FROM PAGE 52 productivity score and the second highest potential growth score among all emerging market economies. The Transformasi Nasional 2050 (TNSO) initiative holds great promise and has big potential to unite Malaysians undera shared vision of the future.There is much to be optimistic about and much potential to have. And yet, I keep coming back to this — we aren’t supposed to be here. But we are. What we have today, we should not take for granted and, at the same time, what we can improve, we should work harder than an- ybody else to undertake those improvements because the odds are we will either regress to the mean or give in to what all known literature tells us about where we “should” be. Can we do much better? Yes, we can, but we should not forget that we have achieved a lot. Can we improve our national cohesion? Yes, we can,and we must, but let’s not forget how far we have come, even with the hiccups along the way. After all, no one gets everything right and the grand experiment that we call the Malaysian nation is bound to experience missteps and misjudgements along the way. Our responsibility as Malaysians is to learn from and fix those missteps and misjudgements as quickly and proficiently as possible. And so, in my participation in the TN50 experiment, perhaps my vision of Malaysia and who we are just comes down to this. Maybe we're the nation that’s not sup- posed to be among the best. But we are. And that’s who we are — we are the gritty and persistent nation who will do everything we can to punch above our weight and, more importantly, we are the people who will do everything we can to ensure everyone — Malaysians like Phugeneswaran and non-Malaysians alike — gets a decent shot at a good life. We aren’t supposed to be here. But we are. Nicholas Khaw is an economist with the Khazanah Research and Investment Strategy Division to brit its cor by eas digital paym¢ tules, As] navig: witht egies) mains the ne have a the ec we be Chine: omies totrul will pi Anew Asean | tage fo in that mogra legacy to brin our bu transfi Tec but it: as we] Amazc whetk ultimé but at witha