LETTERS: THE prime minister was reported as saying that the string of by-election defeats since Pakatan Harapan came to power in May 2018 does not necessarily point to a one-term government.
I think he is right because it’s quite common in developed countries too that after a brief period of honeymoon, the ruling party’s own members will start to express their feelings at by-elections or in the media to show their disappointment at the local level.
In vibrant democracies, like the United States and the United Kingdom, the approval rating of the president and prime minister after one year in office usually goes down. It comes up again when the economy is doing well.
I am confident that if the Pakatan Harapan (PH) politicians stop blaming the mess left behind by the previous administration and instead show a strong commitment towards building a multiracial society and invigorating the domestic economy, they can turn around public sentiment.
There is a lot of negativity in the air about the state of race relations in the country. The leaders must distance themselves from the racial and religious hawks if they expect to win public trust that they are trying to improve race relations.
I do not think the voters who put PH into power are satisfied with the performance of the government on this score.
The public is also sceptical of the government blaming the national debt for the slow progress of reforms. If we read the economic reports from the Treasury and Bank Negara Malaysia, nowhere do they mention the national debt level as being so seriously crippling to the country as the politicians are claiming.
The World Bank and the Intenational Monetary Fund as well as our think-tanks, such as MIER (Malaysian Institute Of Economic Research) and IDEAS (Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs), take the view that the country remains financially stable despite the 1Malaysia Development Bhd and other scandals.
The finance minister has
also said the debt problem is manageable. Despite their confidence in the economy, economists agree that
reforms are urgently needed in view of emerging problems like high cost of living, low wage levels, graduate unemployment and the low quality of our education system.
All these are contributing to the worsening income inequalities among households. The people voted for a change of government in May 2018 because they lost all hope in the previous administration which they blamed for the collapse of integrity, accountability and transparency among the institutions of law and order.
The new government acted quickly in taking legal action on those involved in the hijacking of public funds and corruption. It is also making efforts to strengthen the various institutions so as to restore public confidence in Parliament, the judiciary, civil service, electoral machinery, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the police.
We hope the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission Bill 2019 will be implemented this year.
We are also hoping to see improvements in the governance of Government Linked Companies (GLCs), especially those under the statutory bodies and state governments as their close political links are often associated with corruption, cronyism and nepotism.
It is frustrating to see that when the government is faced with opposition from those who use race and religion to attack the reforms, it tends to recoil into a corner and do a U-turn.
The reforms that are often opposed on grounds of race, religion and royalty are those dealing with human rights. Yet, in a constitutional democracy, the laws must recognise the rights of the media, civil society, academic community, students’ and women’s groups for them to become the eyes and ears of the people and bring the issues and problems out into the open.
Freedom of information, and freedom of speech and assembly will enable political leaders to be held accountable for good behaviour in their public as well as private life. It is, therefore, crucial for the government to speed up the reforms for abolishing or amending the draconian laws to remove the climate of fear in the country in criticising the high and mighty.
Some apologists for the government have blamed the slow progress on the reform agenda on the existence of the “deep state”. From the statements that have been made about reform proposals being blocked in the inner circles at the ministry level, the “deep state” probably refers to the civil service.
It is difficult to believe that the civil service is engaged in sabotage. If indeed there are civil servants who are working against the government because their loyalty lies with their previous bosses, they should be identified, exposed and sent for disciplinary action, including dismissal.
Human rights are universal values that are neither West nor East. They belong to the whole human race.
TAN SRI MOHD SHERIFF MOHD
KASSIM
Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times