MP SPEAKS Let’s talk, you and me.
After 51 years of independence, the Barisan Nasional is still being summarily accused of sweeping problems under the carpet; living in denial and self-glorification; and also of glazing-over its imperfections to “deceive” the public.
The BN is also arbitrarily said to be trapped in the shadow of the past: stiff in upholding archaic traditions and unyielding when it comes to changing its ways.
Much worse – personally this gets the lion’s share of my worry – BN has been accused of not doing enough in engaging with the people, particularly the youth of the nation.
We allegedly neither speak the lingo of the youth nor are we sympathetic to their aspirations.
At this late stage of the game, this kind of perception should not exist at all, and if it did, it would spell the doom of any political party that is inept at engaging the nation’s youth.
In all honesty, BN has always been trying – and will always be trying, no doubt – to engage not only the youth, but also Malaysians at large. BN, too, is mounting efforts to be rid of the negative perception.
But these engagement efforts take time to be nuanced and perfected to everyone’s approval.
Meanwhile, the luxury of time is not on our side, as it is people are getting increasingly disenchanted with the politics of lampooning one another.
The voters, too, are disheartened with the politics of demonisation, the politics of hatred, the politics of cynicism and the politics of populism.
As things stand at present, political parties have an almost lemming-like tendency of spiralling down these dark and dangerous vortices.
Writing already on the wall
In short, the more toxic the topic – always hovering along the lines of race, religion and region – the more alluring the free fall becomes.
We need a complete lobotomy of these issues. We must move away from bickering-on about cancerous topics, lest we wish to discolour our fabric of unity.
The writing is already on the wall. More and more people are craving for middle-ground politics.
Point to ponder: statistics from research houses have shown an alarming increase of fence-sitters post the 13th general election – they are undecided on issues, because political parties are not able to offer them palatable choices.
The problem is most political parties are buoyed in championing their own causes – even after the dust of GE13 has long settled.
The general election, which has epitomised everything that the rakyat crave for: political maturity, inclusivity and middle-ground pursuits – sadly these have been largely ignored.
As always, they fall back into their comfort zone, their narrow and myopic beliefs, limiting the possibilities of reaching out in a more meaningful way.
The true knight who will be able to slay the dragon of our complacency must be someone who heeds the rakyat’s aspirations at heart. In essence, he or she must gallop ahead, beyond the sad and tired rhetoric we have all heard before.
Time is nigh for us to rein in the rancour, to return to the original national narratives as envisaged by our forefathers, to soldier ahead beyond the debilitating sense of altruism.
We must do this so that the bricks that build this great nation continue to stay stronger.
Now, the quest to find the true knight begins.
ABDUL RAHMAN DAHLAN is the MP for Kota Belud, Sabah, as well as minister of urban well-being, housing and local authority and a member of the Umno supreme council. He can be contacted on his Twitter account @mpkotabelud or his Facebook account atwww.facebook.com/rahmandahlan.my
After 51 years of independence, the Barisan Nasional is still being summarily accused of sweeping problems under the carpet; living in denial and self-glorification; and also of glazing-over its imperfections to “deceive” the public.
The BN is also arbitrarily said to be trapped in the shadow of the past: stiff in upholding archaic traditions and unyielding when it comes to changing its ways.
Much worse – personally this gets the lion’s share of my worry – BN has been accused of not doing enough in engaging with the people, particularly the youth of the nation.
We allegedly neither speak the lingo of the youth nor are we sympathetic to their aspirations.
At this late stage of the game, this kind of perception should not exist at all, and if it did, it would spell the doom of any political party that is inept at engaging the nation’s youth.
In all honesty, BN has always been trying – and will always be trying, no doubt – to engage not only the youth, but also Malaysians at large. BN, too, is mounting efforts to be rid of the negative perception.
But these engagement efforts take time to be nuanced and perfected to everyone’s approval.
Meanwhile, the luxury of time is not on our side, as it is people are getting increasingly disenchanted with the politics of lampooning one another.
The voters, too, are disheartened with the politics of demonisation, the politics of hatred, the politics of cynicism and the politics of populism.
As things stand at present, political parties have an almost lemming-like tendency of spiralling down these dark and dangerous vortices.
Writing already on the wall
In short, the more toxic the topic – always hovering along the lines of race, religion and region – the more alluring the free fall becomes.
We need a complete lobotomy of these issues. We must move away from bickering-on about cancerous topics, lest we wish to discolour our fabric of unity.
The writing is already on the wall. More and more people are craving for middle-ground politics.
Point to ponder: statistics from research houses have shown an alarming increase of fence-sitters post the 13th general election – they are undecided on issues, because political parties are not able to offer them palatable choices.
The problem is most political parties are buoyed in championing their own causes – even after the dust of GE13 has long settled.
The general election, which has epitomised everything that the rakyat crave for: political maturity, inclusivity and middle-ground pursuits – sadly these have been largely ignored.
As always, they fall back into their comfort zone, their narrow and myopic beliefs, limiting the possibilities of reaching out in a more meaningful way.
The true knight who will be able to slay the dragon of our complacency must be someone who heeds the rakyat’s aspirations at heart. In essence, he or she must gallop ahead, beyond the sad and tired rhetoric we have all heard before.
Time is nigh for us to rein in the rancour, to return to the original national narratives as envisaged by our forefathers, to soldier ahead beyond the debilitating sense of altruism.
We must do this so that the bricks that build this great nation continue to stay stronger.
Now, the quest to find the true knight begins.
ABDUL RAHMAN DAHLAN is the MP for Kota Belud, Sabah, as well as minister of urban well-being, housing and local authority and a member of the Umno supreme council. He can be contacted on his Twitter account @mpkotabelud or his Facebook account atwww.facebook.com/rahmandahlan.my
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