Madani govt, the best administration so far

 

SATIRE | Recently, a controversial Merdeka Center survey put Anwar Ibrahim’s Madani government at a less than 50 percent rating.

Many critics rose up in arms to condemn the government with growing accusations that Anwar had done "nothing" but waste a whole year of the people's time on frivolous and self-aggrandising political moves, going in the wrong direction and snail-paced reforms.

Our prime minister was forced to make a statement dismissing the survey as it only entailed 1,200 people.

It may be true that only 600 people disapprove of the Madani government but 32 million others may have supported it.

Corruption and reforms

There are those who condemn Anwar for helming the Finance Ministry, but it is not only a cost-saving measure as Anwar will not knowingly take two salaries for each position, but it also ensures that there will be no more RM2.6 billion or RM600 billion scandals resurfacing.

He will also ensure that corruption in government would be a thing of the past.

The prime minister’s recent announcements that much-needed reforms would be implemented in a slow manner also brought brickbats from critics who think that just because they cast their vote in favour of the government, they have the absolute right to criticise and pressure the government without batting an eyelid.

Citing the French Revolution’s mistakes, it was such an eye-opener for Malaysians as it showcases our prime minister’s ingenuity, brilliant mind and bottomless wisdom.

Now, 200 years later, Malaysia will not make the same mistake the French did to hastily implement reforms resulting in the catastrophic downfall of the French government.

With the support of 152 MPs currently out of 222 MPs in Parliament, the Madani government is on solid footing. The opposition should think at least 222 times before trying another Sheraton Move. At this rate, the Madani government will outlast BN for the next 60 years.

It was also rumoured that nearly 80 percent of the Malay vote went to the opposition in the last general election.

So, it is of utmost importance to win them back. It has been successful thus far with five more opposition MPs from Bersatu in the bag, dancing to the unity government’s tune.

Reforming the practice of channelling constituency funds direct to the rakyat instead of via opposition MPs has magically drawn more Perikatan Nasional MPs to support the government. So how can we say the government is slow to reform?

One must know that Anwar is neither young nor energetic like before, nor a Superman, who can bulldoze such important reforms in one year.

Anwar and his sizeable delegation have traversed over 20 countries in less than a year to bring a record-breaking hundreds of billions of ringgit worth of foreign investments back to this country.

It won’t be long before Malaysia overtakes Singapore. Some even say that soon our currency will be RM1 to SGD3. But keep on dreaming as nothing is impossible with Anwar at the helm.

Supporting Palestine and Hamas as the “Voice of Gaza” has brought the country international fame by showing the world that Malaysia cannot be bought by the US hegemonic pressure. Today, Malaysia stands tall, while Europe is still sheepishly bowing helplessly to the US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (Nato) pressure.

With oil revenues presently financing the bulk of the country’s growth, Malaysia will never require global financial assistance in the far future.

The ballooning government debt of RM1.5 trillion is still chicken feed and the government has nine more years to address it - unless the government is unwittingly dislodged by the extremists in the opposition.

Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli’s claim that Malaysia recently witnessed “unprecedented” and extraordinary economic growth from one quarter to another in a single year.

It shows Malaysia is well on its way to full economic recovery under the present government, and in good hands under Rafizi and there is little incentive to revive it further.

‘Jakim-ising’ nation building

Anwar has even elevated the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) with extra funding and given it a prominent role in nation building but people are still complaining that reforms are at a snail's pace under the Madani government.

See the little tiny reforms like the banning of Tamil religious songs, Christmas carols and the skimpy clothes Loy Kra Tong show festival in Bachok, Kelantan has been taken totally out of context and deemed unacceptable by the non-Malays in the country?

Imagine, if we had reformed the big ones hastily - like abolishing the Sedition Act, ratifying the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd), abolishing tolls on highways, reducing petrol prices, dismantling the approved permit (AP) system and implemented meritocracy, just to name a few? It would have brought total chaos to this country.

Trying to rectify Icerd nearly cost Dr Mahathir Mohamad his premiership in 2018, even though he got booted out anyway in 2020.

The Sedition Act has been so useful to this country that it would be a sin to repeal it. Would there be celebrations in the streets if the law is removed? Would it improve the economy and promise more freedom?

Way back in the past, Anwar promised to reduce oil prices if he ever helmed the government, but what is the point of reducing oil prices, if the government can benefit from it?

Reduced oil prices will only lead to more people abusing it by driving more and increasing the traffic jams instead of walking and cycling to work.

Have you noticed lately that Malaysians are getting chubbier from lack of exercise? So it may be a blessing in disguise if petrol, sugar, chicken and eggs and rice prices continue to go up. Consuming less of the above will improve our health and conserve our energy.

Abolishing tolls will only cause Malaysians to hog the highways, turning trunk roads into bicycle lanes, causing an economic downturn in small towns that line these roads.

Highway maintenance will deteriorate, toll booths torn down and people out of jobs.

Abolishing APs will result in Malaysian car manufacturers selling fewer cars as imported cars would be cheaper.

‘Intelligent bullying the less bright ones’

Implementing meritocracy could be another pitfall, as the intelligent ones have abused the system to bully the less intelligent ones by taking over most of the places in educational institutions - leaving only scraps for the less intelligent ones.

It will condemn the less intelligent students to a miserable poor life as road sweepers, rubber tappers, waiters, delivery boys, night soil workers and construction workers.

But today, without meritocracy, the less intelligent ones still manage to become CEOs, doctors, engineers, ministers and even future prime ministers, while the intelligent ones go overseas to continue their education – refusing to come back and contribute to this beloved country.

Some intelligent ones like Grab went on to switch their headquarters to Singapore and the “Sugar King” went to Hong Kong and China. Less intelligent ones like myself stayed on to write less intelligible articles like this to infuriate the intelligent ones who still wallow in this country.

With the government embroiled in recent scandals like the Community Communications Department (Jkom) fiasco, it needs to tread cautiously and try not to rock the boat while preserving the status quo.

After all, Malaysia has always been slow-paced with its reforms and there is simply no incentive to try and hasten it.

So looking back, the Madani government has done a wonderful job managing the country even though there will be critics who simply bark up the wrong tree. - Mkini

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ISKANDAR DZULKARNAIN is a former associate news editor.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.