Change not enough, civil service must be depoliticised

Change not enough, civil service must be depoliticised

By Chua Jui Meng

 

OUR battle cry for CHANGE in the next general election is a necessity to check the socio-economic rot afflicting Malaysia.

But, is change enough to reverse Barisan Nasional (BN)’s 55 years of misrule and plundering of the national coffer and the country’s wealth?

I believe change must be followed up with real and drastic socio-economic transformation policies backed by a completely overhauled civil service.

Our unproductive civil service today is a creature encouraged by corrupt BN leaders and politicians.

BN’s politicising of the civil service has sucked individual civil servants from top to bottom levels to only concentrate on grabbing as much a share of the gravy train and the national coffer as possible.

The rot starts from the head, they say. It’s the executive’s pressure and corrupt practices that set the tone of the whole administration of the country.

Many in the civil service today are unhappy with the executive’s heavy hand in directing them to do things that are against public good.

Failure to follow instructions will be seen as disloyal, subjecting them to unfair action.

Officially, from Budget 2013, our federal debt is at RM502.4 billion or 1.3% short of the 55% legislated debt ceiling. Isn’t this too close for comfort? Isn’t it time for Malaysians to press the red button to stop the Umno-led BN?

Not included in Budget 2013’s federal debt calculation are RM118 billion in liabilities or sovereign guarantees for private corporations like the Port Klang Free Zone and government-linked company loans ending 2011.

And many believe the federal debt could be as high as RM800 billion, thereby breaching the federal debt ceiling. This figure was revealed by Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Mukhriz Mahathir in a report by TheEdge.

With Malaysia blessed with vast and rich natural resources, including oil and gas, our current economic standing, to say the least, is shameful.

Mounting debts and rising cost of essentials, with extremely slower wage and salary growths, are signs of a government losing control of the economy.

The corrupt BN government’s inability to increase national productivity is the key reason for slower wage and salary growth. With the dependence on borrowings to survive, it is now unable to sustain the subsidies on the essentials to help the poor and low-income groups.

This is obviously the cause of much discontent among the rural and urban poor, especially the majority of Malay villagers.

Sadly, the Umno-led BN, after 55 years of being returned to govern despite the open abuses of power and corrupt practices, has become arrogant, perpetuated by a false sense of invincibility.

Its continuous refusal to heed the rakyat’s call for justice, accountability, to fight corruption and forge peace and prosperity by uniting Malaysians as one, not pursuing racist policies which are alienating a large proportion of the populace.

Every government agency is now viewed by the public as a tool of the BN, exploited to serve BN’s political agenda and to intimidate the rakyat, especially political rivals.

You can clearly see this happening in the dispensing of justice. It is happening in the Royal Malaysian Police Force, the Judiciary, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and in all government enforcement agencies that wield power to intimidate the rakyat.

Therefore, should Malaysians make the historic decision to change the ruling government, one of the biggest challenges for the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) must be to overhaul and raise the civil service’s professionalism, thereby enhancing productivity.

The civil service is not set up to serve the BN or PR.

The people’s mandate is for the politicians to govern and serve the rakyat. The civil service is to help the government of the day to administer and implement policies professionally to serve the rakyat.

In short, governments must be competent and incorrupt to win the everlasting confidence of the rakyat.

There’s no future for Malaysians under BN

There’s no future for Malaysians under BN

By Chua Jui Meng

Chua greeting villagers at the PKR kampung-style BBQ dinner cum political rally in Kuala Krau town on Oct 28, 2012.

PAHANG’S 13 successive years of Budget deficits should convince the rakyat (people) of the state that the Barisan Nasional (BN) government is unreliable and a non-performer.

Just like the BN federal government’s misrule which has accumulated more than RM500 billion in debts, the majority of the people of Pahang, the rural poor and the Orang Asli (original inhabitants), will continue to live in abject poverty under the BN.

There’s no future for you in Pahang and in Malaysia under the BN.

This is why the people of Pahang should give the Anwar Ibrahim-led Pakatan Rakyat (PR) the chance to govern in the next general election.

Greece is living proof of how the people will suffer if their country accumulates too much debt and goes bankrupt. The standard of living in Greece has plummeted and it will need to plunge 40% before the economy can be revived.

Chua (3^rd from left) with Pahang PKR leaders in the Kuala Krau town cermah on Oct 28, 2012.

This will happen if the BN is given the mandate to continue to plunder the country’s wealth unabated to enrich their business cronies and the Umno elite.

Why must Pahang be so far behind Selangor in terms of socio-economic development?

BN and your uncouth Mentri Besar Adnan Yaakob are leading you nowhere other than economic hell.

Pahang is bankrupt if not for the federal government’s funds that are sourced from borrowings.

Have you all benefited from your Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak who is from your state? And he repays the Pahang peoples’ support with Lynas or nuclear waste.

Najib has also exposed himself as a coward and a Muslim prime minister who cannot even defend his religion against the attacks by Chua Soi Lek and MCA.

Part of the Malay majority crowd who turned up to hear Chua’s ceramah in Kuala Krau on Oct 28, 2012.

He did not have the conviction and courage to accept Anwar’s challenge to debate Budget 2013 in Parliament. This debate would have been the best chance for Najib to convince the rakyat that if PR ruled, it would bankrupt the country.

And Najib also said it was not a Malaysian culture to debate. So, what have all the elected representatives been doing in state assembly and Parliament sittings for the past 55 years, if not debating?

Najib and all his Cabinet members are cowards when not a single of them dared to be present in Parliament to face Opposition Leader Anwar’s opening debate on Budget 2013.

When PR offered free education for Malaysians in its alternative Budget 2013, Najib and BN just brushed it off, without offering any valid arguments, that the country would be bankrupted by such a move.

 

 KThis signboard in Kuala Krau town reads – No Wireless Village 1Malaysia.

Again, Anwar challenged Najib to debate the free education issue, and again he goes into hiding.

Why is your prime minister so scared to debate on significant issues afflicting the people? Why can’t Najib let the people judge his and Anwar’s arguments over such important issues?

Now, even Dr Mahathir Mohamad who ruled Malaysia for 22 years says Najib is a weak leader.

Throughout his tenure as prime minister, Mahathir had misled the Malays and Orang Asli and enriched his family and cronies.

Mahathir was the one who, in 1991, amended the Land Acquisition Act 1960, to enable the states to seize or grab land cheaply from the people, especially the Malays, in the name of development for the private sector. And subsequently, Mahathir passed the land to cronies like UEM to develop and reap huge profits.

This is happening in Johor. Nusajaya and Pengerang are two glaring examples. I believe this is also happening in Pahang and in all other BN-ruled states.

With such cruel abuses of power, can you really expect and hope for the BN to lead the rural and urban poor, and the Orang Asli, to prosperity?

It is time for the Pahang people to rise, before it is too late, to Kubukan Pahang Untuk Rakyat (turn Pahang into a people’s fortress).

Temerloh PKR deputy chairman Abd Kadir Ab Manap@Man Kadir@Pak Jabit had the villagers in stitches when he said: Tengok TV3 hari-hari rakyat jadi tiga suku (Watching TV3 every day, the people will go half crazy), Tengok RTM rakyat tunggu mati (Watching RTM the people is waiting for death).

Kuala Krau PKR chairman Haji Suhaimi Said, an activist who was twice detained under BN’s draconian Internal Security Act (ISA), urged the people of Pahang to support the planned Anti-Lynas 14-day walk from Kuantan to Putrajaya to deliver a memorandum to Najib.

Make Johor rakyat’s fortress

Make Johor rakyat’s fortress

BELOW is the video clip link of PKR vice-president Chua Jui Meng’s political discourse at Skudai’s Sutera Mall car park on Oct 20, 2012.

Chua, who is also Johor PKR chairman, was among top Pakatan Rakyat (PR) speakers led by Parliamentary Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim at a 10,000-people rally.

Chua, in his address in Bahasa Malaysia, urged Johoreans to lead Malaysians to political change and reform in the next general election by giving their mandate to PR to govern the country.

He urged Johoreans to make their state a fortress for the rakyat (people) of Malaysia.

This is the video clip link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2PBdEwerRM&list=UUiqdR78bc6Tu7jRpZH7xB5A