What could the government do as the people are suffering from prices hikes?
It was reported that other than the federal government, state governments would also cut down expenditure. The whole country is now in the mood of saving money.
The practice of official extravagance has not been a secret for a long time. And now, it would be good if all government officers could follow the recent instruction to reduce expenditures. However, time has changed and the good old days are gone. As the country is now caught in the economic depression and that makes the people suffer, how could it help much only by reducing expenditures?
Don’t our leaders always say Malaysia is a paradise?
This paradise used to be the world's largest producer of rubber, tin, palm oil and pineapple. And our leaders used to be proud of the industrialization success. But such glorious days are gone.
"Could we still achieve the 2020 Vision?"
Today, there is a dark cloud over the paradise. However, the paradise still has petroleum fields that brought a pre-tax profit of as high as RM86.8 billion to Petronas last year and the surge of international oil prices will definitely help its profits to substantially grow. However, as the international oil prices index keeps surging, the index of the people's happiness keeps falling.
By today's predicament, could we still catch up with the United States and other Europe countries? Could we still achieve the 2020 Vision?
It has nothing wrong to reduce expenditure as a response to the current economic crisis, but the problem is, how much money could we save? How could this contribute to the people's livelihood and the national treasury?
In fact, the people do not care about how many cups of tea the government officers drink, whether they are sitting in the economy or business class when they are flying abroad and whether they are riding in old or new cars. The people are more concerned about whether the government is working hard, whether it is efficient, whether it has the capacity to rule the country and whether it is serving the people and implementing policies to develop and enrich the country.
A trustworthy and good government should know how to reduce expenditure and at the same time, it should find new ways to raise revenue and create wealth for the people!
(By LIM MUN FAH/ Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE/ Sin Chew Daily)
My sinChew
PEOPLE'S POWER
1 comment:
In the 2004 elections (11th General Election), the voters gave good support to Mr.Abdullah Badawi. But reforms did not come. Why? Probably because UMNO had done well in the elections. If UMNO had done well in the elections, then the election results tell UMNO that the voters are satisfied with the status quo. If the voters are satisfied with UMNO, then no reforms are necessary. In the 2008 elections (12th General Elections), UMNO did not do well, but she managed to win. UMNO did lose the 2/3 majority in the Parliament, but she did win, nevertheless. Will UMNO undertake reforms now? I would not be surprised if she did not. Why should she? UMNO is still the winner in the elections; and she can plan to rise and may even succeed to rise again. So, as long as she wins, she will never undertake the reforms. So, how do the voters get the reforms that they need? The voters will get the reforms when UMNO is completely defeated in the 13th General Elections. If UMNO wins zero seats in the next elections (13th General Elections), then some other party would have to rule Malaysia. Let us call it Party B. If UMNO is completely defeated in the next elections (13th General Elections), then Party B would rule Malaysia. Would Party B undertake reforms? If Party B does not undertake reforms, then voters would know what to do.
So, the next step for Malaysians is to completely defeat UMNO in the next elections.
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