Please serve the people full-time

AS election fever heats up, candidates make campaign promises that, hopefully, they have every intention of keeping if they are elected. Most of these promises relate to improving the lives and livelihoods of voters.

One promise that is hardly heard, but which must be the bedrock of public service, is to serve the people full-time. That means being available 365 days a year. That also means that winning candidates should not have any other obligations while in office. In other words, they should relinquish all their other duties and commitments for the next five years.

Being an MP is a full-time commitment. Constituents need help daily. After all, MPS are adequately remunerated to be able to meet their own and their families’ needs for as long as they MPS. In the past, there were politicians who dedicated their time and lives to the service of their constituents, even when their allowances were a fraction of what today’s MPS receive.

One such MP was Lee Lam Thye, once a four-term MP. It was publicly recognised that Lee worked 16 to 17 hours a day serving the people in Kuala Lumpur’s Bukit Bintang. Whenever there was a fire, flood or any disaster, Lee would be there rendering aid. There was even one occasion when Lee arrived before the firefighters, wrote a reader who reviewed Lee’s biography, Call Lee Lam Thye.

While it may not be possible for every MP to emulate Lee, it is certainly within their means to be ready to serve full-time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

So my appeal to all candidates is to add to their manifestos a pledge to forgo opportunities to earn additional income outside of their MP’S perks and remuneration. A VOTER Kuala Lumpur