Inclusivity - yet another election buzzword

 

In my first commentary on the election published on Oct 12, I wrote: “Over the days leading to the hustings, hundreds of candidates will be making thousands of promises.

“Instant approvals of plans for development would be announced; there will be goodies for all and sundry and a guarantee of a better quality of life for everyone irrespective of their colour, creed or religion.”

Yes, every candidate has his vision and is making promises. Some border on absurdity. Few have talked about the impossibility, knowing well that they cannot be compelled to keep such promises.

If a photograph of four men dressed in party shirts squatting and pointing to a broken drain can be repellent, so could a promise of getting pandas to the Taiping Zoo

Why paint yourself as a longkang MP when such chores should be left to not even state assemblypersons but the councillors of municipalities? The people are electing their representative to be their voice in Parliament.

They are lawmakers – not mandores supervising work. But then, every candidate wants to impress by engaging in such activities as if they would be judged by how they carry out these tasks.

There have been offers of free education, toll-free roads and tablets for students. They have sweeteners for every stratum of society. Even those living in low-cost flats, often forgotten, will get a once-in-five-years visit with yet more promises of improved conditions of living.

Very few have talked about policies, proposals and ideas for improving the quality of life of all Malaysians. Promises are made on the spot without thinking of the consequences.

Then there’s the bogeyman – Israel - which has featured in previous elections. Any remote link is exploited but then, what is not conveniently made public is that in 2020, Malaysia imported goods, mostly electrical and electronic equipment, worth US$6.81 (RM30.6) million from Israel. But during the peak years - 2012 to 2015 - Malaysia imported over US$5 billion (RM90 billion) worth of Israeli goods.

In 2015, writing for a column in theSun, I noted: “So, with all the rhetoric on ‘Jewish conspiracies’; ‘ban on Israeli goods’ and ‘boycott the oppressive regime’, trade (between the two countries) is thriving and growing too.” And Israeli ships (flying Panama flags) are calling regularly at Port Klang. So much for hypocrisy.

We have been promised three deputy prime ministers – one each for Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia. But why stop at three when you can have 14 – one for every state? But the sky is the limit when there are no provisions for a deputy PM in the Federal Constitution.

But the election is a numbers game. The false feeling is that the more promises, the more support but it is no longer a winning formula.

If previously the people were mesmerised by such promises, these days, they rightfully ask: “How are you going to do it and where are you going to get the money?”

Citizenship issue

But in some cases, there’s hardly any sincerity in making promises. Last week, the man whose trademarks were smugness and arrogance, someone well known for his tirade against journalists and fellow lawmakers, showed his “humility” or pretended to.

He offered a solution to a longstanding issue – to grant Malaysian women with foreign spouses the same automatic right as Malaysian men to confer citizenship to their offspring born overseas.

BN chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that “in the name of inclusivity”, the coalition no longer wanted children born through mixed marriages, or those with different ethnic and religious identities, to be denied the right to make Malaysia their home.

BN chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi

In September last year, the High Court issued a landmark decision that foreign-born children of Malaysian mothers are entitled to be Malaysian citizens by law, and ordered the Malaysian authorities to issue citizenship documents to these overseas-born children.

Despite calls for it to let the decision stand, the government appealed the matter, leading to the Court of Appeal overturning the ruling on Aug 5 this year, effectively denying Malaysian women the same right that Malaysian men enjoyed automatically.

A group of mothers who are the plaintiffs in the case subsequently appealed the matter to the Federal Court, which has set Dec 14 to hear the application for leave to appeal.

Has the ruling government suddenly seen “inclusivity” as an issue or is it just another election gimmick? - Mkini

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R NADESWARAN is a veteran journalist who writes on bread-and-butter issues. Comments: citizen.nades22@gmail.com.