Ubah My A**

When there is no insight, no responsibility, and no accountability, be assured there will be no change.

Karamjit Gill

Renowned scientist Thomas Henry Huxley once said, “The results of political changes are hardly ever those which their friends hope or their foes fear.”

“Change, change, change!” Mantra on the lips and mind of every citizen in this country. While calls for changes in the administrative dynamics gave birth to Bersih and Hindraf, are the changes we were longing for still alive?

Is the grass greener on the other side? While Pakatan Rakyat offered us hope, has Pakatan Harapan destroyed our aspirations?

We commonly hear Harapan leaders alleging that Barisan Nasional and Umno has taken the country for a ride for 60 years. Barisan Nasional under the late Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Hussein Onn were fine. The rot started with Umno Baru in the late 80’s.

Hence, the Umno the opposition refers to is Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s brainchild. Three decades of ruling by Umno Baru, two decades were under Mahathir’s stewardship. Ironically, today some are touting for the same dictator who caused the undoing of the country, expecting a change.

The previous generation implored for equality and lambasted transgression brought by Mahathir. The favoritism and ethnic preference widely practiced were ridiculed globally. The distribution of racial equality in the service sector took a sharp decline.

Under the current leadership, we are seeing some improvement in the system. Although it’s at a tortoise pace, at the least something is happening. We see Indians being appointed as DG of Customs, KL Police Chief, Director of Commercial Crime Bukit Aman, and Prison’s Commissioner. Applauds to such appointments highlights the scenario of how we have regressed with regards racial equality in top posts within the civil service.

For umpteen years we beseeched for fairness in scholarships and intake increment for public universities. Prime Minister Najib has pledged to increase the representation of all races in public universities. However, Mahathir still defends preferential treatment for a particular ethnic group with his famous “they need help”. Hence, we are screaming for a change to bring the same guy back with the same policies that our fathers and grandfathers fought against?

In the past, anybody who spoke against Mahathir and his administration faced the iron fist. Walk into any government office today and you would witness a mix of them supporting BN and PH. How many get sacked for difference in political belief? There seems to be some amount of political maturity today with regards to differences in political ideology.

However, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir has threatened to sack top civil servants who render support to the current BN government.

We have seen how anybody who speaks a different language from Pakatan get called traitors and are ridiculed. Pakatan does not practice freedom of speech. The flak faced by individuals like Sangeet Kaur Deo, Nurul Nuha Anwar, former DAP life member Shamsher Singh Thind, and writers like Fa Abdul for having their own stand reflects Mahathirism. We scream for political maturity and freedom, yet we intend to bring back the guy who doesn’t belief in such practices.

For decades, we cried for meritocracy in the business world. Finally, we are seeing snippets of change, the most prominent being MAS and Proton. On numerous occasions Mahathir has voiced dissent for laying a level playing field. He brew fear of competitiveness to defend his lopsided vision of single-ethnic dominance. Yet ironically, the same people who spoke against his policies in the past are turning a deaf ear to him today. Suddenly the preferential treatment is accepted. Again are we here yearning for a change?

Although I am often on the receiving end for speaking my mind, I don’t intend to forgo my integrity for a change that is never going to happen under Mahathir. From council of elders to interim prime minister, Mahathir always wanted to call the shots. As long as Tun Abdullah Badawi and Najib toed his lines, he never spoke against them.

In the mid-70’s, when the late Tun Hussein Onn was the deputy prime minister, he insisted that the then Menteri Besar Harun Idris was charged for bribery and corruption. Harun was charged, convicted, and sentenced for the same. A few years later when Hussein Onn was the prime minister, he went to England for a medical check-up. Mahathir was the then acting PM. In that little window, Mahathir wrote to the king and secured a royal pardon for Harun.

Today, he says he will remain for 2-3 years while waiting for a royal pardon for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Why? so he could place his son in a better footing to become the PM.

Mahathir still stands by his decisions and affirms that everything wrong was not his doing.

Components within Pakatan today have lost their integrity. They have forgotten the reason of their existence. Blinded by The Lust for Power.

When there is no insight, no responsibility, and no accountability, be assured there will be no change.