Let’s save the nation before its too late

The critical question is has the majority of Malaysians today achieved prosperity or just empty growth?

COMMENT

By R Kengadharan

The 13th general election is bound to create a remarkable milestone in our democracy and maybe perhaps a change for the better. Any change is like a marriage of vision to action and a combination of courage and commitment.

The coming election is not about where we have been and what we have done or achieved. It is about the kind of Malaysia we hope to leave behind for our children.

Any dysfunctional political system will continuously thwarts the genuine and legitimate will of the people and there is no doubt both the Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat are facing newer and very real challenges which are so demanding and this challenges cannot be controlled.

The only way of rejecting a dysfunctional political system is for the people to choose their own government i.e. a government that believes in prosperity not ignoring liberties.

The critical question is has the majority of Malaysians today achieved prosperity or just empty growth?

No government should run the country like a corporation who in turn will conveniently loose sight of their real shareholders and Malaysia is no exception to this.

Currently some of those pressing problems are dangerously ignored and/or not given enough attention by the present political system, leaders and political parties and this in turn hurts and demoralize Malaysians in general.

These problems include:

• there is a huge income inequality among Malaysians and it is steadily growing at a frightening speed;

• the current political system has miserably failed to foster genuine equality of opportunities and a safety net for those genuinely in need of help;

• we are simply refusing to invest on our people but instead prefer to invest on defence and mega projects which may not bring about long term returns and may not be beneficial to the country in general;

• inertia to carry out radical economic reforms and genuine privatization embracing competition in business and politics;

• failure to review and revamp the current failing low cost housing scheme and the Government must learn to maintain a direct control;

• continued failure to formulate and implement a comprehensive national health insurance funded through the Employees Provident Fund or Socso thus effectively reducing the monopoly of insurance giants;

• failure to create a national old age fund payable to all regardless of their race and religion;

• and there must be a necessary 100,000 capping imposed upon the employment of foreign workers whom by virtue of their presence has undermined our security and our local labour force lost their bargaining power.

Challenges will only increase

While Malaysia is an excellent county wherein she is prosperous and stable because to a larger extent its people are united and industrious, but there is an urgent need to improve on our foresight.

Please remember the challenges we face today in nation building will not only increase in numbers but also in its magnitude.

While the present success wasn’t achieved effortlestly, the success in the future will be even harder and more challenging.

Unless we desire to reject a dysfunctional political system at the ballot box which will inevitably constitute the crux of the question for the next general election, we may not be able to salvage the country.

In addition to the above, there are other related concerns which we may have ignored such as:

• how to effectively cultivate and develop the next generation?;

• the ever emerging social and healthcare needs of aging Malaysian population;

• and whether the current social welfare net is adequately shaped to effectively cater the under privileged class / groups.

Our primary concern and objective in the coming general election should be based upon providing social safety net to many regardless of income status so that no Malaysian will fall and struggle for survival.

Remember, any dysfunctional political system(s) will seriously hamper and damage the progress of a decent nation.

While success of a nation is dependent upon the policies of the government, in essence the people and government must complement each other and only then Malaysia can transition itself from a third world country to a developed nation.

R Kengadharan is a lawyer and an ex-ISA detainee.