With lives and livelihoods at stake, expectations of new govt are high

THE moment the appointment of Bera member of parliament Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob as the ninth prime minister was announced social media was inundated with comments, some horrid and some pleasing, depending on the political divide you’re supporting.

Clearly, however, now that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has decided the premiership of this blessed country, we hope to see the feuding politicians and political parties set aside their differences and work on a win-win solution for the sake of the people.

We need a constructive and conducive environment.

No more mudslinging between politicians, please. What we don’t need is another political upheaval.

What we need from the new prime minister and his cabinet is the desire to work hard and efficiently to rebuild the country, especially in combating the pandemic and putting the economy back on track.

It’s every Malaysian’s hope and aspiration to see a renewed vision for a unified, peaceful and economically competitive Malaysia.

Life isn’t easy for many of us right now, with jobs loss and reduced income while manoeuvring the pandemic, not to mention the spike of cases and deaths. It’s not going to be easy.

It requires a Herculean effort for the new government to normalise things.

There’s a lot of hope for Ismail Sabri and his ministers to put things into perspective — first is to regain public trust.

Public trust is crucial for any government, but trust seems to be eroding in this country

There seems to be enough rabble-rousers to bring down the country.

I guess the survival of this government depends on Ismail Sabri’s wisdom and political know-how to manoeuvre this intricate situation, where politics seems to be mired with the numbers game. We, the people, are tired of this game.

Second, for the government to survive this political game, it has to hold out an olive branch to the opposition as a gesture of truce and reconciliation to end all longrunning disagreements since the last general election.

By doing so, public trust may be restored, and the people will begin to see an engagement with the opposition. The government must be seen taking this stance to rebuild this country.

Engagement is also required with the private sector, which is the catalyst for economic revival, as well as non-governmental organisations that have been quick to censure the government when things go wrong.

Engagement is crucial to ensure reciprocity from the opposition, and those who have dissenting views about the government’s policies and approaches.

Dissent is good in a democracy, but differing views and stances cannot be overplayed at the expense of the people.

This country needs to move forward with a stable and strong government, while the people must be enlightened with wellthought-out strategies to fight the pandemic and steer the economy in the right direction.

Ergo, there’s a pressing need for the opposition to participate in formulating strategies in public health and the economy.

Surely, the government cannot please everyone. Opposition leaders and members must be open and broad-minded in accepting the divergence and disparity of ideas when dealing with issues, say over a public health and economic strategy or approach.

The win-win solution for this country depends on the behaviour of politicians, many of whom are lawmakers and policymakers.

If they can find a middle ground in achieving mutual understanding and respect, then the dynamics of finding solutions for the country’s woes and the people’s wellbeing are well on track.

Hence, the people’s hopes and aspirations are thus materialised as they will be seen as wakil rakyat (people’s representatives) who are willing to sink or swim with the masses.

My hope and aspiration are very much the same like any Malaysian living in this pandemic era, with our lives and livelihoods at stake.

We, Malaysians, hope the dust has settled as we cannot afford another political upheaval, which may destroy our trust in the political system.