Dear RPK
Re: Your article “The wood for the trees”
It's rare to see you cross swords so often with your commentors. You must be really pissed!
Just to add my 2 sen worth...
I have no illusions about politicians. You are right to say that politicians are in it to pursue power - that is the aim of politics. We the rakyat can hope and pray that the person who attains the power has the rakyat's interests in mind. But seeing the decay in social mores these days, that pool of talent seems to be getting smaller.
To the people who place all their hopes in the PR - hey, get real.
The PR are no angels, although they have many idealists who got fed up enough with the BN to join up and got elected. But let's not forget the Perak kataks: 2 PKR reps openly admitted to receiving sexual "rezeki" from lobbyists, 1 DAP rep did it for EVEN MORE money and power, despite having gained more money and power than she ever had before when she became the PR Deputy Speaker. And watch the May7 sitting on YouTube - Mutineers vs Hooligans. Based on principles alone, who can you support?
People argue that the PR is still finding their feet.
HELLO! Get real! There is no such thing as finding your feet - this is your government you're talking about! They are tasked with the task of managing your country! If they managed to get in power, they BETTER hit the ground running!
Heck, every US President knows he only has 4 years (barring scandals) or a max of 8 years to achieve his goals. Every CEO knows he has until the end of his contract to achieve the stated results, or he's out! Even every employee knows he better perform in his 3-month probation period or he's not going to be working for the company much longer!
But we have the PR pulling stunts like 1-year anniversary celebrations in Selangor.
HUH?!
What's there to celebrate? Do you celebrate your first year of working? Your first year since being promoted? Your first year of starting a business with your partner? NO! It's business as usual. And the business of government is serious! It's not like a lovey-dovey affair to be celebrated as such. It's ridiculous!
What if PR lost Selangor in GE13 and won in GE14? Do they then celebrate the 1st year or 5th year in power? And what if the PR had evolved into another coalition by then?
If the Selangor PR administration wanted to do something to commemorate their 1st year, it should have been a review of their progress, like the annual US Presidential State of the Union address.
Some people dismiss all these mis-steps by the PR as finding their feet. But what it really shows is that the PR suffers from a LACK OF COHERENT LEADERSHIP. And that is what's REALLY dragging the PR down.
We have a disparate group of parties who have managed to leverage on the nation's mass discontent to win some power. But look at who got voted in - ex-UMNO who think they're in UMNO 2, an ISA detainee who won in-absentia, social activists, bloggers, even a guy who accidentally recorded a video.
This is such a diverse group of people with such diverse agendas. To top it all off, they are inexperienced as politicians and government.
WHERE ARE THE LEADERS TO FORGE A COMMON PATH FORWARD?
Is there a guiding hand to establish the long term goals of the PR platform? Is there anyone to establish a common PR ideology that ALL rakyat can buy into and support? All they have now is basically the rakyat's discontent. But they don't seem to realise that if the tides of discontent can be successfully turned against the PR, then they're sunk!
There are already some signs of this with the swing of the Malay votes back to UMNO in Bkt Gantang and the Chinese votes in Terengganu. And the fence-sitting Rakyat may just believe BN's spin that it's the PR that's holding up the government of Perak.
Yes, RPK, you're right to sound the wake up call. We need to see things with our Eyes Wide Open. We need to think strategically, logically and most of all, clearly.
The BN is corrupt, but not everyone. And not all they do is crap. The PR are not all angels and not everything they do is right. And not everything we read (even in the blogs) are as they seem. To pin all our hopes for a better Malaysia on Brand Y politicians instead of Brand X is just stupid. What if Brand Y lets us down? Do we all go jump in the river since BOTH X & Y don't seem to be working?
Come on! It is WE THE RAKYAT who has to bring change to our country. Politicians are human and humans are fallible. Are we willing to entrust millions of Malaysian children's future on a few hundred fallible politicians? Or are we the rakyat going to do something about our own destiny?
RPK, you're absolutely right to ask "what are we willing to do to bring change"? It is a valid question - the question that will separate the talkers from the doers.
What will I do?
I will blog. I will write with my Eyes Wide Open. To present viewpoints from a perspective of logic and clarity. To try and look at issues behind the obvious and hopefully, it will help others see the same.
I also believe that the way forward is not for the rakyat to switch from Brand X political party to Brand Y political party. It is for the rakyat to be educated and informed about their rights and responsibilities as citizens and how to use to rights and responsibilities to keep the politicians in check.
For that, I eagerly await Haris Ibrahim's Anak Bangsa Malaysia initiative. I've already signed up and waiting for this next step in this.
EYES WIDE OPEN
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