What will happen if the BN government were to fall.....

Would chaos ensue and rioters run rampage? Would the fallen government ‘encourage’ this malice so as to prove that they were the worthy government of the day and not the opposition who wants to claim the right to govern?

I hope the transfer would be peaceful, if we claim to be a democratic country, in case a new government emerges. We have already seen peaceful transfer of power when governments changed, for example, in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Mexico, among others. If the politicians claim that they are matured, they should gracefully accept the new will of the people.

And if you think of it, we should ‘experiment’ with this. We always whine and gripe that the BN government is not efficient, corrupt and support cronies’ businesses. Do you really think these will change if the BN government falls? The answer is no. Will it get worse? Maybe. Does it settle our curiosity with this change? Yes. So, why not go for it?

Take the case of Mexico. Just like Malaysia, it was once ruled by a dominant party for so long that the people just became fed up and when the opposition finally came into power despite being terrorised and suppressed by the government for so long, the whole country rejoiced. They celebrated simply because the people managed to kick out the corrupt government. Did their lives improve? No. But at least the people knew they had to get rid of the corrupted government.

Taiwan provides another example. The dominant government was kicked out after they became too arrogant and corrupt and replaced by a government whom the people thought would weed out corruption. Alas, the new government became even more corrupt and worse, almost brought the entire Taiwan Straits to the brink of war. Did their lives improve? No. But at least they kicked out a government which is out of touch with the people.

Japan might be an extreme example but the once dominant Liberal Democratic Party also had to give way to the Democratic Justice Party. Did their lives improve? No. But crony politics was finally broken and Japan now has the guts to bring these crony kingmakers to light.

Our neighbour Indonesia might be a success story, albeit limited. After the fall of ex-President Suharto, Indonesians finally welcomed a dawn of a new era with President Yudhoyono at the helm and the Golkar Party, once a fearful party, being sidelined.

Till today they still remain on the sidelines Did their lives improve? Depending on whom you listen to but according to western analysts, suddenly Indonesia is a country you must invest in. They not only remained a BRIC member but were also included in the G20 grouping where they rubbed shoulders with the G8 leaders.

So, the moral of the story, there is still hope when we change the government. We cannot expect the new government to become super efficient in one term, maybe give them two terms and by that time if the new government is still sputtering along with little to demonstrate, boot them out.

That is why I said it is an ‘experiment’ and that is why I said maybe. We will only know the answer when we finally have the courage to do what is needed. Go ahead, change.