People usually hate to be criticised. They loved to be flattered or praised. This is irrespective of their being leaders or ordinary citizens. If you're not careful with your criticism you might get a punch in the nose by the person criticised if he is an ordinary person, or some form of prosecution or persecution if the person is some kind of a leader, depending on the severity of your criticism. He or she might even file a civil suit seeking payment for damage to his or her reputation.
Only in the developed nations is criticism of leaders or between ordinary citizens accepted without fear or fury. It is considered as a healthy input for self rectification or improvement. Even the President and other high dignitaries can be criticised without getting the police involved in tracking the critic and throwing the book at him or her. TV and radio shows often become very popular because a lot of critical remarks are made against certain popular leader, making both the critic and the leader criticised to become even more popular.
Everyone hates criticism and welcome praises
In Malaysia criticism against the government and its leaders is often considered as an act of opposing the government.Hence, those involved in making such criticism can get into a lot of trouble, even when the criticism is made in personal website such as the Facebook, Blogspot. Twitter, Chat page etc. You can get hauled up by the police for some silly or cynical remarks made in FB. Whether intentional or not the remarks can turn out to be seditious, damaging or just contemptuous. More serious, it can be considered as an act of disloyalty or traitorous, a vicious condemnation of the king country and people.
Thus, a lot depends on how you criticise, There is such a thing as healthy criticism, where the intention is merely to show some weakness or defects in whatever is being discussed so that it can be improved further. And there's such a thing as outright condemnation, without any fair appreciation at all of what good has been done or the beneficial aspect of whatever is being discussed. The Opposition and the Government seemed to be the champion in the latter practice. Whatever is done by the Government is always considered 'undesirable' or 'wasteful' by the Opposition and whatever is done by the Opposition will be considered harmful or treacherous by the Government. The public, of course. expect them to do so and must make up their own mind as to who is right…
In a democracy, ordinary citizens can of course make their own easement and criticism of the leaders in the country whether the leaders are in the Government or in the Opposition. People may agree or may not agree with the views expressed as long as no harm is done. But when a very influential citizen and an ex-leader of the nation like Tun Dr Mahathir levels a criticism on the current Prime Minister, it can really cause a stir. It adds weight to all the criticisms that had been made by other innocuous critics of the Premier, especially on the issue of Government spending and the outright cash gifts (BRIM1,2 and 3) to the so-called low-income people - not just the poor and impoverished. The habit of giving away large amount of money to finance certain projects just before a general election is also criticised for it produces a familiar odour of corruption which the country if fighting against.
the national transformation program
and the architects
While the progress of the NTP (National Trnsformation Program with the target of making Malaysia a developed nation with a per cap income of US15,000 (RM47,400) by 20202, is considered on target by Minister responsible for monitoring its progress, many fear that the country's economy is heading for trouble. Though it is said that we have reached a per cap income of US$10,00 last year, what does that mean if 15% of the population take 85% of the cake and 85% share the remainder 15%. One would check the distribution figures and the nature of property and asset ownership to ensure that everyone is having a fair share of the country's wealth.
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