmony laws and the like, I think we need to get back to the table and debate, renegotiate and reset how democracy works — how we chose our leaders and how our institutions function — and the social contract that conditions our attitudes to most things.