Letter From A Fellow Malaysian

Below is a letter sent to NST and they published it online. This letter is quite contrary to other letters seen on Malaysiakini or other blogs. It quite refreshing to hear and understand the experienced of some Malaysian such as C.K OOI. Please have a read below and post you opinions about this letter. I do not have time to write about my feelings of this letter. Enjoy!

2008/07/09

After the march 8 election: This nonsense has to stop
By : C.K. OOI, George Town




I AM one of those Malaysians who voted in the March 8 general election, believing a strong opposition would provide the necessary safeguards and checks and balances against the Barisan Nasional.

Since I started voting in the 1978 general election, I have always voted for the BN. But each time an election came, and we the Malaysian public returned the ruling coalition with a strong mandate, I noted that there were issues which the government dealt with arrogantly and, sometimes, without due care about the effects on the country on a longer-term basis.

I am widely travelled and I have seen many countries, East and West. Malaysia is still one of the best places in the world to live in. That is why I have always supported the BN because it has done something right and that is why we have not gone down the path of Myanmar, the Philippines, Zimbabwe or Yugoslavia.

Still, the endemic corruption which started taking root in the 1980s, the erosion of the credibility of the judiciary, the nepotism and cronyism during the growth years of the late 1980s and 1990s, jaded my belief in the BN.

In 2004, I would have voted for the opposition parties for the first time had it not been for the promise of change made by Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. With renewed hope, I expected Abdullah's government to change things that had been so wrong.

Little changed. The same faces were in government. There was the same arrogance, harping on racial issues and politicking in Umno. The last straw, really, was the cockiness and do-if-you-dare challenges thrown by people such as Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo and Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein on the temple and kris issues.

My wife and I decided that we had had enough and we were resolute in seeking to put pressure on the BN, to teach the likes of Dr Khir and Hishammuddin a lesson. I believe many people thought like us and that is why our country got the results we saw on March 8.

Four months later, many of us have had time to review our decision. Some good has come out of it. Abdullah has said he has heard the message and has begun the reforms he promised in 2004, with the judiciary, Anti-Corruption Agency and the removal of subsidies. He has appointed fresh and capable faces in his cabinet, though more can be done.

But to be honest, there has been more harm than good. The opposition parties have failed to show any sign that they know how to govern.

They are still interested in campaigning although the doors of the election centres were closed long ago and we exercised our vote and asked them to prove to us that they were a suitable alternative.

What do they do to repay us? Threaten to cut down our water catchment areas in Kedah, have rallies and demonstrations every week, making us fear that riots will break out, use the Internet and statutory declarations to tell the most unsavoury lies and make our country a laughing stock, misbehave at concerts and, since March 8, try to buy or "persuade" BN politicians, elected by the people, to cross over.

Of course, we still have idiots in the BN, like that assemblywoman in Perak and the Sabah Progressive Party. But it is the lunacy of the opposition parties who have done nothing but gripe, gripe and gripe that has made me ashamed today that I voted for them.

All I can say to Lim Guan Eng, Datuk Seri Mohamad Nizar Jamaludin, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and Azizan Abdul Razak is get on with the job. I am not going to make the same mistake again in 2013.

As for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, this is my message: You both ruled Malaysia collectively for the better part of the last 27 years and you should bear responsibility for the state of the country Abdullah inherited.

To be fair to Abdullah, his hands were also tied by the system he inherited. Now, we can see that. Nevertheless, he has the opportunity to go down in history as the man who reformed the country. He has given openness, he has allowed democracy to flourish and now he must seize the moment and act, act and act.

If the opposition parties and the BN politicians have any interest left in serving the people, they should back Abdullah and support him in reforms. Otherwise, they will go down in our history as those responsible for turning us into a basket case.