I refer to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's recent call to Malaysian youths to "strive hard to break world records". It appears that breaking records has become o­ne of the obsessions of our country.

In a world where the Malaysian stereotype has not yet been formed, is "record-breaking" culture something we want to define our national identity? Already, the signs of this identity is already starting to form.

Perhaps Dr Mahathir has the impression that breaking records is something that developed nations do. Already, he has managed to build for Malaysia the world's tallest building, albeit for a few more years until Shanghai wrests the title from us. After all, many of the "achievements" listed in the Guinness Book of Records seem to be from advanced nations.

However, this correlation in no way means that a developed nation has to be obsessed with breaking records, no matter how trivial (world's largest ponggol event, anyone?). o­ne o­nly has to take a glance at the national dailies to see coverage of attempts to break ever more silly and pointless records, which are beatable o­nly because no o­ne else has bothered with it.

It is o­ne thing to try and get the country in the world map and consciousness of the international community, quite another to be the international court jester.

Other than simple economic, geopolitical and military power which we usually associate with developed nations, we should aim for the less central, but nonetheless important facets which will help us gain international respect.

Such things as culture, scientific research, human rights, social equity are equally important to the identity of a developed country. It is hard to think of a developed nation which doesn't possess these qualities.

Vision 2020 is less than two decades away. Hopefully we would have more than a handful of world records and economic strength to show before we declare ourselves a developed country.