Sin Chew Jit Pao, Kuala Lumpur
From Editor's Desk
Abdullah Needs New Mindset And New Team
Updated: 2005-11-11
On the first day of Hari Raya, according to official statistics, some
200,000 Malaysians flocked to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi's open house. Perhaps the figure 200,000 is a little
exaggerated; at least 100,000 people could have been there!
Reporters returning from the PM's open house said the crowd was
overwhelming, with countless of people pouring in from nowhere.
Of course, part of the reason was that people came for free meals,
but this category of people was not expected to be very large, given the
dear
transport and time costs, not to mention expensive parking fees in
return for only a few plates of fried noodle or cakes. In short, it did
not
make economic sense to go all the way just for "free meals."
As a result, there must be certain specific political agenda for over
100,000 people to appear concurrently at the open house.
A few weeks ago, the Prime Minister's wife passed away of breast cancer.
Having received the news, tens of thousands of Malaysians took the
initiative to travel to Putrajaya to pay their last respect to the first
lady.
While Endon was the country's first lady, not many people were well
acquainted with her, but that did not stop people from mourning her
departure!
There had to be some kind of political signal for tens of thousands of
people to deliver their condolences and respect at Endon's funeral!
Two years ago, Abdullah set up his government on the back of an
unprecedented 65% of votes in the general election. Two years later,
from what we observe, his popularity remains high today.
Although many are not happy with the current situation--the effort to
wipe out corruption, the magnitude of reforms in the country's
bureaucratic
system, as well as the high inflation rate, no one has actually
questioned Abdullah's integrity behind all those displeasures and
grumbles.
As for the lack of major breakthroughs over the past two years, many
put the blame on the old system and personnel, which is understandable.
What Abdullah has inherited is a political system full of problems.
Besides, he has also inherited a Cabinet and civil service team equally
plagued with problems.
Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang says Malaysians trust and support
Abdullah's reform agenda, but what the Prime Minister lacks is
coordination from his team. Indeed, he can't go too far if he were to
battle on all alone.
The country's bureaucratic system is a massive yet complicated
mechanism, and it won't be easy to remove the political interests
accumulated over the decades.
The road to reforms is not without its share of hardships, but for
the sake of the country's future, reform efforts have to be persisted and
there must be no let-up.
The past two years could well be the warming-up phase for Abdullah's
administration. What is more important is his future performances.
All the slogans and remarks on reforms have to be turned into practical
actions.
The past two years could well be seen as a preparation period for
Abdullah to get hold of the real situation and be adequately equipped for
action. Once the timing is right, he will have to move into action in
full
steam.
Having gone through two whole years of observation and learning, it
is now time for Abdullah to set off anew. His administration must strive
to
change some of its past mistakes, such as capricious policies and lack of
decisiveness in execution.
The first major task ahead will be to reshuffle the Cabinet, which will
serve to provide him with a unique opportunity to reinstate his reform
mechanism.
The Cabinet reshuffle should not only be one which passively excludes
old Cabinet members defeated in the elections. Instead, it should be one
which effectively restructures, eliminating those who are non-performing,
incapable, aged or with undesirable images, while introducing younger
people who are more creative and willing to help bring about reforms.
The new Cabinet must possess a definite set of policies and
strategies to meet the current challenges and needs, while its members
must be ambitious, capable and diligent.
We trust Abdullah's sincerity in bringing about reforms, but more
importantly we must see results.
Ends
----------------------------------------------------------------
This e-mail has been sent via JARING webmail at http://www.jaring.my
No comments:
Post a Comment