‘It is our duty to change a corrupt government’

YOURSAY | ‘Any gov’t owes everything to its citizens and not the other way round.’

Why I am, and will always be, pro-establishment

Swipenter: We are not rebels without a cause and neither are we anti-establishment.

It is our duty to change a corrupt government; a government that does not act responsibly, transparently and be accountable to us, to our children and to the future generations of all Malaysians and our country.

We surrender some of our basic rights and freedoms in exchange for a government that we expect to govern us responsibly, transparently and be accountable to us.

Now we have an allegedly irresponsible government telling us we owe everything to them. In fact, any government owes everything to its citizens and not the other way round.

Turvy: Well argued, writer Hazlan Zakaria, regarding the position of the 'conservative' - one who believes in the principles of good government and loyalty to the legally elected.

But it skirts the point that these principles are lost on criminals and cheats who take power legally only to enrich themselves.

What do you do when those elected to power abuse the very principles that placed them in power, burn the very bridge of principles that took them to power?

Do you wait for the next elections when another series of abuses with the aid of foreign potentates continue to keep them in power? What do you do when the corruption of power is so insidious, that it even infects the majority who vote?

The scary thing is how much money there is available to subvert these principles. You thought you could not buy everyone because there simply is not that much of money around for such ill purposes.

What you do not realise is that national coffers have enough and more. You just have to get your hands on it and then buy the voters with our money.

Proarte: Hazlan, being pro-establishment without defining what the establishment means is not helpful. In actual fact, it is the flawed 'establishment' since its inception which has led to the current morass.

Instead you should be urging a peaceful revolution of establishment principles and policies to create a system based on equality of its citizens, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the principle of separation of powers in governance.

Your beloved 'establishment' which you are dewy-eyed over, has never promulgated the above. What do you stand for, Hazlan?

Mojo Jojo: I noticed Hazlan mentions the four traits that he deems necessary for being pro-establishment. These include a regime that is honourable, dependable, accountable and responsible.

Now I am curious about one thing - why doesn't he also include in the list, a regime that is blind to one's skin tone and religious conviction?

In principle, a government could embody the four qualities mentioned by Hazlan, and still implement New Economic Policy (NEP)-style policies as well.

However, how fair would these policies be when ethnicity and religion are used as the basis of policy-making?

Anonymous_1371547149: It would sound better if you, Hazlan, say you are pro-good governance and pro-transparency, not pro-establishment. Or else I may think that you may have been a beneficiary of the current establishment.

Headhunter: A freely elected government voted in by the majority should be supported. Examples of such governments are those in the European countries, Australia, New Zealand, USA, South Korea, Japan, you name it.

But one should not support a government which allegedly cheated and bribed their way to power with financial backing from some mysterious Arab, whose identity cannot be revealed for some sinister reason. Not that we believe the fairy tale.

Clever Voter: History will not favour politicians with tainted characters. In the past 50 years, we have seen corrupt regimes in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan fall. Same for those in South America and southern Europe.

Within Asean, both the Philippines and Indonesia have had their share of corrupt leaders but have made significant improvements.

Malaysia has had no regime change since independence. That can only take place if and when the majority of the electorate believe in the manifesto for change.

The electoral system favours the current regime. Civil society has been challenged. Agents of state are too biased for any change. Time will tell whether the system can be fixed, hopefully through democratic means.

Mr KJ John: Thanks, bro, for your articulation of this dream, which is shared by most moderate Malaysians but they are not craftsmen with words and ideas as you are! Excellent one. And, Hang Jebat is the right call, too.

Anonymous_1377321471: Hazlan, a well-written article. I hope the sleeping Malays have chance to read your article and are able to appreciate your message to them and thus roused from their slumber.

Democrat: I believe most Malaysians are with you, Hazlan. The problem is that most cannot articulate as well as you do. -Mkini