Success depends on everyone
WE are into the third month of the new government which we voted for, and judging from the volume of work done together with the amount of malpractices uncovered and rectified, we must salute the Prime Minister and his team for a job well done.
The work is ongoing and dauntingly tough and everyone tasked with putting the country back on its tracks has been toiling overtime, hence demanding that promises made during the election campaign must be fulfilled fast is both unreasonable and absurd.
As Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has explained, the Pakatan Harapan leaders were not aware of the extent of the damage done at that point. Hence, let’s be more considerate and let the PM’s team deal with the damage and pull us back to health. If anything, we must and should salute Dr Mahathir for toiling hard for the nation at his age. His task is really monumental.
We need to discard our fears that he would govern like he did in the past as he is heading a coalition of several equally represented parties. His main task now is to set things right, put in the desired systems and policies and once done, I am sure he would be only too glad to pass the baton to his successor and enjoy his hard-earned retirement. He has a team of capable ministers, all of them being academically qualified and carry no baggage.
To the ministers, MPs and politicians from the Pakatan coalition, it is important for you to be mindful that you were appointed to serve, so please serve well. Be accessible to the people and render assistance where possible. Nobody wishes to waste time to see you or your representative if he does not need help.
It is saddening to see some young politicians from the coalition partners openly demanding this and that. Such behaviour has no place in this new era. You can score more political mileage by carrying out tasks which benefit the people. Using the open forum to put forth your grouses and demands would lead to negative perception not only for your party but Pakatan as well. Channel your dissatisfaction to your party internally or to the coalition and ask for answers.
Each coalition partner should put in place some disciplinary guidelines on this. It is not a case of disallowing dissent but such grouses should be voiced through the right channel and platform. Any disagreement, no matter how trivial, that’s aired publicly will be seized upon immediately by the Opposition and blown out of proportion.
At the same time, it would help if fellow ministers or MPs could highlight issues arising from certain comments made by your colleagues before the Opposition uses them as political ammunition. We elected all of you and we expect good teamwork. The press statements you make reflect your mentality and maturity, hence your quality.
Your service centres should be managed by people who are polite and approachable. I have visited a few such centres and, invariably, the people managing them seem to think that by servicing us, the rakyat, they are doing us a big favour. Such attitude is wrong and these representatives must remember that we, the people, voted their MPs into government and that is why they have a job.
As for the general public, we have the right to offer comments and complaints as a means to check and balance. But let us do it the pleasant way. Channel our complaints and comments to the service centres or, better still, if we can have direct access to our assemblymen and MPs, that would be superb. This could be done by having a dedicated telephone number for the personal assistants who can handle this.
We have voted in this government and it is our responsibility to see that it works well. We need to support them adequately so that they can serve us well. We need to justify that we made the right decision.