The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| What to look for in the person you vote for Posted: 13 Mar 2013 04:50 PM PDT
MARCH 14 — Morality in Malaysia is about fear. It has been like that for some time. Fear is certainly the most consistent part of growing up in our system, and I worry that in time those who come after me will think I too am responsible for the fear they've inherited. Here I want to champion hope, and promulgating it into our national psyche. Which is why writing about the fifth and the most telling consideration for a voter come this general election, I am hesitant. For moral leadership is what distinguishes a leader with power, and a man who is a citizen first, a leader second. For the latter, being a leader only matters because Malaysia matters, and never the other way around. Moral leadership can be so easily be mistaken for populism and opportunism. If it appears impossible, demands great attention and time, dilutes your political capital and feels thankless to engage to the leader, then he may be exhibiting qualities of a moral leader. While jobs, security, education and healthcare are pillars of good government and the basis to pick a new one or to stay with the incumbent, moral leadership determines the esprit de corps of any nation. And so many of us will readily agree that, whether you vote Pakatan Rakyat or Barisan Nasional (BN) in the coming election, living in Malaysia has gotten complicated in the last half decade.Ardent BN voters will point out to so many people who've emerged from a stolid system with better lives today are too cynical and critical of how things were and continue to be. Surely they'd not be OK today if the system was not OK to begin with, they ask. It worked, somewhat. So why abandon that reality? I know a local graduate who asked for Bersih chairman Ambiga Sreenevasan to be deported to India on her Facebook account, because she is of the opinion that everything in Malaysia is great and is being ruined rapidly by those challenging long-set ideas. Pakatan supporters will in return as enthusiastically say that version of the past is sanitised and voids the real price of nation-building, downplays the role of the individual and overplays the ruling elite. For most voters, the times have changed whether they can or cannot make sense of the past, what they are more aware of are their own wants and needs. They can't just be told what is good for them, they have to feel the good in a manner befitting them, and they can be let down rather easily. Today, they prefer a good man leading them than a man of means or reputation. The deliberations This multicultural nation has multitudes of issues from race relations, religious supremacy, cultural space, free speech and political representation. None of them are easy, I don't envy any sitting prime minister especially the present one to solve them effortlessly, but the degree of difficulty is not an excuse to ignore them. They do not ultimately decide if our schools work or jobs are being generated, but as they linger without resolution, the harmony of the state is interrupted. The use of the word "Allah" for instance, BN staying in Putrajaya or Pakatan displacing them won't end the dispute. This column is not intending to untangle the theological contentions it is merely recognising that there are committed groups who have definite ideas on what is correct. Any outcome will be disappointing to both sides in degrees. A better leader would engage both groups equally and fairly from the point of dispute, explain to both what all of us are beholden to, the Federal Constitution. Neither may be persuaded, but both will appreciate the effort to persuade them. The present solution of having two separate policies for Peninsular Malaysia, and Sabah and Sarawak divides the nation and keeps an uneasy peace. It has a large sticker reading "temporary" on it. The great communicator It is not surprising that most history-altering moments of social evolution, abolition of slavery, Universal Suffrage and end of colonialism were led by men who could share their ideas and speak their conviction. Those were brave moves, and the population relied on the idea as much as the proponents' blind faith in things never before possible. By the looks of things in Malaysia, we would need copious amounts of great communicators to convince the nation forward on so many deadlocks that continue to plague our advancement as a people. By design, many things here are confusing, difficult to tell or split into parts possible to decipher. Therefore any leader of our country after the general election would be expected to not only want to engage with the longstanding stalemates but to communicate with stakeholders. Who then? How would our leaders fare, considering all the above? That is up to the voter. My caution to all is not to think that all politicians are the same, therefore rendering this consideration superfluous. Some stand up for something, others stand for nothing, and if they are not different then to most of us, then this country is in for some serious soul-searching. More importantly, some might have been standing up for you and bleeding for that privilege, and you never bothered to realise. Think about that when you walk to the polling room. * This is the personal opinion of the columnist | |
| Posted: 13 Mar 2013 04:47 PM PDT
14 MAC ― Ketika rencana ini ditulis sudah empat hari genap usia PRU12 lima tahun. Ia genap lima tahun pada 08 Mac lalu kerana PRU yang lalu diadakan pada 08 Mac, 2008. Belum pernah dalam sejarah kemerdekaan Malaysia penggal pilihanraya umum genap lima tahun. Sekalian orang menunggu Parlimen dibubarkan, macam menunggu buah tak gugur. Biasanya tangkai buah tidak sebegitu liat ia gugur. Jika tidak dijolok atau dikait, bila ia ranum nescaya ia gugur sendiri bila tempohnya luput. Ia ibarat orang Islam menunggu usia patut mati. Justeru Nabi Muhammad SAW wafat pada usia 63 tahun, maka orang Islam mengira mereka tiba usia patut matinya had 63 tahun juga. Bagi yang tidak mati selepas 63 tahun, ia dikira bonus. Apabila masuk tahun kelima Parllmen dan DUN tidak juga dibubarkan seperti biasa, maka ia bonus pada setiap wakil rakyat. Semua elaun dan kemudahan sebagai wakil rakyat habis apabila Dewan yang mulia itu dibubarkan, tinggal apa yang hak bagi bekas wakil rakyat saja. Tidak pernah wakil rakyat kita rasa bertuah dapat nikmat sebegitus panjang seperti yang mereka rasai semasa Datuk Seri Najib Razak menjadi Perdana Menteri. Sekalian wakil rakyat sejak zaman Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra lagi menagira usia Yang Berhormatnya sekitar empat tahun saja. Bila lewat tempoh, masing-masing menunggu tamatlah tempohnya jika tidak dicalonkan lagi. Bagi wakil rakyat yang sudah empat tahun hidup dengan elaun wakil rakyat, kehidupannya akan sempit jika tiada pendapat tetap apabila tidak lagi jadi wakil rakyat. Sebelum Tun Abdul Rahman Yaakub menjadi Ketua Menteri Sarawak, menteri dan bekas wakil rakyat tidak ada pencen. Mana-mana yang tidak ada pendapat tetap terasa susahlah hidupnya. Memang payah bagi bekas wakil rakyat untuk membuat pekerjaan seperti menoreh getah, bersawah dan lain-lain. Antara yang merasai hidup sempit itu ialah Datuk Tawi Seli yang tidak lagi jadi Ketua Menteri Sarawak. Beliau memang asalnya rakyat biasa yang tidak pekerjaan tetap. Tuahnya baik dia terpillih jadi calon dan jadi wakil rakyat. Apabila Apabila Stephen Kalong Ningkan digugurkan dari Ketua Menteri Sarawak, Tawi Seli jadi gantinya. Apabila Tun Abdul Rahman Yaakub jadi Ketua Menteri. Tawi Seli jadi orang kampung biasa tidak pendapatan. Bayangkan bekas Ketua Menteri yang dulunya berelaun besar tiba-tiba tiada pendapatan. Apa jadi? Maka Tun Rahman pun mengadakan perutukan pencan kepada wakil rakyat di menteri-menteri. Ia diikut oleh Parlimen dan DUN-DUN lain. Kemudian peraturan pencen itu dipinda wakil rakyat yang berkhidmat 30 bulan saja dapat pencen setelah usianya mencapai usia pencen. Maka dalam tempoh 30 bulan itu Parlimen tidak akan dibubarkan bagi membolehkan wakil rakyat berhak mendapat pencen. Jika mereka tidak jadi wakil rakyat lagi tidaklah mereka tidak ada pendapatan langsung. Apabila PM Najib tidak membubarkan Parlimen, maka YB terus dapat kemudahan wakil rakyat hinggalah usia Parlimen dan DUN itu genap lima tahun dari ia mula bersidang selepas pilihanraya dulu. Kemudian ada ramalan Parllimen dibubarkan pada 11 Mac lalu jam 11 pagi. Ramalan itu dibuat berdasarkan PM Najib dikatakan suka angka 11. Semua motokarnya nombor 11 keranan kononnya dia ada Datuk Shah Bandar Pahang yang ke 11. Wallah waklam. Tapi pada 11 Mac itu tidak juga Parlimen dibubarkan. Bila? Jika Najib kiat buah selepas ini tunggu saja genap usia penggal Parlimen yang ada lima tahun sejak ia mula bersidang dulu * Ini adalah pendapat peribadi penulis |
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