Why the New Government will not be another BN

  the crowd at my ceramah in Parit Buntar

Before I go off on another extended round of ceramahs, I am posting this article. Many times, I have been confronted with a typical response- why should we change government? The new people in power will do the same things the present govern does. They will steal, rob and pillage and build up cronies around them. Whoever I choose, my lot will still be the same.

This kind of response which seems difficult to counter in the first place can be dealt with when proper reasoning is applied. First, the typical answer reveals an admission that the present government does what it is accused of- a litany of misdeeds. Corruption, pillage, embezzlement( RM80 billion each year over the last 10 years being smuggled out of the country- a hotchpotch of ill-gotten gains such as bribery, commissions, inflated transfer pricing and such things). 

We have scored a victory in having these deeds admitted.

Once again I  come to my previous argument which asks why is it that even the most liberal of minds seem unable to accept that those good souls outside the corridors of power are not capable of doing good, while we, ( of the establishment of course) are more than endowed to do good things. We are the good people, they, the bad. 

The answer to this of course- holding ourselves in such esteem only requires self-praise and an appeal to the emotions. The emotional side of our brain is receptive to such self-praises.

On the other hand, accepting that those good souls outside the corridors of power are also capable as we are, require deeper and serious reasoning. The reasoning is indirect and appeals to the rational side of our brains. Now, because our part of the brain that deals with emotions is particularly receptive to emotive persuasions, we obviously find ourselves readily susceptible to emotional appeals. ( Wow- I like the word susceptible because it reminds me of the statement that a certain Mongolian lady of leisure who has since departed, was also susceptible to anal sex) The rational portion on the other hand requires more arguments and is therefore more slowly influenced, but once influenced, reasoned arguments become convictions that will be uneasy to shake.

The next government replacing the BN and UMNO will not be the same and they will not repeat the so many transgressions committed by UMNO and BN.

Three things act as insurance against a repeat.

One, the sum total of our accumulated experience pushes the boundaries of our social consciousness. The lessons learn impose constraints upon the new government from transgressing. Members of society become advocates of propriety and probity. The heightened social consciousness serve as sufficient deterrent for would be transgressors.

Two- the sum total of our accumulated experience living under the rule of a corrupt and duplicitous government, served as grounds to acquired standard of measures. What are the standards? Standards that abhor corruption, abuse of power, cronyism etc. Members of society made wiser by the sum total of accumulated experience, know that if the new government does steps A, B, C, D they will eventually lead to an unwanted E. the new standards of measure by which good governance is evaluated further serve as boundaries for accepted behaviour of rulers. They are censored even before outcome E is achieved.

3^rd, this is an age where good governance is the norm rather than an exception. Our own society’s preference for good governance is now represented by the Rafizi Ramli’s, the Bawanis, the Adam Adlis of our country. Everything is questioned which forces the new government to act within the boundaries of the norm.

So, the answer is no- the new government replacing UMNO/BN will not be the same. It will not be because of the new social constraints.

So my fellow Malaysians- if you want the answers to these questions:-

1.   Who are the people behind the murder of Altantuya

2.   Who got the money from the purchase of the submarines

3.   Who get money from the purchase of littoral combat ships, from the purchase of armoured personnel carriers, purchase of airplanes etc

4.   If we want to bring to book the many KSUs who invented projects near the end of their tenures as retirement fund

5.   What Dr Mahathir really accomplished during his 22 years tenure as PM,

We must all resolve to kick out UMNO and BN.

Posted by sakmongkol AK47