Need to get its act together
WE have emerged from a year of tumultuous happenings, including the dethroning of the previous political regime that had been in place for more than 60 years.
The new Pakatan Harapan (PH) government has promised to stop the rot of corruption by cleansing the system and putting in place a governance of integrity and accountability to create an affordable and harmonious life for Malaysians.
The initial euphoria of bringing down a corrupt government and bringing to justice those responsible for nonfeasance, malfeasance, and misfeasance is now wearing off as reality sets in.
Except for the unshackling of the press, the reinstatement of the rule of law, the transparent and ethical stance of governance, there are no tangible benefits for the common man. The common man is concerned with survival, or at least having an affordable life that would enable him to put food on the table, give his children a proper education, and provide shelter and affordable health care, among other basic necessities.
His main concern is the spiralling cost of living that will adversely affect his standard of living. He is not concerned about institutional changes or that cleansing the system is a prelude to a better life. That stopping the haemorrhage of government finance as a result of corrupt practices will make available monies for people-centric development.
I doubt most ordinary people can comprehend what sort of a burden that a RM1 trillion national debt courtesy of the previous government is. They know it is wrong to amass wealth at the people’s expense but the source of the monies, which could be from unknown illegal sources, does not impact directly on them. If it had been monies from their personal accounts or their salaries deducted to meet these expenses, it would have caused an uproar.
The PH government must seriously address bread and butter issues. They must first address the spiralling cost of living, which could be due to profiteering. The B40 (lower income group) does not care about the mechanics of a market economy that is based on supply and demand and the principle of profit maximisation.
Nor do they care that some of these factors affecting price movements are beyond the government’s control, the result of the volatility of external economic forces. What the middle income and B40 groups in society want is for the government to ensure that essential commodities are affordable.
To this effect, the PH government must start getting its act together. The component parties must stop bickering about positions and who is going to be the next Prime Minister. They must start serving the people who put them in power in the first place.
Thus, it behoves the ministers of the relevant ministries to start implementing strategies to address the economic woes of the people by curbing profiteering and creating jobs, especially for unemployed graduates.
Granted that the government is currently preoccupied with cleaning out the systemic rot left by the previous regime, but at the same time, it needs to be innovative in addressing pertinent issues and implement strategies for the immediate benefit of the people.
MOHAMED GHOUSE NASURUDDIN Centre for Policy Research and International Studies Universiti Sains Malaysia