LETTER | A change is needed for political stability

LETTER | For the last few decades, Malaysia had strong political stability and this, among other factors, greatly assisted in getting foreign investments, which is vital to a developing nation.

Today, political stability is no more a strength and blessing. I blame both sides of the political divide. We had sixty years to consolidate the structure, systems and stability. There is an abuse of the system where politicians have been conferred wide discretionary powers which they misused along with the "Little Napoleons." 

Hence, the leadership in many ministries has been a nightmare where politicians are only interested in positions, power, money and self-serving objectives to win the next general election. Cronyism and collusion must cease.

Our politicians have too much baggage and many are selfish and refuse to mentor and develop younger politicians. It is time for a younger breed of politicians instead of the same old faces who have a lot of baggage. Younger politicians have little or no baggage and they have the added energy and capacity to leverage technology faster.

Why are the intelligent and technology-savvy younger generations refusing to go into politics? I feel the biggest issue is the race and religion mantra. The younger generation that embraces diversity hates such issues. They want results based on diligence, innovation, merit, pragmatism and education. 

Malaysia is harping too much on matters of race and religion to fool the rural folks especially. It is the easiest approach to influence the rural voters, during elections. No wonder, most of the politicians refuse to admit that our education system is pathetic and worrying, as testified by foreign big organisations who complain that many of our graduates cannot even write or speak a decent sentence in English. We need critical thinking Malaysians and not being "bad followers". 

The other issue is corruption. It is now part of our culture. None of our ministers walk the talk on addressing this key issue including most of our past premiers. We are losing billions annually to corruption yet it is always an adrift issue, as if it is not important. Who are the perpetrators of corruption, besides the top people and the Little Napoleons? 

There is a lack of transparency and openness in our structure, systems and processes making it very vulnerable to corruption. There is also a lack of engagement and collaboration with stakeholders. 

Perhaps the civil service needs a quality workforce (not quantity) that should be paid with better compensation. Emulate our neighbour nations and implement best practices. Is it wrong to learn from our neighbours on how they handle corruption or it is our pride that is holding us back on learning the right approach to manage?

A good politician is a good leader but most of the time it is only populist policies that take precedence here. It shows that our leaders are weak and only wish to take short term popular decisions, like handouts, in ensuring the results of the next elections are delivered selfishly.

Finally, perhaps the royals can assist the country in the above key issues. We are in dire straits (without admitting it) especially with this pandemic and low petrol prices. 

We need a new breed of dynamic politicians and role models who can debate in Parliament professionally and with substance. Why can’t there be a national campaign to encourage the younger generations to pursue this field? They are the hope of the next generation. 

We need a breed of political leaders with good education, integrity, openness, creativity and using technology to move Malaysia forward. Without leaders of integrity, we will fail. Otherwise, it would be the expected and boring race and religion issues again. 

We should emulate South Korea, Taiwan and many more who were once behind us but are now way ahead economically, and even in education and political stability. The current political model in Malaysia is not sustainable and will lead us to the dark ages. Let’s make Malaysia great again.

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