LEADERS – PLEASE SAY SOMETHING SENSIBLE

Former US Ambassador to Malaysia John Mallot’s article, ‘The Price of Malaysia’s Racism’ published by the Asian Wall Street Journal (AWSJ) recently has met with criticism by our leaders, notably from Information, Communication and Culture Minister Dato Seri Dr Rais Yatim, and Deputy PM Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin.

If Rais Yatim is amazed that AWSJ had published Mallot’s article that accused the Malaysian government ‘of tolerating and in some cases, provoking ethnic factionalism through words and actions’, I too am amazed at the response given by Rais Yatim, and including that of Muhyiddin Yasin.

Being senior ministers and seasoned members of the ruling government, I would have thought that both should be able to provide an intellectual response to the article and substantiated with facts as rebuttal, rather than to admonish Mallot like a teacher scolding his/her pupil.

I wish to draw my readers to some of the responses that I read from the media as under:

Rais Yatim said, I quote“When he was the Ambassador in KL, Mallot enjoyed the modernity and progress of our country. Of course, he preferred to associate himself with the opposition. We abhor such an envoy” Rais Yatim went on to describe Mallot’s criticism as outdated.

Muhyiddin Yassin said, I quote “Just his personal opinion and the media shouldn’t make a fuss”unquote. Quote “I do not know where he is now”unquote. Quote “His comments don’t carry any weight now because he holds no public office” unquote.

Are the responses from the two ministers above enough to convince Malaysians like me, to believe that the responses are intellectually acceptable? I don’t think so, and I am not convinced as well.

Now just read what Umar Mukhtar’s response to Mallot’s article that is published in Malaysian Insider today Friday, 11 February, and compare that to the responses by the two ministers. Don’t you see the difference?

I do not know who Umar Mukhtar is, but he has provided a ‘tit-for-tat’ answer to what all Mallot has written. This is what I call an intellectual answer; not a ‘school boy’ type answers. I am not saying that the two ministers are intellectually deficient, but what I want to impress upon them is that they ought to put on their thinking cap before making any statements or responses, especially to the media.

Please remember Mr. Minister, that whatever you say goes a long way, and I am quite sure Millot too reads your responses.


CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION

MINISTERS, DEPUTY MINISTERS AND EXECUTIVE COUNCILORS

Press reports cites that the Perak government will aution off all the Toyota Camry that were purchased by the previous PR government for its executive councilors, except the one used by former Menteri Besar Nizar Jamaluddin, who is said to be buying the car for his personal use.

I deem the decision to auction off the cars by the present Perak state government to be rather 'childish' and smack of vengeance. I wonder if the present state government will also go to the extend of tearing down homes, scrape of roads, demolish bridges, nullify awarded land titles etc. that were approved by the PR government. Wouldn't it be better if the cars were to be retained by the state, to be used by eligible senior government officers, or as pool cars, or to be used as official cars by the newly appointed BN state executive councilors.

If this is to be the continued mentality and level of maturity of some of our politicians, I have little hope of ever seeing this nation progress on the scale of some of our ASEAN neighbours, in particular Singapore and Thailand. We endeavour to become a develop nation by 2020, and that is just 10 more years left. And yet our politicians deem it so vital to grapple over an issue as insignificant as selling cars, and to assume that what is good by the previous government, is certainly not good for the new government.

This country needs thinkers, progressive, dynamic and knowledgeable leaders that are well versed in running the government; more so now than ever before.

Former Works Minister Samy Vellu may be seen by many (me included) as to be arrogant, but he does get work done. He will be there, wherever and whenever a problem appears, and will be directing orders on the spot. One can call him an actor, a good one at that, but the fact still remains that he is able to perform as a works minister.

But please do not emulate discarded Rural Development Minister Muhammad Muhammad Taib, who aspires to be the Deputy Prime Minister, but with a level of thinking that is only good for the kampung folks. Have you all noticed anything worthy that he had done to improve the rural poor? And wasn't he the minister that was seen running around the villages in Trengganu promising lots of things, prior to the Trengganu by-elections. And has he fulfilled all the promises he made?

Politicians and especially ministers, deputy ministers and executive councillors have their responsibilities to the people that had voted them. The comfort of the office is not where they should be. They should be more often outside the office and on the ground, to be seen by the people and to be giving directions to his subordinates.

I was told that when Putra Jaya was being constructed, the PM, then Tun Dr. Mahathir constantly makes his unscheduled site visits, and that kept the contractors and the project management staffs on their toes. What Tun Dr. Mahathir did was to exercise his leadership, and a good leader is one that is often seen by his subordinates.

The above are some of the things that Najib should be looking at in determining the KPI's of all the ministries. And let us waits for the results of the KPI, six months from now.


CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION