YOURSAY | Young or old, politics overrides everything

YOURSAY | ‘We have yet to come up with a new template for change.’

COMMENT | Change will never come from ‘experienced leaders’

Kilimanjaro: There seems to be some truth in what associate editor at Malaysiakini, Martin Vengadesan is trying to say.

There was once a chief minister from Sarawak called Adenan Satem. Unfortunately, he passed away too soon but his bold and relevant decisions enlightened Sarawakians.

From the issue of the language policy to the recognition of the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), he was one of a kind.

Then look at the Umno, Bersatu, PAS, Amanah, MIC, MCA and DAP Youth leaders. None are up to the task.

As Martin rightly pointed out, there were countless opinions on enabling the Undi18 kids and the question of their maturity and reasoning in electing a leader.

The problem is the country is already a tainted nation that can think only along race and religious lines.

Even the non-Malay parties like DAP are now vigorously fishing for the Malay votes.

The question ought to be - is there one, young or old, who can get us out of the present predicament?

Sadly, the answer is none. The fault lines are with the electorate.

But while I have lost hope with the Malay youth population who are primarily driven by race and religious sentiment, the non-Malay youth give me hope.

The present vote to stale parties may cease once the ageing population eases out.

This obviously may pit the Malay-Muslims and non-Malays into a more confrontational stand but that has to happen before the sky starts clearing up.

The storm has to happen before the calm appears. I have joined many others to assume that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will not be our saviour.

In his less than two years in office as the prime minister for the second time, Dr Mahathir Mohamad introduced more reforms than Anwar, who talked endlessly about reforms for over 20 years.

There is something in me that tells me that had Mahathir been allowed to continue with the support behind him, this country could have seen better days.

We were foolishly squabbling with him for Anwar to take over.

Today, what I gather about Mahathir is the spite and embitterment that, although he tried, the non-Malays didn't give him the chance to do something tangible.

We are fools alright. Anwar has become the worst nightmare.

OrangePanther1466: Martin, it would be naive to say that change can only come from the young.

Malaysian politics is unique with the interplay of race, religion and royalty in addition to affirmative action policies that favour the majority.

It is one of the toughest minefields that any aspiring politician has to navigate.

Granted, each country's politics are unique to them and often result in long impasses. Our neighbour, Thailand, is a case in point.

Given our political history, the likes of French President Emmanuel Macron or former New Zealand premier Jacinda Ardern types may not be the answer.

I would rather put my bet on second-tier leaders like former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin, Umno vice-president Johari Abdul Ghani, Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, Bangi MP Syahredzan Johan or former Umno leader Shahril Sufian Hamdan, who are much younger but have had considerable experience in sidestepping political pitfalls.

But alas, though they may be intellectually brilliant, open-minded and full of fresh ideas, I fear they may not be able to fulfil their potential merely because they may be a generation too early.

They can, however, lay a solid foundation for future leaders to follow.

There can be no doubt that we need to urgently fix our education system to help citizens adapt more to the challenges of this modern world.

Without fixing our future generations, there is little hope for the nation.

And I would also not summarily write off the old leaders, in particular, Mahathir.

He is the only political leader who frankly said that there were too many religious studies periods in the school syllabus.

He also championed the bringing back of English into the system by having the STEM subjects taught in the language.

Unfortunately, he did not have the opportunity to revamp the curriculum.

Mahathir also said that the existence of vernacular schools has hindered national integration, which did not sit well with almost all non-Malays.

But unfortunately, his current standing with the people is so bad that all comments about him are 100 percent negative.

I, however, believe we need to be impartial and give credit if one is due. These are bold statements that can spell political suicide for a budding politician.

No other politician worth his salt would dare utter such statements.

Letdown 2018: Young leaders in this country who do not conform to the ideas and mould of older leaders are snuffed out and put in cold storage or even in the wilderness.

Once a young leader begins to show prominence and voices ideas that the old are not comfortable with or do not do as told, it will be his political suicide.

Just look around, all political parties serve the deadwood that becomes warlords.

The supporters and voters are to be blamed too for easily following a Pied Piper for those that bother to indulge, but the majority just wish for near miracles from the same old faces.

Throw in the perks and rewards, and it is not hard for politicians to be waylaid for self-preservation.

It takes a young fresh mind with an equally strong character for the country to change, but not if the voters do not give him a chance.

Salvage Malaysia: It’s not just about whether one person is experienced or not.

From independence until now, all our prime ministers were or are technically trained from the Umno school of thought.

Their “inner DNA” doesn’t change. The problems we are facing now are due to them politicising everything, including education.

There’s no principle of some issues that should not be politicised for the betterment of our country and future generations.

Politics overrides everything. As the late former Singapore premier Lee Kuan Yew once said, he only does things that he thinks are correct and not politically correct.

Do we have such leaders here?

Cogito Ergo Sum: We have yet to come up with a new “template” for change.

We are using the old playbooks and textbooks written by the old and past their prime politicians.

Our education system is to be blamed. Young people are not taught to question teachers and politicians.

The circle gets smaller and smaller, repeating the old failed narrative of blaming everyone except ourselves.

No, we need to hit absolute rock bottom before we can start. It will be like how our southern neighbour started, from nothing.

Punchie101: The ugly truth - we never had a good education minister. One came in and killed the English language.

The other tried to champion Bahasa Baku. One great genius told us to master the "khat" and wear black shoes. The other is more interested in lavatories.

Then we are told that our standard is on par with Japan and Singapore. Meanwhile, rich ministers send their children overseas because the local system sucks.

The cycle repeats. The 16th general election will be a recycled mess.

Aristo: Perhaps now, when we see Anwar isn’t performing as well as expected, the people may take a chance with the younger leaders.

People have run out of options. Muda cannot give up. All the young leaders out there shouldn’t give up.

There will come a time when people will be so fed up that they will support and give the younger ones a chance.

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