If there is anything that leaders of Barisan Nasional
and Pakatan Rakyat have in abundance it is arrogance with large doses of vanity
and pride. Large enough for them to overdose on if left to their own devices.
UMNO is the largest political organization in
Malaysia. It has a network that transcend state boundaries and a war chest
second to none. As the incumbent it can do what it wants within government, the
Judiciary and the EC – this is simply the truth. But do they have to keep reminding us of this? And do they
think that what they have done in the past will be sufficient reason enough for
them to ask for another term to govern when what they have done serves to damm
them more than to anoint them as being fit too govern for another term?
As for Pakatan Rakyat it one thing for the people to
decide that they have had enough of Barisan Nasional but it takes extraordinary
arrogance for Pakatan Rakyat to insists that they should be in Government in
Putrajaya after this 13th general election no matter what! This is
for the people to decide. Meantime it would do them good to put their house in
order by giving us hope that they will be a credible alternative to the present
corrupt and self serving Barisan Nasional. A little humility from DAP, a
cessation to the use of gutter politics from PKR and more of PAS unwavering
commitment to decency and a people first governance would go a long way towards
making this happen.
Unfortunately the collective bile that consumed
Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat continues to be directed towards each other
and leads to the exclusion of listening
to and hearing what the Rakyat wants and expects of them.
These politicians are people of such extraordinary
smugness, conceit and arrogance that right thinking Malaysians should be
concern for the future of politics and the state of our nation in the time to
come.
Malaysian politicians presume that their significance
and position within our society is God given – that they are the chosen one!
Chosen one my foot!
Their insensitivity to the plight of our people who
live in poverty, who are in the minority, who are underprivileged, marginalized
and for the old and the sick borders on an irresponsibility that may be
familiar amongst the despot and dictators of Africa and some Middle East
regimes – but in Malaysia this is unacceptable.
All that we are, all that we have inherited from our
elders, all that we have learnt from our various cultures and religion teaches
us otherwise. We are, we have been a caring society. We want our government to
reflect this!
Enough is enough. We have had enough of the arrogance,
enough of the pride and vanity and certainly enough of the sense of entitlement
to our nation’s and our wealth that these politicians claim as their own. Najib
and Anwar should be ashamed of themselves. We need new leaders!
There is a tradition in Malaysian politics that
tolerates racial polarization and pork barrel politics that divides the ante
amongst the various races. To this we now want a sense of fairness that will
allow for this division of our Nation’s wealth on a need basis tempered by
decency to provide for those most in need and deserving of this assists.
There is a tradition that sees the armed forces and
PDRM stacked with Malays. The tradition that sees the Malays dominant in
politics and the Chinese dominant in business.
Realistically this will not change because the Malays
have the numbers to maintain their position and the Chinese have the wealth and the guile to defend theirs but there is a dire need to work on
the advancement of the Indians, the people in East Malaysia and those in the
minority who are without the means of taking what is their due because they
lack representation in Parliament. And we need to insist on meritocracy in
business, government and all things Malaysians.
And above all the most fundamental need is for us to
put in place an education system that will teach our young that our survival as
a Nation is dependent of putting in place the true concept of 1Malaysia.
The arrogance of those who have become our leaders is
more offensive because they treat us with contempt.
I am a liberal Malay and there are many liberal Malays
but we do not honestly want a Malay government with a Chinese Opposition. By all means let Kit Siang go to Gelang
Patah to contest in the heartland of UMNO but would it not be more reasonable
for DSAI to go and contest UMNO on its own turf? Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah
can ‘patah’ DAP if not Pakatan Rakyat itself.
We have seen KJ lose the Prime Minister post for Pak
Lah, Rosmah will in all probability do the same for Najib and now we see the
possibility that DAP will lose the general election for Pakatan Rakyat? This
close to the election and PR is imploding? Or has UMNO timed their run to the
13th general election to perfection?
I have no real answers to these questions but these
questions need to be asked and addresses effectively by Pakatan Rakyat if it is
to win government. To err is human and we all make mistake but not these kinds
of mistake!
As the leaders of Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat
both grow more confident of their perceived victory in the coming 13th
general election so too grows their arrogance when telling us of what THEY have
done for us in the past, what THEY are doing for us in the present and what
THEY will do for us in the future.
I think they should stop to listen and hear what the
people have to say about what THEY have done and what WE want them to do! This
election is not about them but about the people of this Nation. This
insufferable arrogance of our politicians to think that it is about THEM - about Najib or Anwar, about Barisan
Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat – needs to be addressed if not by the politicians
themselves than by us, the electorates.
I know it would seem that choosing a responsible and
decent person to be an elected representative seems next to being impossible
from amongst the current crop of would be candidates so far put forward by BN
or PR…so maybe we would need to look towards what the future will hold for us.
Maybe we need to look towards the 14th
general election when the candidates we elect now, would be able to step out
from the shadows of the current dinosaurs and ‘condemmed’ politicians and bring
about the changes we aspire to.
For now one person for us to consider would be Nurrul Izzah.
Quietly
and without fuss Nurull goes about her job of serving the people who voted for
her in Lembah Pantai.One on one, one by one she goes about the business of
being MP of Lembah Pantai. Lembah Pantai is where she is doing her
apprenticeship to prepare her for what lies ahead if she is to be in
government.
There
has to be some more of her generation and of her ilk in the ranks of Pakatan
Rakyat and in hopefully in Barisan Nasional too. To think otherwise would be to capitulate to
the excesses and abuses of government we have already endured under Barisan
Nasiional. If I had a wish for my country and for our people it
is the fervent hope that Najib Tun Razak will be the last UMNO Prime Minister
of our country for a very long time.
For Nurrul to be our future she must be in government
now. Let us hope that this thought will allow us to make the right choices in
this 13th general election. We can only hope that the old guard
within Pakatan Rakyat will build a future upon and around politicians like
Nurrul Izzah and others like her that they may have in their ranks.
ABU!