Pleading sanity over madness of politics

SEVERAL days ago I came across a statement by Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz expressing his hope that “sanity will prevail over the madness of politics”. (Saya mendoakan agar kewarasan mengatasi kegilaan berpolitik).

I am in my mid-50s, and as a rakyat, I have seen the drama of politics since the 1980s, and frankly it is getting tiresome. The problem is politicians are trying to take advantage of the current crisis and causing instability to the country. Even in the maddening intrigue of politics, there is such thing as being “too much”. The fresh-faced finance minister hit the nail right on the head when he called for sanity to prevail. I am not a political scientist with an empirical pulse on the nation’s sentiments but I am sure a considerable portion of the rakyat would agree: Politics should take a pause in a critical time such as this.

As it stands, we have seen massive gains in the national vaccination process and there is a lot of chatter from policymakers about opening up the economy soon. Three states (Sarawak, Perlis and Federal Territory Labuan) have moved into Phase 3 under the National Recovery Plan. It would seem that for now, the powers-that-be are slowly but surely taking the country out of the crisis.

Make no mistake, there is a need for improvement in many areas. The government needs to look into improving our standard operating procedures (SOP) and ensuring consistent messaging. The people have questions about the reasoning behind some SOP, and many are grumbling about the shutting down of certain public offices and business sectors. I believe our MPs should take a proactive lead to make sure these questions are answered, and improvements do take place.

After months of seeing our Opposition criticise the government’s handling of the pandemic, we are left wondering where is the Opposition’s own Covid-19 “blueprint” for the rakyat and government to consider?

We did see in the news that representatives from several political parties had submitted their respective memorandums to the finance minister. I do not believe, however, that there is a unified blueprint or alternative plan from the Opposition regarding the way forward.

The only consistent message we get from our Opposition MPs and politicians are political tirades and calls for the prime minister to step down. Yet, I wonder what is the alternative? Hence, when the declaration came from Umno president that several MPs have pulled support from the government, no Malaysian could speculate with certainty who can form the next government. There has always been claims of “numbers” by certain politicians so many times that it has become a meme and a punchline for jokes. We have no alternative Covid-19 national plan, neither do we see any opposing faction with a “formidable” majority to form the next government. This obsession by some to dethrone the current government would merely lead us to a state of instability.

On behalf of the rakyat and my fellow elderly “warga emas”, I urge our politicians and MPs to stop rocking the boat – do not sink this ship when you yourselves offer us no other better vessel for escape. The sensible thing to do, if truly our politicians have the rakyat’s wellbeing at heart, is to work together with the government, especially when there is an invitation to do so for the National Recovery Plan. Stop the blaming game; instead help fix the country. Surely the politicking can take a breather for a while. Covid-19 is a war like any other, and in times like this, each of us have to contribute in any way we can.

Let this insanity stop, more so in this month of Merdeka. Let us cease hostilities and get through this pandemic together.

Zainul Mustaffar

Bukit Jalil