Malaysians must rise like the Americans
By
Chua Jui Meng
BARACK
Obama, in his US presidential campaign, said: “Stand with me, work with me,
let’s finish what we started.”
With
that, the Americans re-elected Obama, based on his credentials and his
four-year administration’s report card.
Come
the 13th General Election, Malaysians will also be called for duty
armed with their ballots.
For
the Pakatan Rakyat (PR), its battle cry must surely be: “Stand with us, work
with us and let’s get started and moving.”
As
you would have noticed, my blog tag line is: Chua Jui Meng … Moving, not
waiting for change.
Even
if PR gets the mandate to govern, the task ahead is colossal, saddled with the
burden of undoing Barisan Nasional (BN)’s 55 years of corrupt ways.
Corruption
has made deep in roads into every level of the country’s civil and public
system. It won’t be easy but not impossible to undo.
Look
at the way the BN component party leaders and members are behaving in the run
up to the next national polls which must be called by June.
Nothing
concrete is being carried out to assure Malaysians that it will change to make
it better for us.
All
they do to try and win another mandate to plunder the national coffer are
devious tactics that mean nothing to nation building.
They
use their state-controlled media to concoct and spread lies, to mislead and
misinform, to confuse and disunite Malaysians with racial and religious
rhetoric. The list goes on …
They
ignore the people’s basic demand for justice and fairness. The obvious corrupt
practices, abuses of power at high levels are all brushed off.
Where
is the justice for Altantuya, Teoh Beng Hock and customs officer Sarbani? Where
is the accountability for the RM574 million in kickbacks for the purchase of
two second hand or reconditioned French-made Scorpene submarines?
Where
is the accountability for the inflated pricing of the submarines at RM6.7
billion, only to find that it could not dive when delivered in 2009 and are
unarmed? Taxpayers had to come up with another RM600 million to repair and make
the submarines dive, and another RM800 million for arms, the delivery for which
is scheduled for next year.
Where
is the accountability for Sabah timber tycoon Michael Chia’s RM40 million
cash-in-bag fiasco which is dismissed as above board because the money belongs
to Sabah Umno?
Where
is the accountability for the RM250 million Cowgate? And in no small way, where
is the accountability of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri
Abdul Aziz’s son, Nedim’s links with Chia?
Where
is the accountability of Nedim’s affordability to wear a million-ringgit watch?
The
accountability list goes on and on …
The latest Batu Caves condominium fiasco
is a classic example of lies and deceit by BN component party leaders and members.
The
condominium project was approved by the BN Selangor government in 2007. PR was
given the mandate by the people to govern the state after the March 2008
political tsunami.
Now,
the Indian members and leaders of MIC and Gerakan are crying foul, staging
regular protests to blame the PR government for approving the project in an
environmentally sensitive Batu Caves. BN is both the devil and the angel.
Compare
all these with PR’s ongoing nationwide campaign trail.
Leaders
are talking about the need to fight corruption, the need to change and make the
civil service more professional and productive.
PR
de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has gone on record to say that a PR federal
government would do away with race-based policies, replacing them with
people-centric initiatives that will propel and fast track socio-economic
growth for Malaysians and Malaysia.
The
details of the initiatives and proposals have been well spelt out in PR’s Buku
Jingga and the alternative Budget 2013 and posted in the internet.
In
contrast, have any BN leader, including Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak,
explained to the 26 million Malaysians why we are still living off debts?
After
55 years, why are we saddled with a federal debt of RM502.4 billion which is
only 1.3% short of the legislated federal debt ceiling?
Where
have all our trillions of ringgit in natural resources, including oil and gas,
gone to?
That
is why Obama’s presidential electoral victory is significant for the world and
us, Malaysians, because as far as good governance is concerned, there is no
room for race, only “I am Malaysian First …”
