Last month, we had a bad thunderstorm that detached one of the internet cables right in front of my house. Thankfully, it did not disrupt my phone and internet connections, but it was dangling dangerously low, and the wires at the end of the cable were exposed.
If another thunderstorm befell us and one of my family members happened to pass closely by this cable, they could get injured from a potential large electric discharge.
Fearing such an incident, I reported the issue to my telecoms/internet provider and requested them to repair the cable as soon as possible. That was a month ago, and until now, the cable is still unrepaired!
About two weeks from my first complaint, I called and reported a second time, expressing my disappointment.
When I enquired why it was taking such a long time for the repairs given the danger, the agent explained that it takes time scheduling dates with their contractors to handle such problems. Sometimes the contractors lack the necessary equipment for repairs, hence the long wait.
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This is not an isolated case, but yet another example of poor-quality essential services in Malaysia. These services’ umbrella is huge, encompassing electric cable repair, road resurfacing, faulty streetlight repair, grass cutting, drain cleaning, weekly waste collections and uneven walkway restoration.
It has been a common occurrence ever since the government a few decades ago irresponsibly decided to hire private contractors for such important services, instead of keeping them firmly under government purview.
The government’s excuse was that it lacked funds to continue providing them themselves. This, excuse however, is absolutely unacceptable for two huge reasons.
First, essential services should always be under the government’s jurisdiction. The government should rightfully treat these services – essential for the public’s wellbeing – with the highest priority and care. That is the bare minimum any government should do, instead of practically loaning them out to the private sector!
In a strongly capitalist system, the private sector’s main goals will inadvertently be not to help society as best they can or serve the greater good, but instead to maximise their profits however they can, which includes performing subpar work.
People in Malaysia (and elsewhere, I’m sure) routinely experience this – whatever essential service conducted by private contractors is of poor quality and hence isn’t long-lasting. Thus, the original problem recurs, once again affecting public safety and wellbeing.
The second reason dives into the root cause of this problem (and indeed many other problems in modern society), that is the erosion of government funds, thanks to corruption and neoliberal capitalist policies.
If the government lacks funds to continue providing essential services itself, it is ultimately its own fault! It should have responsibly ensured its funds would always available be for these services from the get-go – instead of misusing those funds to enrich itself and its cronies, and denying the natural increase of those funds by keeping corporate taxes low and refusing to impose progressive taxes like wealth and inheritance taxes, all to appease the corporate sector and investors.
The contracting out of essential services to contractors is a betrayal of the common people. We deserve to receive good quality, routine as well as affordable essential services provided only by the government. No compromise.
Some may argue that the government cannot be trusted to ensure such services are delivered with high quality and that only the private sector is efficient enough to fulfil this.
But as mentioned earlier, this clearly is not the case. Indeed, in Malaysia, a few decades prior, when essential services were fully run by the government, good quality and regular routines were ensured, unlike nowadays.
In any case, if the quality of government-run services is subpar, then it is up to the common people to unite and collectively push their authorities to step up their work. In a strongly capitalist system, people’s power remains the best avenue to force the system to enact any meaningful change.
Essential services must be treated with the utmost respect and responsibility, rather than something to be trivialised. We must push the government to bring these services firmly under its control again and end the irresponsible practice of contracting them out to private companies. – Newswav
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