Good optics should be followed up with right action

 

 If you go to any family gathering during the festive season or hang out at the mamak with friends, I bet that one of the topics of conversation would be about how the current government isn’t doing a good job or that they aren’t delivering on all the promises that they have made before getting into power.

Is there truth in any of these? Well, maybe. They’ve only been in power for over a year. They still have another three years or so to serve.

Don’t forget that this is also a so-called unity government that is seeing parties outside of the original coalitions during the campaigning period joining forces to form the administration.

Just like when a government is formed via a confidence and supply agreement, the different parties need to discuss and reach a compromise when it comes to the different agendas and manifestos that they want to bring forward once they are in the government.

But here’s the thing. I don’t want to be an apologist. People can be cruel, and the comments online can be brutal and it might push me to the brink of the nearest bridge in my vicinity. No! I’m just kidding. People can say whatever they want. I believe I’m pretty resilient to online comments.

In this day and age, we need to have a lot of resilience when it comes to our self-confidence and worth and how it is affected by the internet and social media.

However, indeed, I don’t want to be an apologist and neither do I want to be someone who makes excuses for the current government. I am not a member of any political party or even want to be aligned with any.

All I really want is to have a government that is efficient, fair and compassionate so that the country and its people can progress, develop, prosper and live in peace and harmony. I’m sure for most Malaysians, this would be their main concern too.

Bersih march

This is probably why the pro-reform group Bersih decided to march to Parliament earlier this week to hand over their memorandum for reform to Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim and Selayang MP William Leong. Both MPs are from PKR, which is part of the government.

Bersih met with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim a few days later to also present their ten reform points which are:

• Appointment of Election Commission chairperson and members

• Declassifying the electoral reform report

• Election Offences Act

• Political financing

• Redelineation

• Separation of power between public prosecutor and attorney-general

• Moratorium on discharges not amounting to acquittals (DNAA)

• Parliament Services Act and Standing Orders

• Fixed Term Parliament Act

• Constituency Allocations Act

Anwar was in total agreement with some of the points, while some others, he says, still need to be discussed further. Again, I don’t want to be an apologist (I hope I’m not repeating this too often or the comments section is going to go off!), but at least the prime minister is willing to sit down for a meeting with Bersih, which is more than can be said for all the prime ministers before 2018.

This is progress, isn’t it? Slow progress, but still something.

With that being said, as much as Anwar agreeing to meet with Bersih is good for optics, I hope that it isn’t just for the optics alone. Bersih, and all Malaysians, have a right to demand reforms since that is what this new government has promised us.

Bersih is just acting as a watchdog and trying to keep the government in check so that they deliver what they have promised and also to keep the interest of the people in mind. Who is the government accountable to if not the people, right?

On the right track

Frankly, in my opinion, governments are never perfect and act exactly as how we, the people, expect them to be. That is why we, the people, need to constantly question and ask for responses to these demands and not allow them to just be buried.

If nothing comes out of it all, then in the next general elections, the people will have to decide on the next course of action for the country. This is our right and so we can continue to hold the government accountable.

I don’t want to be an apologist (here we go again!), but I still think that we are on the right track even if it is slow. Should it be slow? Of course not, and that’s why the demands for reform.

As for the government’s part, don’t make any engagement as just merely lip service or to build false positive optics.

Remember, the government now was the opposition back then and had made demands like this for the people before. Things should be different now. - Mkini

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ZAN AZLEE is a writer, documentary filmmaker, journalist and academic. Visit fatbidin.com to view his work.

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