Sunday, June 11, 2006

Not To Be Bias

It is true that most Malaysians believe our Prime Minister has done reasonably well thus far . His actions as a PM in 'housekeeping' is indeed good . We can see an improvement in Departments' efficiency ( though still not up to the most efficient level ) . Corrupted people were all sent off to courts and punished . It is a good sign for a developing nation like Malaysia . Malaysia has moved on from being a Third World country to being a Contender Country and hopefully by the year 2020 , we will be a developed nation , achieving the dreams laid down by the legendary Tun Dr Mahathir .

Datuk Seri Abdullah has done a great job in managing the country thus far and I can see that he is a patient man . However , the issues raised by Tun are not to be overlooked . What Tun said might be true . If we want to build a new Penang bridge , do we have to tell Thailand that we are doing so ? The current bridge issue is to build a half bridge that is entirely in our own territorial waters . To build that , we need to ask the Singaporean Government ? Or is there another reason ? Which Tun Mahathir say is to bring in the sand issue and enrich certain people like what happened in the APs issue ?

Well , the other day I had a discussion or sort of argument with my pal in Sydney ( Engineering student ) . He argued that to link the half bridge to the current one might cause instability to the bridge , probably putting stress to it . Hmm . How true this is , we are not sure . I have even heard that the building of the bridge will change the course of the Straits water flow to an extent that it will favor Port Tanjung Pelepas . The truth ? No one knows as they are all government secrets protected by the Official Secrets Act . Any leak of it , you will end up in jail !

But the thing is , where is the logic when we can't build a bridge on our own waters , territory ? Explanation has to be given to the analytical Tun and the public I believe .

Probably the Prime Minister has got nothing to do with this , if he insists . Then of course , the responsible ministers should come up with a detailed explanation in the Parliament of Malaysia and cut out the popular part these days where many politicians seem to say "Tun , you have retired , enough is enough , etc " .

I still remember in 2002 at the Umno General Assembly . I was having my National Debates Championship by the Education Ministry of Malaysia . I saw how Tun wept emotionally as he drank the glass of water and announced his resignation to a stunned nation . Who were the ones saying " we still need you , Datuk Seri (at that time) " ? Who were the ones crying and appealing to Dr M to pull back his resignation ? One clear personality was Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz . Everyone heard and saw her saying "Datuk Seri , tarik balik , tarik balik " , but Dr M replied "I've decided , I'm retiring" . Then , they all went to the executive room and everyone appealed to Dr M to stay on for another year . Look at what each minister replied and commented on the issue , read again what many Malaysians say about our great Father of Modernization . Leave aside what PAS said , they called it sandiwara and they will still call it a 'sandiwara' A.K.A drama if these occur again in Umno . Today , when Tun raises certain issues , with the starting point where Tengku Mahaleel was knocked out of Proton for reasons not given , many will say he has retired .

What does this imply ? Are you all up there seating comfortably in the presidential high back chairs merely Yes Men or Oscar Award Winning Actors and Actresses ? Are you all afraid of being jobless to speak out ? Or is that really what you think and feel ? The Tun has retired , yes and indeed he promised not to interfere with the government . But I guess raising issues are not counted as interfering with the government's mechanism . Tun did not say "hey , you must do this , you must you must !!" . Tun merely raised issues that needed to be answered . Give him and we the public the right answers . I believe the issues raised by Tun have been playing in the minds of at least a few if not hundreds or thousands of Malaysians . Just that we do not have the courage needed or power backing to raise the national issues . What will others say if I raise this issue ? Will the authorities say " oh yes , we will look into it and answer you ? " . No way . We will be shot down in a more brutal manner than the responses towards the Tun . We will be told that we are mere citizens , the matter has been closed , we should concentrate more in enriching our lives . Or if we are students , we will be told to concentrate more on our books rather than the issues of interest in the government .

There were certain comments that Tun has done a lot of things in his 20 over years and that the PM merely slows things down to pick up and clean up the 'engine of development' and prepare the thrust towards a developed status . There are also comments that Tun has done a great deal of service and the PM's advisors feel that he should not be overshadowed . Thus , dismantling and cancellation of part of the ongoing legacy (Projects) of Tun has to be done . Well , whichever is true , is none of our concern but it is indeed a concern if what Tun say about our sovereignty is true . Our forefathers fought hard for our country's sovereignty . If we are to kowtow to another country again , I will strongly object to this .

I can understand if Tengku Mahaleel is removed , I'm sure Tun understands but he demanded a reason . Well , when you become a PM , you have to ensure that major positions must be seated with your own men . This is especially so in media like NST and Utusan . TheStar is controlled by MCA and MCA being the peace seeker will always be supportive of the administration of the day . The same goes to Proton probably . Tengku Mahaleel was Mahathir's man and probably he needs to be replaced ? Not very sure about this issue , but cronyism (if you want to use that term) exists everywhere . Live with it . Even we will employ the cronyism approach when we become somebody . It is unavoidable .

2 comments:

lishun said...

i have as much respect for tun dr.m as any sane malaysian will have for the man who has done many good works for our country. i also agree that he has every right to speak his mind and to demand transparency, despite how ironic that may be.

however, to make a direct attack on the prime minister HE chose because of political reasons that most (young) malaysians cannot understand or cannot even see...that is the reason why our dear former pm is under alot of attack himself.

it's not so much the issue of sovereignity - the decision was made by the cabinet, not the pm alone, and was made based on the public's opinion. in case people forget, the government works for our interests at the end of the day.

it is also not so much the issue of yes-men and people who say they want dr.m but are now rallying behind pak lah. who is the current prime minister? is it not the DUTY of the government to back its leader? if our dpm were to do anything other than support the pm, if he were to say "oh yeah, yes i was indeed the 'real' chosen one", what good would that spell for malaysia? or even for him as a leader, as a person?

the real issue here is that while dr.m can demand explanations and get those explanations and he can criticise the projects or other actions handled or dismissed by the current government, by waging a DIRECT media war against his successor he has shown a severe lack of judgement before taking action.

the reason why there is an uproar is not so much that the people want dr.m to shut up or they want pm abdullah to explain...it's because credibility is at stake here and dr.m has just shown behaviour that does not reflect how a former pm and a great man should demonstrate.

Anonymous said...

No corruption, no improvement....
cannot, anti-anticorruption.....