Bringing to reality a more civil, free and democratic society will certainly go a long way in ushering in a new Malaysia, writes Teo Chuen Tick.
Pakatan Harapan’s victory in the general election is an important milestone in the history of our nation.
This change has been a long time in the making and its seeds were sown in the 2008 general election. Whatever one may say about Dr Mahathir Mohamad, no rational Malaysian will deny his immense contribution in making this change possible.
It is also the result of a confluence of factors, including DAP’s willingness to give up its rocket symbol and adopt the common PKR eye symbol to present a united PH front.
Rafizi Ramli and his Invoke team deserve much praise for, among other things, campaigning in the marginal constituencies for the past one and a half years. Rafizi himself deserves special mention for putting his head on the chopping block, revealing mega corruption scandals implicating the top Umno leadership. These revelations chipped away at Umno’s ‘fixed deposit’ in the rural hinterlands.
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The new government should recognise Rafizi’s contributions to the agenda of change. Yes, due legal process must be observed – but remember, those convictions were against natural justice, and he was exposing corruption of those entrusted with public funds.
Much remains to be seen of this new government but a few important policies in the public arena have caught the imagination of the rakyat. These were the pledges to abolish GST and to expose the 1MDB scandal and repatriate seized or frozen funds overseas back to Malaysia.
We who have lived through the increasing polarisation of ethnic relations can only hope policies will be formulated to tackle this problem. There is no magic bullet, but I am sure there will be many talented Malaysians whose services the new government can use. Bringing to reality a more civil, free and democratic society will certainly go a long way in this direction.
Hopefully, Mahathir will not bare his fangs again and his government will be a more people-friendly one!
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
