Country Needs Leadership

After the 8 March general elections, the political situation seems more chaotic than before. Internal strives among the BN component parties, lack of unity in Pakatan Rakyat, confrontation between BN and Pakatan Rakyat and the administrative confusion have in fact exposed the shortage of leadership, implementation capability and the good judgement.

Political parties defeated in the elections have put forward respective reform projects but these were individual parties plans, which could not help in pushing forward the whole situation, consensus-building, shaping the core values, framing the national reform agenda and clearly understanding the directions. The BN member parties are still prioritising their own interests.

While Umno is having a confrontation between those in power and those against them, MCA is having the allegation of the snoop squad and Gerakan is losing its members. How could they talk about reform in such a chaotic situation?

"What's wrong with Malaysian officers?"
MIC President Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu's expression of his willingness to dissolve the party reflected that he has lost direction.

Other than internal struggles, BN also fights with Pakatan Rakyat, including war of words in the Parliament and taking each other to task over corruption.

The emergence of the new political situation did not bring any new thought as the Opposition retained its mentality as an opposition. And some politicians did a lot of things to attract attention made the people feel sick.

In terms of policy implementation, it is confusing. For example, the Government suddenly banned foreigners from filling up subsidised petrol and said it would be taken effect from 12 June and 19 June but another announcement was made to change the date to 2 June and 9 June. The policy faced many technical problems and there were no official guidelines and spokesperson from the authority.

Besides, the Johor Bahru immigration had a sudden resumption of the white card system that required all foreigners to fill up the immigration card (white card) when entering the country but the resumption was cancelled later. What's wrong with Malaysian officers?

The dispute of the Cheras Bandar Mahkota toll-free access road has continued for two and a half years. The avoidance of the federal government has made the incident become a violence which has greatly damaged the credibility of the Government.

The country should put an end to such a chaotic situation. The people need a strong leadership in order to retrieve the core ideology of the nation and to stabilise the inner disorder.

The ruling party and the Opposition should as well stop confronting each other and to cooperate when dealing with issues involving the people's interests included curbing inflation, revitalising the national economy and leading the country towards the right direction.

By LIM SUE GOAN/ Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE/ Sin Chew Daily
My Sin Chew
02/06/08