MONDAY, JUNE 10, 2013
We Don't Need A "Strong" Leader Ala Mahathir But One Who Has Good Morals And Strong Moral Convictions
Mahathir's 23 year reign has long being dismissed by thinking Malaysians as being more destructive than constructive for the nation.
He happened to be the Pm at a time when some say even a donkey could have done economically as well for the nation with its eyes closed.So, we are not going to talk about the 7% annual growth, KLCC or Sepang or Formula 1 or the now moribund MSC.
If you wanted to talk of those, you have to talk about Taiwan, Korea, Singapore and even Thailand - the so-called Asian Tigers - who all did much better than us with less natural resources.
We will focus more on what Mahathir's reign has wrought to the nation's psyche and institutions or the legacy of corruption and corrupting influences we have inherited.
Racial polarisation became entrenched during his divisive premiership, not helped the least by BTN's alleged indoctrination of racial supremacy. Before him, few Malaysians saw each other in racial terms.
Ahmad, Ah Chong, Muthu played as a team. We invited each other to our homes and did not think twice about visiting each other.
Mahathir also emasculated the judiciary with the infamous sacking of the Lord President and several senior judges on dubious grounds; the august institution has yet to recover from the body blow.
Today, very unfortunately, few Malaysians see the judiciary as their last bastion or fountain of justice.
The police, too, appear to have been compromised to do the bidding of their political masters and the AG's Chambers has come to be seen as a mere adjunct to the Pm's department instead of being the custodian of the public law fearlessly prosecuting in the public interest, not selectively to serve the private interests of the administration and the connected.
Public projects are farmed out to cronies, families and the connected under the skirt of the Official Secrets Act and accountability has become a dirty word.
All these done in the name of the interest of the rakyat, but benefit few in numbers.
No business, at least the public ones, seem to be able to move without the expedient of grease and greasing, so much so that one ex woman minister even challenged her ex colleagues to prove that they were clean.
Mahathir was able to do whatever he wanted to because he was strong and nobody dared challenge him.
No, we dont't need a strong leader, we need one who has good morals and strong moral convictions to do the right things, not the convenient and corrupting ones.
What can we expect Najib or the Najib administration to do?
Najib himself is implicated in the still unresolved scandal of the Scorpene submarines and the death of a Mongolian beauty.
His administration has inherited all the debilitating diseases of the previous administrations before him.
And recently implicated too, in the alleged cheating at the polls, including the claims of the treasonous use of foreign voters to pad the numbers.
Can such a Pm and such an administration so encumbered and enervated do what is necessary to put the nation back on the path to reconciliation and progress?
No, we need an entirely new leader, one who has good morals and strong moral convictions and an entirely new administration to heal the nation and move forward
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