LETTER: I hope whoever becomes the President of the United States, he will keep his promises to the electorate.
Leaders fail because, once elected, they do not do what they promised to do before they were elected. They come up with all sort of excuses, reasons and justifications as to why they were unable to keep their pledged word.
In 2016, Donald Trump promised to give the American people a better quality of life while at the same time reducing costs, or at least keeping them under check. But he has not been able to keep his promise during his four-year tenure as president. He did lower taxes but there was no improvement in the daily life of many Americans.
In 2018, the Pakatan Harapan made certain promises to the Malaysian people but failed to deliver. At just the right time, the perfect scapegoat arrived to help governments around the world - Covid-19. Now, everything can be blamed on the virus.
I often wonder, would the virus have caused so much damage if government leaders had kept the promises they made to the people who put them in power. Because clearly this virus existed due to authorities failure to follow procedures and implement standards.
To make an analogy, it is assumed that most people know that drug trafficking carries the death penalty in Malaysia. Yet, if a drug trafficker is caught with a certain amount of the substance in his pocket or anywhere in his luggage, he can hardly stand in front of the judge and say that he was unaware of the law. He will be sentenced regardless.
The people, however, are expected to understand, excuse, forgive, and assist the government's leaders when they say that they could not predict Covid-19 or they were not prepared for it, and they cannot treat many people getting sick at the same time.
Nevertheless, do not punish the innocent with the guilty. There are many responsible and law-abiding citizens out there who have for the past eight months followed all the rules and regulations instituted by the health ministry to fight the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
They deserve to go back to work at their offices and move around as freely as possible, with their family members, friends, and colleagues. But then, there remain groups of people who are mindless, careless, and plain naive as to how their reckless behaviour vis-a-vis the SOPs, will hurt the rest of the population.
These groups of people must be constantly reminded and directed to follow the law by their supervisors, managers, and directors.
I would be the first to recognise that it is very difficult to discipline your family members, friends, and relatives, and this is the main reason why well-intentioned politicians cannot carry out the changes needed for the betterment of everyone's livelihood and lifestyle.
Culture is the caring and innovative leader's strongest enemy. There is a part of culture that is good and helps people find meaning in life. But, there is also another part of culture which keeps people backward, and therefore poor if not in plain misery.
Well, modern voters will not stand for lack of integrity any longer, and they will be quick to show their displeasure when the time comes to fill in the ballot boxes.
MARISA DEMORI
Putrajaya
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times