Cutting our nose to spite our face?

I felt compelled to pen this arguable opinion piece given the major cock-ups by some ministers recently. From flying cars to black shoes, khat, back-tracking on Lynas and, of course, the double-speak on Zakir Naik by many senior ministers, it sometimes appears like things have slipped back to the "bad" old days. Some say worse. Even the racial uneasiness level appears worrying.

I've read many comments that indicate that knives are being sharpened and many wish to see a one term PH government. A year ago, I wrote about how difficult it was to clear a 61-year-old clogged sewer - I then asked to give the new plumber some time to fix the rotten pipes and dredge out the sludge that was choking the drains.

While I am disappointed that the pace of change is slow, and sometimes new silt is replacing the old sludge, I am cognizant that the new team is still only about 16 months old. How does a 16-month-old baby walk and talk? Often clumsily and spouting gibberish. Hence, you get the "shoe" minister with his latest associates, the youthful one and the entrepreneur development one. Yes, the one with the flying car idea.

Don't get me wrong, I think flying cars will be a reality one day for sure - but not one designed and built by Malaysians. We must admit it, we are a socially designed low-tech country - mainly caused by years of BN lowering the standard to get popular votes, in virtually every competitive sphere. 

Sixteen percent, 20 percent and 30 percent pass marks for English, Math and Physics ain't gonna yield us great engineers, scientists and doctors. Even in sepak-takraw, our "own" sport, we are thrashed by the kimchi-eaters who took up this sport ONLY for the 2014 games. Our hockey team, once top 5, is now in the doldrums. Our football team recently struggled to beat Afghanistan where the latter probably learnt to dribble dodging mine-fields. 

But then, hey - this is Malaysia where the brown-nosers in the right party, get their degrees, titles and contracts without merit. This is very frustrating. How long can this go on?

Having said the above, do we cut off our nose to spite our face? Do we vote in the "old devil we know" just because the new plumber cannot fix all the leaks as fast as we want? 

This would have been easy to answer if there was a "3rd force," i.e. another credible political party whose principles were based on transparency, meritocracy and unfettered public service. Malaysia has none now. Granted there is probably none in the world that would qualify although, in my opinion, the PAP of Singapore and the FDP of Switzerland may come close. 

But before we rush off to "punish" PH because of some foolish minister's (well, a few actually) antics, let's consider what would happen within 90 days if the old devil was voted in:

1. All enforcement heads like Tommy and Lateefah will be replaced with sycophants of Umno.

2. All legal cases involving Umno politicians (and their wives) will be dismissed/withdrawn with flimsy excuses.

3. Jho Low (above) will be given a Tan Sri title and all charges dropped.

4. 1MDB will be revived and this time, not RM 40 bil, but RM 400 bil will be siphoned off.

5. All those who spoke up against BN will be hunted and charged. Lim Guan Eng and Tommy will be in jail.

6. China will be (re)invited to build virtually everything at super-inflated prices. 

7. LTH, KWAP, Felda and all GLCs will be ordered to fund BN to stay in power for another 1,000 years... ala the 3rd Reich.

8. "Malu Apa" will be the national slogan.

9. No flying cars nor 3rd national car.

10. Zakir Naik will become a citizen and be awarded a Tun-ship.

So people, let's not get overboard in trying to teach them a lesson now. Even so, it's only 1 of the 4 main parties that's screwing up mostly. 

We should raise our ires publicly and demand redress, but let's give the plumber more time to fix the rotten drains. This is a case of "better the small cute devil than the big ugly demon" we had before. Frightening prospect, indeed, if we choose wrongly. 

---

RAMESH RAJARATNAM is worried that the current disappointing performance by many ministers may lead us to arrive at a disastrous conclusion in GE15. - Mkini