Malaysia First
Already we have seen the bickering among the so-called coalition-of-willing. Do we trust they will govern to our expectation. That is the sixty-four thousand dollar question.
Changing of guard naturally comes with high expectations, but at the same time, the new guards too marvel at the sudden power that is bestowed on them. What guarantee do we have that our new guardians will not be entrapped in the same failings as the administration they seek to replace?
Considering that we already have 53 years of the same recipes, from the same kitchen, it might not be a bad idea after all to see a change of chefs. Yes there are risks but heck, if there are no changes, will there ever be any changes at all.
Many a times our leaders have forewarned us not to gamble away our future. The irony is, will the future be better if we continue to stick with the current leaders who have failed us or throw our weight behind new leaders who claimed to be more capable and ready to lead. In Malaysia, I do not believe only the current government has capable politicians.
Winning an election is one thing but governing is a totally different ball game altogether. We may want to take a leaf from Taiwan. After governing Taiwan since 1949, the Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) ceded power to the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the 2000 Presidential Election.
The DPP swept into sudden power, no thanks to the split among the rank-and-file in the KMT but at the same time the Taiwanese were also fed up with their current government which had grown too arrogant, corrupt and out-of-touch with the common people.
So the time was right to have a change of guard after 51 years which saw the deterioration of governance towards the tail-end of KMT rule.
As I mentioned, with change, comes high expectations. The DPP came into power campaigning on one key platform, to rid KMT of corrupt rule. We now know the rest of the story; the new power became even more corrupt than the old.
So, after being in the wilderness for so long, when one comes to power, one could not simply resist the taste, not to mention the temptation of power. The Taiwanese people learned their lesson and elected the KMT back to power in 2008 with a landslide victory.
And if you think this is unique to Taiwan when there is a change of government, similarly in Japan it was no better when the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) fell to the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).
Not only that, in just five short years, between the LDP and DPJ, Japan already had a change of six prime ministers and what followed is their roving door policies as termed by the media.
Till today, Japan is still stuck in their economic doldrums. And our nearest neighbour Indonesia had high expectations too when president Yudhoyono took over from Golkar but his new administration was also beset with corruption and he was personally implicated but no charges could be proven.
Still, I take my hat off to these countries whose citizens have the guts to make the change. Do you think Malaysian voters have what it takes to make the change? Yes and no. Yes for the educated and global-minded urbanites and no for the forever-comfort-zone rural population.
The kampung people live and swear by the good patronage of the current government. The kampung folk are not interested in the big picture. Globalisation maybe a buzz word for the young and mobile but is alien to the rural folks. The young generation may not live without internet access but the kampung folk get by with real-time gossip among themselves.
The current government is too entrenched at the grassroots level of every kampung. So what if the urban elites are internet-savvy and are exposing the current governments’ wrong-doings in cyberspace, what counts is the number of kampung folk who are continuously latched and ‘trained’ to vote the current administration. Needless to say, our pakciks, makciks, apeks, ah-sohs, uncles and aunties outnumbered the ultra-modern and cyber-surfing young Turks.
Come GE13, will Malaysia wake up to a new dawn? Yes, momentum maybe building in the opposition camps. And by the way, momentum is mass multiply by velocity. I think we have the velocity with exposes after exposes daily in the cyber-space on the current administrations’ excesses.
Unfortunately there is no mass because the audiences, that is, potential voters, are confined to a small part of the society and not far-reaching enough that would turn the tide to the opposition camps. The battle ground is not in the cities but in kampungs and villages.
Having said that, I’m 100% for a change in government. I’m willing to take the risk and gamble my future for the sake of my future generations. As in the case of Taiwan, Japan and Indonesia, it serves as a wake-up call to the current government not to take the people for granted (or should I say for a ride).
I also believe there is no such thing as a perfect government. Whichever political parties that comes into power, we will eventually see abuses of power and corruption and all the ills of a governing party. The option before us given the current scenario is to simply choose the best among the worse.
If the alternative coalition professes that they could govern better than the current slate of leaders, I’m willing take a ride with them. If they think there are cleaner than the current politicians, I stand to be proven wrong. If they think they can make Malaysia a more just society, I stand to be convinced.
And if the alternative coalition is not worth their salt, I’m willing to bring back the previous administration. That is what happened to Taiwan. After kicking out the KMT and realising that the DPP is even worse that the one they replaced, the Taiwanese people decided to give the KMT another chance. True enough after eight years in political wilderness, the KMT re-invented themselves where they are brought back down to earth and engage the population with their more people-friendly policies.
I wish our time will come too where we send the current government into reflection mode with the hope they too will re-invent themselves and serve the common rakyat, not to line their pockets with immoral wealth.
I believe we can write a new chapter in Malaysian history when the next general election is called.
It is not called a watershed election for nothing. This is the best opportunity that we have. The dawn of a new era is before us and we must convert this opportunity into a reality.
With you and the rest of you who are reading and sharing this, together we can make history. Do it now ! Are you with me?
Make no mistake we shall defeat BN this time and subject Taib, Jabu and George to corruptions investigation.
Comment by Stephen James. — December 31, 2010 @ 6:53 AM |
As we race to the conclusion of 2010 and march into a new year, let us all pray for a new dawn for our beloved Sarawak. Lim Guan Eng, Khalid Ibrahim and their colleagues had never been in government before 2008. In less that three years, they have shown tremendous political will to bring sweeping changes to the corrupt practices of the previous BN government. The Freedom of Information Bill in Selangor, once it becomes law, will only serve to make government more transparent. The allocation of local government portfolios to NGO and community leaders in the Pakatan states is another policy that deserves applause. In less than three years since March 2008, the Penang state government has demonstrated remarkable skill in managing the economy. The list goes on. Yes, I believe the time is right now for Sarawakians to usher in a new government.
Comment by James wong — December 30, 2010 @ 12:59 PM |
It is most probably, the sentiment of the people who is at work in Taiwan and Japan at the election that brought about change in the government. Sentiments are natural human feelings that were categorized as Residues by the Elitists. Thus, it is devoid of reason but its Derivations are preached as the truth by politicians. If this be the case, then the newly elected government of these countries are taking a free ride on the sentiment and failed to administer the state properly. This will explain why they lost power in the next election. During the interval, the rival party will have the time to recuperate and re-invent itself. It follows that gaining power is a much easier task than keeping it.
The Opposition in this country should focus on gaining power gradually than making an all-out attack for Putrajaya. It will have to show that it can keep power in the states that it rules to gain the confidence of the electorate. In the rural areas, the only formula is Persistence. The folks learn slowly but surely. Other than that, nothing else could be done.
Politics is not a problem, ignorance is. Malaysians are poorly schooled in Politics. Why? Because we are not trained to be in charge of our own destiny. Values of citizenship and statesmanship are ignored. Instead, values of dependency and pretensions are propagated for vanity. This sort of mentality creeps into political parties on both sides of the divide. This resulted in poor quality politics that do not benefit the nation. Ironically, in this melee of fools, Politics is found. Thus, Malaysians have found Politics the hard way. But any which way it is, we have learned the future. Do not look back, ever again.
Comment by Bourgeois Revolution — December 30, 2010 @ 10:28 AM |
UMNO controlled BN which had allowed the thief minister Taib Mahmud to plunder and loot in Sarawak in the last 30 years for as long as he delivered the parliamentary seats in every elections will be facing defeat and likely to be overthrown by the people in the coming election. Taib’s children suddenly felt their father’s ill gotten wealth would be shared by an outsider and foreigner(contrary to 1Malaysia) who became their step mother and were getting more suspicious of their aunty Roziah’s role in match making the 28 year old Lebanese with the frail looking paramount thief whose health has been deteriorating.
Land minister James Masing has branded critics of Sarawak’s land policies as “arrogant and ignorant”, but judges have disagreed in several prominent cases, granting local villagers’ Native Customary Rights (NCR) claims to land taken over by the government.
NCR and Malay reserve lands not only belong to the rightful native and Malay owners, Sarawak is rightly owned by all Sarawakians but has been looted and plundered by the paramount thief with the approval of UMNO controlled Putrajaya. UMNO has schemed for an Iban leader to be an interim CM next for less than a term but the Dayaks are a lot smarter now to be able to smell the evil scheme and plot of Putrajaya.
Hidup ketuanan rakyat Sarawak.
Comment by Mata Kuching — December 30, 2010 @ 6:13 AM |