Old leaders must go

Malaysians are too enamored with the pedigree of individuals and past glories of leaders who insist on being around long past their prime and relevance.

COMMENT

DAP chairman Karpal Singh has called upon former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad to spend more time with his family.

DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang meanwhile tells us that the police should not be too super-efficient in arresting peaceful Malaysians, including women and children, while being utterly helpless in curtailing the worsening crime situation in the country.

And Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim is still going on about the general election that has been over a month ago!

“Tak selesai pilihan raya yang lalu. SPR perlu letak jawatan. Yang jelas tipu, yang khianat mesti dibetulkan. Walau apa alasan pun, (kita perlu) pilihan raya semula. Kita tidak akan tolak ansur. Kalau (mereka) padam lampu, hilangkan peti undi, (kita) betulkan, itu tuntutan kita,” so says Anwar in front of a 15,000 crowd at the Black 505 rally in Kelantan.

If we were to take a snapshot of what our political leaders in Pakatan Rakyat are doing this week, one thing becomes apparent.

They all talk of the past and the present. The future for them is too distant a proposition to think about.

They are, after all without exception, in their 60’s – closer to their 70’s. What concerns them is the present.

We too are concerned about our present! We know Malaysians are divided on many issues – and all these issues are politically motivated.

We know that our future will depend on what our leaders do today – with or without our interest in their minds.

Yes they all have issues as to the way the 13th general election was conducted. I suggest that they go do their homework and put together a credible case as to why they think the 13th general election was flawed.

Then they will need to submit it through the process – however flawed – of having our courts decide on the right or wrong of what they alleged.

Resisting change

If they talk about the future, it means they have to talk about what will happen to their relevance within a coalition that has to start to make itself ready for the future now.

This means they have to start the process of identifying new leaders from the present second tier Pakatan leaders. Then they must make ready these new leaders for the role they must undertake by the time of the 14th general election.

In the process they make themselves redundant. None of them are big enough to be able to do that by themselves even if the need to do so shouts at them deafeningly.

This is true of Pakatan, and it is also true of Umno and BN. They know change is needed to bring their political entity up to speed with what many Malaysians now want, and yet none of them want the status quo to change. Why?

It is simply this! In Malaysia the capability/delivery system by which the government and politicians deliver their services to the people is held together by corruption and bribery.

Policy are made and implemented taking this into consideration. Accountability within government and politics allows for the proliferation of this abuse.

Any change is a threat to that delivery capability. Any change will mean a change of status quo of the participants in the chain of the delivery system and they are all uncomfortable with what that change may bring.

So change is not welcomed. Anybody at any level within politics and government understand that their “periok nasi” depends on maintaining the status quo.

Today the demand for change from Malaysians can no longer be ignored. It is relentless. At times it will make concessions to race and at times it will accept the need to take a different route with different partners – but always the movement advances.

Old leaders must go

Old leaders must make way for new ones because the catalyst for change resides almost exclusively within the younger generation and the generation down from the ageing political leaders we now have within Pakatan and BN.

Politics and government will eventually succumb to the demands of the majority for open, responsible and accountable work ethics with a pronounced sense of morality in everything they do.

It would be good if our present leaders understand this. If not they will be consigned to the heap of irrelevant and outdated leaders that history collects. Gadaffi, Saddam, Sukarno, Suharto, Marcos, Pol Pot and Mahathir are but a few of them.

We in Malaysia are still too enamored with the trappings of political power, the pedigree of individuals and past glories of leaders who insist on being around long past their prime and relevance.

These leaders will not go by their own accord. We will have to tell them to go no matter who they are, from where they come from and what political inclinations that may have – and we must do so without fear and without favours.

We must now have leaders who are wise and of goodwill with moral authority and personal integrity.

Anything less would consign our nation to languish where it now is: in a place where bribery and corruption is the fabric that holds everything together! Truly a despicable place for any nation to languish!

CT Ali is a reformist who believes in Pakatan Rakyat’s ideologies. He is a FMT columnist.