Change will never come from ‘experienced leaders’

 

Last week, an uncle of mine made a comment against Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek.

“Fadhlina is too raw and naive, we need someone with experience.”

He was echoing a common refrain, particularly among non-Malays, who see our education system as a focal point for their frustrations.

They seem to expect miracles and a quick turnaround of decades of false steps.

“I think it’s the ones with experience who have led us into this mess in the first place,” I countered.

After all, which “experienced” education minister has done a great job over the last 50 years? Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Anwar Ibrahim, Najib Abdul Razak, Hishammuddin Hussein or Muhyiddin Yassin?

Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek

Reads more like a rogues' gallery of failed policymakers than a hall of fame, don’t you think?

I, for one, rejoiced that the last election saw the defeat of long-serving parliamentarians like Mahathir and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. I was glad when other veterans like Lim Kit Siang, Mustapa Mohamad and Nazri Abdul Aziz retired from politics.

And I was indeed amused when Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said in a speech at a Bagan Datuk Deepavali ceremony yesterday that he was nearing the end of his service.

I would like to see him joined at the end of this current parliamentary term by Muhyiddin, Abdul Hadi Awang, Lim Guan Eng, Shahidan Kassim, Sabah Deputy Chief Minister I Jeffrey Kittingan and yes, the prime minister himself.

At 76, Anwar may still be younger than US President Joe Biden and Brazilian President Lula da Silva, but surely he is not a leader for the future.

More than his age, Anwar is showing that he too is not one who can lift us out from the trappings of the past.

What is very obvious is that Malaysia needs a reboot of thinking, a reformasi of ideas, and that it’s not going to come from the same experienced heads who led us to this. They bring their same entrenched beliefs and twisted narratives that have led us to an impasse.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim

Most of our discussions have been shaped by ethnic champions or religious zealots who ask all the wrong questions.

So for me, the issue is not about holding onto experience, because I am sure that there is no point sticking to what didn’t really work.

The question is why are there so few outstanding young leaders with fresh vision?

Perhaps one answer is that they adhere to traditional parties and thus, develop as loyal adherents to the dominant figures of the past.

But even Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s “breakaway” from Mahathir showed how difficult it is to chart your own course, and the momentum of his party is fizzling out.

But surely the younger leaders have to try and try again. We need someone who dares to lead us to a brave new world.

Vision 2020 sadly fell short and our country has long been in what Italian philosopher Gramsci deemed a crisis.

Where are our reformers?

“The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum, a great variety of morbid symptoms appear,” he said.

So where are the charismatic speakers and visionary technocrats? When will we get a young leader who doesn’t play to the existing gallery but instead, moves to drag us forward beyond the long-standing fault lines of our society?

And what really happens if you do think differently and outside the box? Most of the time, inertia and resistance to change is a more powerful force than reform.

We do have talented first-time parliamentarians like Bangi MP Syahredzan Johan, Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung and Bukit Bendera MP Syerleena Abdul Rashid. We do have younger ministers like Hannah Yeoh and Fadhlina but we still haven’t escaped the framework that has held us back for decades.

Where are the likes of French President Emmanuel Macron or former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern who can step forward and take the future by the scruff of its neck?

When I was backing Undi18, I was warned that too many young voters are ignorant of history and easily manipulated by propaganda. They will be looking to fake news on social media for guidance.

I do wonder by the way, when we non-Malays talk among ourselves about fairness. An end to double standards over religious conversion, education quotas, cheaper houses, custodial deaths, Orang Asli landlessness, Department of Islamic Development Malaysia’s (Jakim) massive budget and race-based universities all underpinned by taxpayers’ money as if to rub our nose in it?

Which Malay friend of yours has ever banged the table and talked passionately about overturning the injustice and inequalities that underpin the Malaysian social contract?

Who dares lead us out of the darkness and take us to the light? I’ll tell you one thing … it won’t be the same old experienced faces. - Mkini

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Martin Vengadesan is associate editor at Malaysiakini.