Malaysians Need To Change Their Mindset Following The Change In Government
(Malaysian Digest) – If we are to condemn those who are willing to speak up on behalf of the people, we are condemning ourselves to how it was before.
When PKR vice president Rafizi Ramli took to Twitter to voice out his dissatisfaction with the nomination of three cabinet portfolios by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad early last week, he was publicly criticised and hounded even by his own Pakatan allies.
“I am absolutely horrified at Rafizi Ramli’s criticism of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s initial appointments and at PKR vice-president Wong Chen coming to his defence,” one Pakatan supporter felt sufficiently incensed to write an open letter to The Star over it (READ HERE: Remarks on Cabinet appointments unwarranted).
Former Bersih 2.0 chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan even tweeted back with a strong reprimand directed at Rafizi.
“Stop this nonsense,” the former Malaysian Bar president tweeted.
What does this outburst by netizens and prominent members of his own coalition show?
While it is not odd to see PH politicians being vocal about their personal and party’s opinions while they were in the Opposition bloc, should they continue to air it publicly as they had been doing before now that they are the ruling coalition?
Can Malaysians Accept The Culture Of Criticism In The New Government?
This culture of publicly disagreeing with each other even though they are on the same side continued through the week.
When the prime minister announced his Parti Pribumi’s Dr Maszlee Malik as the new Education Minister, the tide of criticism even led to an online petition to replace him with Mahathir again, with allegations of extremist leanings being levelled against him.
Unexpectedly, it was Pakatan’s coalition allies DAP who chose to speak up for Dr Maszlee.
Segambut’s newly elected MP Hannah Yeoh and DAP party adviser Lim Kit Siang both publicly tweeted their support for Dr Mazlee, urging Malaysians to give him a chance to prove himself.
Going forward, should Malaysians expect this public show of dissent among their elected leaders as the new normal?
Nash, 29, thinks that Rafizi and those within PH who do not hold government positions should continue with their ways of voicing out their concerns since their non-membership will not create chaos in the governmental system.
“He is an outsider looking in so I think his insights, as well as anyone else’s, should continue to be given as a way to remind those in power.
“Although some might argue he should have done it privately instead of blasting out his opinion on social media, I think what he did was acceptable since it made more people aware of what was going on.
“In a sense, this way there will be more transparency in the government and as long as those in power do not blast out policies on Twitter like how the US President does, then I think it should be fine,” he shared.
After he was heavily criticised for his tweet, Rafizi expressed his concern that the mindset of the people are not freed despite the change in government for the first in over 60 years.
“A lot of people are celebrating the new free government but they are not free of the old mindset while previously under BN.
