COMMENT | Being a high-income country is not an end in itself: there are questions of well-being, a flourishing of capabilities, high standards of governance, and the accomplishment of a sense of freedom that the people of Malaysia have to experience.

Freedom as expressed by the ability to live a life one chooses to is perhaps the most important goal that the country should strive for.

So, I would not be obsessed with achieving a high gross national income (GNI). As the World Bank report correctly notes, there is no welcoming ceremony for a country which achieves high-income status. And the national income is not all that matters.

Beyond the economic dimension, which the World Bank report has focused on, as it should, given the institution's mandate, there are wider...