Nanyang Siang Pau, November 06, 2014
Will suing the Minister of Home Affairs able to solve the illegal status of the Penang Voluntary Patrol Squad (PPS)? Will the disapproval of the PR1MA development project solve the housing problem of residents in Penang? Are heated and vociferous verbal exchanges more important than solving problems faced by the Rakyat?
In fact many people were happy and relieved when the Minister of Home Affairs from UMNO was going to be sued. Similarly, when PR1MA proposed to build low cost or affordable houses in Penang, it rekindled the dream of Penang people to own a house.
It is very common to note that many young people in Penang cannot afford to buy a house. Even those from the lower income group, who had saved for few decades, could only afford the down payment of a house. They were also disappointed because the price of houses has inflated and eroded their savings. In Penang, the new super condominium housing project can cost more than a thousand ringgit per square meter and a small unit easily costs more than a million ringgit. One can only enjoy a medium low cost house having a sea view in the international city of Penang at the Fifth Road and Sungai Pinang area. The residents who owned these super sea view medium low cost houses had forgotten the effort of the former Barisan Nasional Chief Minister of Penang when they voted for DAP.
PR1MA Corporation bought 234 acres of land at the cost of RM1.3 billion and the said land was threatened to be gazetted for building low cost and affordable houses only. Nobody dared to mention about the possibility of losing RM1.2 billion which would be borne by the PRIMA Corporation. In order to avoid losses in the investment, the company may sell the land to another company. Hence, the 9999 impending low cost and affordable houses will completely vanish.
So with a feel good and high spirited administrative power in hand, one may not be able to solve the sky high house price problem in Penang.
Similarly challenging the Inspector General to execute the arrest order or suing the Minister of Home Affairs in court was not a practical attitude to solve the PPS controversial issue. As the saying goes, “politics is an art of negotiations”. In politics, the leader should refrain from challenging for the sake of challenging. In times of trouble, the leader should use negotiation, compromising and cooperation to solve the problem. If one tries to act high and mighty, frequently attacking the other, how can one solve the existing problem amicably? Initially the controversy over the legal status of PPS was a minor problem. Due to the attitude of solving problem, the whole issue of PPS was blown out of proportion, wasn’t it?
Those who were accustomed to a peaceful lifestyle might not like the “cock fighting” style of political leaders. This type of politician uses daily quarrels as a means to hog the political limelight and never tries to solve the problem amicably. This type of leader is very popular in the society when there are frequent class struggle, racial issues and attacking political loggerheads. However when you request them to provide a blueprint of administration of the nation, it is tantamount to asking for the impossible.
Original Source: 华文写作水平下滑是隐忧 陈鹏仕：SPM 考生勿放弃报考