What is the future like for us under a new government?

Ahmad Mustapha Hassan, The Ant Daily

Most race centric critics, commentators, writers and others always pose this question: what will happen to the Malays when a new government takes over or what will happen to the Chinese and Indians. The subject is always posed in ethnic terms.

It never occurs to them to ask what will happen to all Malaysians when there is a change in government. Since we practise a democratic system, the new government duly elected must have the backing of the people. In other words the people believe that the new government will bring them a better way of life.

It is wrong to equate an ethnic community to a single person. The community is not a solid homogenous entity. It comprises economic and cultural classes. They are quite diverse in nature.

The economic actions of the Alliance Government, when they took over from the British in 1957, only benefited the rubber and tin industry. Only those belonging to this group gained from the then economic actions of the government. The rest of the people remained as they were as when the country was under the British.

Only when disaster struck the country in 1969, only then the emphasis changed. But again not all benefited from the new plan. The affirmative action as carried out by the government benefited the top structure of the Malay society.

It can be said that the Malay ethnic community is divided into three classes. The top comprised the aristocracy, the top bureaucrats and the government sponsored business class and in the middle were the ordinary middle rung bureaucrats and the professionals while the bottom class which had the largest number comprised the peasantry, the workers and the petty traders.

So when referring to the change of government, it must reflect as to which class that will gain and which class will lose. For the moment only the top bracket in society gained the most from the economic agenda of the Umno Baru government.

As for the rest, sweeteners were given in the form of handouts. That in a nutshell is the agenda of the Umno Baru government.

They do not have a long-term policy that will change the structure of society whereby there will be a more equitable distribution of benefits.

The prime minister recently announced that the civil servants will be given bonuses of about RM500 which again is nothing new. Only this class will enjoy the said inducement.

But the poor will still remain poor. A policy to cover the needs of the poor has not been put in place.

The new government will definitely not implement what the current government is doing. They have shown that they are capable of administering Penang and Selangor and no enticement has ever been given out. Yet they are getting the support of the people.

What the country needs is an efficient government run for the good of the people. Corruption has to be rid of. The administration should be trimmed down for the sake of efficiency. A civil service of 1.6 million is too unwieldy and possibly with a lot of duplication.

Malaysia at the moment has 34 ministers. India with a population over one billion has only 26 ministers. It is time to cut down on the number of ministers in the country. Most have nothing much to do. Public money is being unnecessarily wasted.

GLCs will have to be phased out. They have served no purpose at all. They only create losses which the treasury had to bail them out. This is a waste of public funds.

Malaysia needs a lean government. The country is not that big and again it is a federation. More portfolios should be given to the states as they are closer to the people.

The new government has plenty of rectification work to do. It has to close government agencies that have acted contrary to the unity goals. The most notorious of these agencies is the BTN or Bureau Tata Negara, the National Civics Bureau.

Some of these agencies also ferment extremism and the terrorist act in the Charleston church shooting should be an example to us of what hate can create.

Work will have to focus on unity and the ultimate goal of creating a one united nation. The current government uses attractive slogans merely for political gains with no tangible results. The one very stark example is the 1Malaysia slogan. Activities carried out are against the spirit of that slogan.

A new government must have policies that will benefit the majority and not a small elite upper class as is happening now. That is what the future should be.

Those who are worried about the change of government belong to the upper level of society that had gained tremendously from the handouts by the Umno Baru government. Rent seekers are especially concerned because they may no longer be getting the favours that they are now enjoying.

The people on the other hand are happy to see change taking place. The current government has outlived its welcome and a new era will have to take place.

Ahmad Mustapha Hassan is a former press secretary to second Prime Minister Abdul Razak Hussein and the writer of the book, “The Unmaking of Malaysia”.