Political and economic transformation had now become the buzz words for the national leadership ( especially in UMNO, the principal wing of the ruling Alliance government).Political transformation requires the leadership to place the electorate (rakyat) first in all forms of consideration and decision-making and giving emphasis to performance. It also requires the leaders to go down to the field and meet the people, not wait for them to come to the leaders about their problems.
Economic transformation focuses on raising individual income especially among the poor with a family income of less than RM3000 a month, and making the country a high-income nation. Several public 'handout' and 'bailout' programs together with mega development projects had been promulgated to activate the transformation.
But from the political talks and complaints of the people on the street today, we need more than just a political and economic transformation. We need a personal,social and moral transformation which will give Malaysians a 'developed society' kind of attitude.
There are just to many narrow-minded self interest, blatant disrespect for neighbors and fellow citizens, lack of concern for the right of others, class distinction and superiority feeling, the holier-than-thou attitude, etc. etc going around. The multiracial nature of our society aggravates the situation.
What we need is an integral transformation proses, where all the divisive elements of the Malaysian society can be minimized and all the positive elements integrated at the personal, social, and cultural level. In plain language racial consciousness must be replaced by a 'we're all Malaysians and we must swim or sink together' kind of attitude. Political parties should stop ridiculing each other and threatening that the nation will go kaput if other parties come into power as if all other parties are useless.People shouldn't go about thinking that only their rights and interests matter and others' can go to hell. We must learn to respect the rights and interests of other people.(The lack of concern for others is clearly illustrated on the highway where some diver behave as if the road belongs to them alone). Kids, especially the offsprings of the wealthy, today show a kind of haughty, devil-may-care attitude that will develop into an egocentric narcissism as they mature.
The Malaysian multiracial society must undergo an integral transformation process to prevent further disintegration caused by political exclusivism or partisanship. This is all the more urgent when political leaders are making the political divide more pronounced and irreconcilable, leaving no room whatever for working together as shown by political parties in developed countries.
2 comments:
Akhi,
I concur wholeheartedly with your thinking here. The time to beat the same "Mantra" about our survival is obsolete and archaic,worst still it is an anachronism. We should have been seeing the new Malaysian by now, without the past baggage that is now dragging us backwards. The motto should be " Forward " and "Unity of all races " instead of playing the old tune which is warped with the hype that is inconsistent with the current scenario. For those who fear change will be drowned in their own stupor and they shall be the extinct dinosaurs. A party that fails to recognise the changing demographics is doomed to fail. Let us hand over the reigns of government to a more sensible party that espouse for high moral ground and get rid of the debt burden that will sink the Nation to its deepest abyss.
I love the clearness of your thought, Akhi, and the firmness of your conclusion. However we all know that politics involve a multilevel kind of thinking and the rakyat in Malaysia is multiracial with different levels of consciousness, interests and priorities. Currently the divisiveness within each ethnic group of the Malaysian society especially among the Muslims is a greater cause of worry and concern than the economic problems of the country. That's why i've stressed the need for an integrated transformation process at the personal, social and moral level. Let our leaders think of that and let the people think of that at the forthcoming election.
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