People suffer as both BN and Pakatan lose focus

WH Cheng, The Ant Daily

After the last two general elections, both the ruling and opposition coalitions have deviated from their many promises and objectives. They have not been focusing on the key and relevant issues affecting the people and the country.

Instead of tackling issues like the high cost of living, escalating property prices and higher fuel prices, Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat are harping on petty issues and politicking to benefit only themselves and their political establishments.

For example, judging from the way the BN is administering our nation, things don’t seem to get any better for the ordinary citizens. It would not be an exaggeration if one concludes that our government is a government of the politicians, by the politicians, for the politicians.

Year in, year out, it’s the same old story: we read and hear of reports on unabated corruption, power abuse and mismanagement in ministries, departments, agencies and government-linked companies (GLCs).

The Auditor General’s Report is never short of comments about rampant abuse and wastage in these agencies and organisations.

Every year we have been presented with budget deficits, and the deficits appear to be increasing with little attempts at bringing them down.

Expenditures are escalating, and redundancy and excessive staffing are common in the civil service. The Prime Minister’s Department is in an unenviable position as the largest employer in the world. Even the Russian and Chinese presidential offices do not have such a large workforce.

Unnecessary procurements and projects between ministries, departments, agencies and GLCs are also rampant. Many ended up as white elephants eventually.

As if all these aren’t enough, we hear of failed projects and low-quality work with many major defects after billions of ringgit had been paid out to politically-linked contractors and developers.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) with its findings and recommendations can make all the noise it wants till the cows come home but it cannot be assured of any action from the authorities. The BN government appears to be paying only lip service.

Many malpractices have not been properly investigated and action taken. Remember a recent report against a senior civil servant who allegedly pocketed millions and yet no action was taken against him?

Well, instead of focusing on combating these negative elements effectively, the BN chose to transfer the burden of the deficits to the ordinary people by taking away subsidies and public resources which resulted in higher costs of living and inflation.

Also, we have some BN leaders resorting to race, religion and royalty to divert the people’s attention from economic issues so that suspicion and hate could fill the vacuum and prevent a unified voice against an inefficient government. This has fanned ethnic and religious tensions so much so that the government of the day has to put in a lot of time and effort to tackle racial, religious and seditious issues instead of focusing on policy-making decisions and putting our nation’s economy in order.

While some ruling coalition politicians are busy fanning hatred and sowing confusion to protect themselves against dissent, the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition is no better as its politicians are also in the same political game as their BN counterparts.

The never-ending internal bickering in PKR and factional disputes and policy flip-flops in PAS have put both PKR and PAS into the “Joker’s Club”. The DAP is rather quiet, but having to divert its attention against attacks from both PAS and BN has affected it and it now seems like a ship lost in the ocean.

The people are fed-up and are beginning to lose faith in Pakatan’s cause. With all these problems afflicting the three Pakatan partners, the rakyat now doubt if the opposition could succeed in its Putrajaya quest come the GE14.

It’s about time Pakatan leaders placed the people’s interests above theirs and fight against racism, bigotry and extremism. Stop bickering and fight to improve the people and country’s economic position.

Pakatan should remind the people on issues affecting their daily lives, well-being and the economy. No one race or religion is under siege or being threatened. It is the entire population, regardless of race or religion in this nation, who are under siege by corruption, power abuse, mismanagement, rising cost of living, inflation and various socio-economic uncertainties that are rapidly affecting the people.

We somehow can say we have a two-party system – BN and Pakatan. And if both have failed us, what do we do? We are faced with a Hobson’s choice. We need an alternative vehicle to move our nation forward if these political giants do not listen to the population’s needs; we cannot simply let this “two-party system” dictate what we should do for them.

Barisan and Pakatan politicians have to be constantly reminded to look into real issues. And if they do not listen, it’s time to turn to the Third Force.

WH Cheng aspires for a better Malaysia managed by a clean government that respects human rights and the rule of law. He is currently an independent social and political analyst.