MALAYSIA’S STILL STUCK WITH YESTERDAY’S LEADERS IN THE GOVERNMENT, THE OPPOSITION AND THE NGOs. – PART II.
…ARE WE SHORT OF PEOPLE TO TRUST FORWARD TO LEAD THE COUNTRY…OR ARE THERE PEOPLE WHO THINK THEY ARE GOD-SEND, THE FAKE PROPHETS?
By Mansor Puteh
THERE IS ONE MINISTER IN THE CURRENT CABINET WHO HAS BEEN HANGING AROUND IN IT FOR MORE THAN THREE DECADES. GUESS WHO?
WHEN I WAS REPORTING FOR UTUSAN MELAYU IN 1977 TO 1978, I COVERED PRESS CONFERENCES AT HIS OFFICE. YET, TODAY HE IS STILL IN THE CABINET, LIKE HE DOES NOT KNOW WHAT ELSE HE CAN DO BESIDES BEING IN IT FOR SO LONG.
IS THIS AN ACHIEVEMENT HE IS PROUD OF, OR IS IT HIS LIMITATIONS TO SHOW THAT HE CAN’T DO ANYTHING BESIDES BEING IN POLITICS AND IN THE GOVERNMENT ALL HIS LIFE?
What can he be proud of, that the people will want to remember him by? Many of his colleagues ho had left politics have disappeared into thin air?
Maybe this guy is scared that he, too, would disappear into thin air considering that he has not really done much to the country or even to his own party, other than to hog and stop someone else from taking over from his constituency and party leadership.
I have to pity him. He likes to take his wife to work in the country and more so abroad thus turning formal and official functions to social ones.
Malaysia is not like in other developed countries where their politicians come and go and in each generation they create new and exciting leaders to lead the country and society.
So one can appear from out of the blue to take charge of the country using a totally new style of governing the country with a whole new group of leaders, thus leaving those whom they had replaced to do something else and retire from active politics.
Here in Malaysia, one can even see today how there are some who had been around in the government as well as in the opposition for many decades.
Can’t they find a new vocation so that new leaders from within their own party and coalition who have been waiting for their turn to rise will be given the chance to do so?
After all, what is there for any of them to do if they are given such posts in the cabinet, since all that they are expected to do is to read prepared speeches and give standard comments on anything.
Worse, they are expected to pretend to be a keen listener, although they do not care for the well-being of those whom they are supposed to serve.
So no wonder, most of them are not remembered for having done anything once they finally retire for good.
Even the most vocal and attention crazy members of parliament are forgotten once they leave parliament after losing in the next general elections. There are many of them who used to shout loudly on any issue and were embroiled in many controversies who are now relatively unknown.
They can never use whatever experience they had as members of parliament for their post-parliament careers. The most that they can expect to do is to be appointed as members of the board or the CEO of some of the government-link companies or GLCs.
There is really no future for past members of the cabinet and of parliament and the state assemblies, despite the ‘vast’ experience they had while in office.
None can go out of the country to impress the international organizations to want to employ them for anything.
So no wonder all of them insist on staying where they are and be in the cabinet and parliament for as long as possible.
The only way for them to ensure of their continued existence in them is to be loyalists to the top leaders of their respective parties. They do not have to serve their constituencies because this is seldom counted by their leaders.
Can we remember or do we care who are the former ministers in the last cabinet?
How many of the cabinet members and those in parliament have gone to doing better things abroad on their own?
What real experience can they be proud of having been in the cabinet and in politics on both sides of the divide?
Can any member of the opposition be able to capture the attention of the crowd in international forums talking about specific issues?
They like to deal with the issues, but only in the country, but not elsewhere in the wide world. Why? Because they know they won’t be impressive there.
Can they be invited to be advisors in important and major international corporations and agencies in foreign countries?
There are some smart people in Malaysia, who can get the opportunity to join forums that bring in people of their own race worldwide, where they do nothing but complain to them on how their own race in the country had been sidelined on almost everything that they do.
The fact that Malaysia is being controlled and dominated by old guards from both sides is not a big secret. This is a fact that there are now creating problems for themselves as much as they do for the whole country.
So much so that new faces are not allowed to emerge, and those who still stall the parliament house and its proceedings are basically has-beens, those who have been around for ages.
No wonder most of the ‘sensitive’ issues that are taking up so much of our time are being churned again because they are the only preoccupations that these old guards have.
I still remember working as a journalist and attending press conferences given by some of them who are still around in the cabinet and especially outside of the government. They are still stalling parliament and the opposition.
You see them say pretty much the same things in parliament and outside of it, and not actually doing anyone any favor other than to their own selves and to their parties.
They sometimes take their personal matters to parliament including their court cases.
They deal mostly with the wide national issues but not those that their own constituencies are affected the most on a daily basis.
So no wonder drains remain clogged and roads are untarred with a lot of potholes in them. And in many cases, rural villages do not have water and electricity supply.
This is despite the fact that the country is going to celebrate its 53rd Merdeka (Independence) celebrations in a few months’ time. So to those who are affected by this, its going to be a bleak Merdeka, compared to those in the cities which will be lit by lights from the fireworks.
This tells us a lot; that the country has not succeeded in creating new faces to replace the old generation of politicians and other leaders even those in the NGOs, who have also been around for ages.
This is basically what is happening in Malaysia, where the old goats still graze the grass that they had long denuded and cleaned. And they are now grazing on ground.
Many people wondered when Mahathir was going to retire as prime minister. He cried and finally did it 22 years as prime minister.
But how come, no one has also wondered why are the leaders of the opposition not going to retire?
Is it because they are in the opposite side of the fence that they can stay put for as long as they please, even if fate has them injured and who are now disabled. Yet, they still want to pursue the track to parliament.
Can’t their own party ask them to retire gracefully so that the new generation of leaders in the opposition can emerge, so that they can bring into Malaysian politics and political life new blood and life, that suit the times?
How come in other developed and First World Countries their leaders stay only for as long as they are needed, and before they are asked to go away from sight?
How come when a politician loses in a general election, he hardly returns the next time to run for office and worse, he does not go elsewhere to a safe place where he can win?
Worse, is when someone from Melaka has to go to Perak or Pulau Pinang to win seats there and become chief minister of the state.
Where are their members from those states who could be given the post?
Didn’t they think it is necessary to develop talent from all the states and in the constituencies where they want to win to have those who can be pushed up the ladder and assume official duties to manage the states for which they had won?
Malaysian politics are mostly for those who are already too long in office, both in the government and the opposition.
So no wonder the speeches they make and the concerns they show are all dated ones.
And no wonder too, issues, especially those sensitive ones are still being churned because they do not have new and original ones to deal with.
In many ways, Malaysia is stuck in the same spot and chances of it being able to move forward with new vigor will not easy to happen.
By Mansor Puteh
THERE IS ONE MINISTER IN THE CURRENT CABINET WHO HAS BEEN HANGING AROUND IN IT FOR MORE THAN THREE DECADES. GUESS WHO?
WHEN I WAS REPORTING FOR UTUSAN MELAYU IN 1977 TO 1978, I COVERED PRESS CONFERENCES AT HIS OFFICE. YET, TODAY HE IS STILL IN THE CABINET, LIKE HE DOES NOT KNOW WHAT ELSE HE CAN DO BESIDES BEING IN IT FOR SO LONG.
IS THIS AN ACHIEVEMENT HE IS PROUD OF, OR IS IT HIS LIMITATIONS TO SHOW THAT HE CAN’T DO ANYTHING BESIDES BEING IN POLITICS AND IN THE GOVERNMENT ALL HIS LIFE?
What can he be proud of, that the people will want to remember him by? Many of his colleagues ho had left politics have disappeared into thin air?
Maybe this guy is scared that he, too, would disappear into thin air considering that he has not really done much to the country or even to his own party, other than to hog and stop someone else from taking over from his constituency and party leadership.
I have to pity him. He likes to take his wife to work in the country and more so abroad thus turning formal and official functions to social ones.
Malaysia is not like in other developed countries where their politicians come and go and in each generation they create new and exciting leaders to lead the country and society.
So one can appear from out of the blue to take charge of the country using a totally new style of governing the country with a whole new group of leaders, thus leaving those whom they had replaced to do something else and retire from active politics.
Here in Malaysia, one can even see today how there are some who had been around in the government as well as in the opposition for many decades.
Can’t they find a new vocation so that new leaders from within their own party and coalition who have been waiting for their turn to rise will be given the chance to do so?
After all, what is there for any of them to do if they are given such posts in the cabinet, since all that they are expected to do is to read prepared speeches and give standard comments on anything.
Worse, they are expected to pretend to be a keen listener, although they do not care for the well-being of those whom they are supposed to serve.
So no wonder, most of them are not remembered for having done anything once they finally retire for good.
Even the most vocal and attention crazy members of parliament are forgotten once they leave parliament after losing in the next general elections. There are many of them who used to shout loudly on any issue and were embroiled in many controversies who are now relatively unknown.
They can never use whatever experience they had as members of parliament for their post-parliament careers. The most that they can expect to do is to be appointed as members of the board or the CEO of some of the government-link companies or GLCs.
There is really no future for past members of the cabinet and of parliament and the state assemblies, despite the ‘vast’ experience they had while in office.
None can go out of the country to impress the international organizations to want to employ them for anything.
So no wonder all of them insist on staying where they are and be in the cabinet and parliament for as long as possible.
The only way for them to ensure of their continued existence in them is to be loyalists to the top leaders of their respective parties. They do not have to serve their constituencies because this is seldom counted by their leaders.
Can we remember or do we care who are the former ministers in the last cabinet?
How many of the cabinet members and those in parliament have gone to doing better things abroad on their own?
What real experience can they be proud of having been in the cabinet and in politics on both sides of the divide?
Can any member of the opposition be able to capture the attention of the crowd in international forums talking about specific issues?
They like to deal with the issues, but only in the country, but not elsewhere in the wide world. Why? Because they know they won’t be impressive there.
Can they be invited to be advisors in important and major international corporations and agencies in foreign countries?
There are some smart people in Malaysia, who can get the opportunity to join forums that bring in people of their own race worldwide, where they do nothing but complain to them on how their own race in the country had been sidelined on almost everything that they do.
The fact that Malaysia is being controlled and dominated by old guards from both sides is not a big secret. This is a fact that there are now creating problems for themselves as much as they do for the whole country.
So much so that new faces are not allowed to emerge, and those who still stall the parliament house and its proceedings are basically has-beens, those who have been around for ages.
No wonder most of the ‘sensitive’ issues that are taking up so much of our time are being churned again because they are the only preoccupations that these old guards have.
I still remember working as a journalist and attending press conferences given by some of them who are still around in the cabinet and especially outside of the government. They are still stalling parliament and the opposition.
You see them say pretty much the same things in parliament and outside of it, and not actually doing anyone any favor other than to their own selves and to their parties.
They sometimes take their personal matters to parliament including their court cases.
They deal mostly with the wide national issues but not those that their own constituencies are affected the most on a daily basis.
So no wonder drains remain clogged and roads are untarred with a lot of potholes in them. And in many cases, rural villages do not have water and electricity supply.
This is despite the fact that the country is going to celebrate its 53rd Merdeka (Independence) celebrations in a few months’ time. So to those who are affected by this, its going to be a bleak Merdeka, compared to those in the cities which will be lit by lights from the fireworks.
This tells us a lot; that the country has not succeeded in creating new faces to replace the old generation of politicians and other leaders even those in the NGOs, who have also been around for ages.
This is basically what is happening in Malaysia, where the old goats still graze the grass that they had long denuded and cleaned. And they are now grazing on ground.
Many people wondered when Mahathir was going to retire as prime minister. He cried and finally did it 22 years as prime minister.
But how come, no one has also wondered why are the leaders of the opposition not going to retire?
Is it because they are in the opposite side of the fence that they can stay put for as long as they please, even if fate has them injured and who are now disabled. Yet, they still want to pursue the track to parliament.
Can’t their own party ask them to retire gracefully so that the new generation of leaders in the opposition can emerge, so that they can bring into Malaysian politics and political life new blood and life, that suit the times?
How come in other developed and First World Countries their leaders stay only for as long as they are needed, and before they are asked to go away from sight?
How come when a politician loses in a general election, he hardly returns the next time to run for office and worse, he does not go elsewhere to a safe place where he can win?
Worse, is when someone from Melaka has to go to Perak or Pulau Pinang to win seats there and become chief minister of the state.
Where are their members from those states who could be given the post?
Didn’t they think it is necessary to develop talent from all the states and in the constituencies where they want to win to have those who can be pushed up the ladder and assume official duties to manage the states for which they had won?
Malaysian politics are mostly for those who are already too long in office, both in the government and the opposition.
So no wonder the speeches they make and the concerns they show are all dated ones.
And no wonder too, issues, especially those sensitive ones are still being churned because they do not have new and original ones to deal with.
In many ways, Malaysia is stuck in the same spot and chances of it being able to move forward with new vigor will not easy to happen.
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