It’s easy for politicians to talk

We had high hopes when the new government came into power, but many of those hopes seem still unfulfilled.

TK Chua, Free Malaysia Today

I guess politicians in power are always different from when they were seeking power or out of power. When not in power, somehow they always find the right issues to highlight and the most convincing policies to promote. They seem to have the most eloquent solutions to the nation’s ills. Even Umno/Barisan Nasional politicians and former ministers are now beginning to sound palatable and smart.

Pakatan Harapan (PH) politicians who are now government backbenchers and ministers, on the other hand, are beginning to sound stale, careful, conventional and like part of the status quo. Maybe they have other things to think about right now – don’t rock the boat, watch what the prime minister says and wants, yield to powerful lobbyists, and cater to the whims and fancies of certain noisy pressure groups.

I may sound very impatient, but I wish change and more cogent policies could come about more quickly and forcefully. If we wait, the problems will only become more acute and protracted.

We had high hopes when the new government came into power. We wanted a more liberal and competitive education environment for our youth, including the recognition of the UEC, but what did we get? Endless “studies” pandering to conservative and parochial demands on language supremacy and national jingoism.

How much longer do we want the nation to be caught in this conundrum? Do we still need more convincing evidence to confirm that our standard of education is on the decline? Of course, the PH government is welcome to do more of the same but hope for different results.

We wanted the government to regulate and control the unfettered entry of foreign workers, but what did we get? Well, we just want to make sure that the interests of Malaysian employers are protected.

Malaysian workers at the lower end are expected to earn and live like foreign workers. If they aspire to anything higher, they will be labelled as uncompetitive, expensive and lazy.

Don’t you think it’s funny that foreign workers can come in to compete with our local cooks and waiters, but not as teachers, bank executives or policemen? Seriously, I think we should stop talking so much about protecting the B40 group. It sounds so phoney.

For some reason, we are now fixated on a third national car project despite the numerous reservations expressed. Where are our priorities? What happened to reviewing toll concession agreements?

Tolled roads were never a bad idea in and of themselves. It was the lopsided and unfair concession agreements that gave rise to all the problems. Before this, PH politicians always claimed a lack of federal power to renegotiate the agreements. Now we are told to wait for the government’s financial situation to improve first.

But what has the government’s financial position got to do with renegotiations? My take is that renegotiations can begin now, regardless. It is time that toll concessionaires operate more efficiently and earn less profit.

Coming back to the national car issue, I read that the finance minister has assured that no public money will be involved in this project, perhaps to pre-empt and placate the strong criticism against it.

In this regard, I concur with MCA deputy president Wee Ka Siong that any assurance given by the finance minister must cover more than the non-involvement of public money.

There are many policies that do not use public money but have far-reaching consequences on the people. As someone who has lived through the Proton era, I too would like to pre-emptively caution the government not to impose unreasonable trade barriers, tariff and non-tariff, on other cars just to help our third national car survive or reap a profit.

Was this not what we were doing from Proton’s heydays in the early 1980s until recent times?