Avoid being indecisive in administrating the country

Nanyang Siang Pau, May 25^th 2016

The 11^thSarawak state election is over for more than half a month. The election left two deep impressions in the minds of the public. Firstly Barisan Nasional won a landslide victory and secondly the election campaigns were carried out peacefully until it earned praise from the Election Commission.

During the Sarawak election, there were no cases of serious rumour-mongering, personal attack or character assassination. From this perspective, elections between East and West Malaysia are very different.

Two years ago since Tan Sri Adenan Samad was appointed as the Chief Minister, he always projected himself as a strong and outspoken character. His strong stand against the federal government made the public look highly upon him.

It is conceivable that for the next five years Adenan will be a very strong Chief Minister. Bearing in mind a strong politician may move towards two extremes. One of them is he has no qualms in implementing his good policies. In contrast he may become a dictator or a corrupted leader because nobody can stop him.

Malaysia is a multiracial and multi-religious nation. A weak government is not good for national development because the government has to consider many factors before implementing a policy; and thus in the dictionary of the government, there is no such ideal as “Going all out to achieve what you want”.

Taiwan TVBS conducted a survey a week before Tsai Ing–wen was sworn in as the new president. The survey revealed that only 23% of the public was satisfied with the administrative policy of President Mah which had lasted for eight years. No doubt the support ratings did not seem to be high but it was higher than last year’s by 7%.The survey was done during the peak of his second term in office.

Political analysts regarded the higher public support for President Mah was due to what has happened after the disastrous defeat of Kuomintang in the Taiwan election on the 16^th of January. Four months before the 520 swearing in ceremony of President Tsai Ing-Wen, President Mah let go his mental burden and adopted an open policy which received public support.

Eight years ago President Mah sailed on the ticket of a “clean government” and became the President of Taiwan. Four years later he won his Presidency again. During this period the People Progressive Party was gaining popularity among the public and President Mah`s administration was always under attack. Many of his policies were not implemented fully and some of them were left in a mess which indirectly projected a weak and indecisive leader to the public.

Over the past one year, the Malaysian political arena was in a turbulent state. The 1MDB and RM2.6 billion political donation fund issues had caused political havoc in the country. In addition to that the seven year old partnership of Pakatan Rakyat had dissolved and the former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir resigned from UMNO but working with the Opposition to oust Prime Minister Najib from office. The many political upheavals angered the Rakyat. If such political situation continues indefinitely, the coming 14^th general election will not be as peaceful as the Sarawak state election.

During the 308 general election in 2008, the Opposition successfully removed the two third majority of the ruling government. After that, the national political situation was in a turbulent state. Although national security and the economy are still on track, the situation is similar to the uncompromised situation of the Blue and Green political parties in Taiwan. Whether it is beneficial to the nation if the ruling party and the Opposition are always in confrontation and this is an issue that the Rakyat should think deeply.

The next general election will be on in less than two years. Whether the Barisan Nasional government which is ridden with scandals can emerge and move forward on the path of success depends on the way Najib implements his policies. A look and see or indecisive manner of implementing policy is impossible to make things better.