March 25, 2008
Full house: Audience members applauding during the forum titled ‘New Politics in Post-Election Malaysia’ held at Menara Star Monday.
From the Star: By Jazlan
PETALING JAYA: The five opposition-held state governments must compete among themselves as well as with the Federal Government to prove to the electorate they are viable, a public forum was told yesterday
DAP Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua said the competition was actually extremely healthy for the country.
“In these states, the competition will be immense in bringing the country forward in terms of economic policies and politics,” he said.
“The Barisan will have to face the pressure of Penang becoming a fantastic success compared to the previous government.
“Will it lose more states in the peninsula if Penang becomes a model state for investment and economic administration?” he asked at The Star-ACMS public forum titled New Politics in Post-Election Malaysia.
Pua added that in Parliament, there would be competition between a possibly viable two-party system.
Among the Opposition parties, there would also be competition in the states they ruled. He said the DAP would set the pace to show that it could do the job better.
“If we do well, other states will also have to do well to prove to the people that their choices were not wrong.
“Before this, there was no competition to show that one could do better but more of a competition of who could make more money as an Adun (assemblyman),” he said.
On cooperation, Pua said in the past it was easy for Barisan to alienate the Opposition-led Kelantan as its economic contribution was minimal. However, in the current scenario, the Opposition rules the rich states of Penang, Perak and Selangor.
Pua said the reality was that there had to be politics of cooperation for Malaysia to move forward and for the Barisan to prove itself competent to win back the people’s trust.
He said the likelihood was that both parties would try to continue improving the economy and political affairs in the states but both would take credit for it.
“The strategy will not be to sabotage. You cannot do that anymore as too many states are involved and the stakes are too high for Barisan,” he said.
Former Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said the political landscape had now changed completely and it could not be business as usual for Barisan nor the Opposition now.
He pointed out that the governments in the five states were under the microscope and faced many challenges as well as opportunities.
“But don’t forget that a new broom always sweeps clean, anywhere in the world,” he said, adding that other than PAS, none of the other parties had experience in administering states.
“If your learning curve is slow, you will be shown the door by voters in the next election the same way Barisan was shown the door on March 8.”
Dr Chua said people should be concerned about whether the new coalition partners could sit down together and administer the states or whether they would bicker among each other on who should call the shots.
He also questioned whether the Federal and state relationship would be one of confrontation or cooperation.
He added that even if there was cooperation, he wondered if it was because of political convenience or a genuine deal on a win-win basis.
Contending that it would likely not be all smooth sailing, he said the Opposition also faced tremendous challenges such as getting cooperation from the civil servants.
“If they succeed in overcoming the problems then it would present a challenge to Barisan as the people will then have a real alternative for Government.”
Pointing out that the people had voted for change, he said the Barisan component parties must change and the MCA should re-brand and re-strategise itself to regain the people’s support.
“We can no longer sing the same old tune of development, peace and stability as promises to the people as these are what the people expect from their Government,” he said.
He added that the party could no longer talk about new villages and its success in setting up TAR College and Utar as the Chinese now demanded more from the MCA and the young were alienated from issues like new villages.
MCA, he said, should feel the pulse of the Chinese community to enable it to articulate their fears, resentment and frustrations.
“However, Umno too, must accept the fact that the component parties must be more vocal and seen as championing the cause of the people they represent.
“Umno has to see that championing ethnic causes will not cause instability,” he said, adding that the MCA leadership must be interactive to reach out to the people.
Umno’s Pulai MP Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed agreed with Dr Chua that Umno needed to change.
He was concerned with the present situation in the country and for Umno.
He added that Umno had been rejuvenating itself over the years and the problem was how it should communicate the message that it had changed.
“We have rejuvenated the party but it’s just that we have been attacked from all sides and maybe we have a problem trying to respond in a way people want to hear,” he said.
He said many of the old parties in the region had gone through this painful process.
Giving an example of Indonesia, he said after the fall of Suharto many competing interests claiming to be forces of democracy stymied the political system and stunted the economic development of the country.
“Until today, Indonesia is struggling to find a clear cause in the absence of a shared vision in its direction because of the lack of leadership but Golkar, which is closely aligned to Suharto, defied its critics and still plays a major role in the political scene and has significant grassroots support,” he said.
He also pointed out the recent election victory of the Kuomintang presidential candidate despite the party being thrown out in 2000 when it was seen as promoting a concept of guided democracy despite developing Taiwan as an Asian economic tiger.
“The voters’ experiment with unbridled democracy was costly to the economy of Taiwan,” he said, adding that they now apparently were willing to sacrifice some independence and democracy in return for economic well-being and development by accepting the return of Kuomintang.
Nur Jazlan said there was a need to keep a balance between democracy and economic development by limiting and keeping check of the competing interests to have a clear and firm long-term direction for Malaysia’s development.
“My hope is the new non-Barisan governments, Barisan state governments and Federal Government act responsibly and find a shared goal as our forefathers did and continue their dream,” he said
However, DAP’s Klang MP Charles Santiago said that the election was about “reining in Umno”.
The Malays and Indians voted against Barisan because they felt their lives, families and jobs were not protected, he said.
He listed job security, intake of foreign workers and privatisation that caused higher cost of living as among the reasons for the discontentment among the lower-income Malays and Indians.
Santiago added that it was only fair to allow the Opposition governments to make some mistakes but it must be responsible to the people.
Gerakan secretary-general Datuk Seri Chia Kwang Chye said he would like to believe that there were positive changes, based on the election results, and that the people had done away with race-based politics.
By Jazlan
Posted in: Education, Human Rights, Malaysia Politics, Malaysian Government | Comments(0)
