The ‘1Malaysia: People first, performance now’ slogan has now made 1 u-turn, 1 more u-turn and yet 1 more u-turn! It looks like we are going through an era of u-turns to please some people or the other. ‘This is the best of times, this is the worst of times...’ wrote Charles Dickens in his opening remarks for his book, ‘A Tale of Two cities’ referring to London and Paris . Will we also see the best of times and suddenly see the worst of times in our blessed nation?

Let us trace events in the recent past to see the u-turns in operation. We shall see the ‘driver’ using reverse gears very often.

‘1 u-turn’: The education policy on the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English which was advocated by the ex-prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad before he left office took a u-turn when the present Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak took over from Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Note that the education of children suffered a big blow 30-odd years ago when the medium of instruction was switched from English-medium to BM-medium. Why do I say so? Look at the statistics - thousands of university graduates are churned out every year and they cannot find suitable employment in the private sector.

Why? The short and simple answer is that these graduates talk and write English in BM. They should realise that they play havoc with a language when they use literal translation and when they switch one language to another. The problem is further compounded when they can hardly construct a simple decent sentence. To make it more unintelligible, they can hardly spell the words correctly, since the words are romanised!

Now with this confusion arising, the government has launched a re-training programme, spending millions of taxpayers' ringgit to do so. Why go through so much hassle and spend so much money because some education minister in the past got up on the wrong side of the bed and made a mess of the education system?

If a mistake has been made, it should be rectified at the earliest opportunity. But no. The students were allowed to sink deeper and deeper into the hole; and this also made a big hole in the taxpayers' pocket to boot. So, after a long period of slumber, the ex-PM Mahathir woke up and realised that the mistake made decades ago should make a u-turn. Thus he made English as a medium of instruction for just Mathematics and Science.

In fact, if I am not mistaken, he wanted to make a complete overhaul of the engine and have English medium for all subjects. But owing to vehement protests, he accepted the change only for two subjects, Mathematics and Science. So the car went on its journey for some years.

This year, with a newly-minted PM and an equally newly minted education minister, the driver decided to make another u-turn: reverse gear and back to BM as the medium of instruction in Mathematics and Science.

Of course, to placate the ex-PM , the education minister gave him a briefing but not to get a feedback from him about the change. Compare our education policy with that of Singapore, dubbed the Red Dot. This neighbour has consistently followed the English medium since Day 1 in spite of the separation in 1965. Mind you, she has a huge majority of Chinese and yet it has not taken the Chinese-medium path.

Its leaders are pragmatic and clear-headed and do not mix the future welfare of their children with politics. But here we play politics to the hilt to the detriment of the future of our children. Is this u-turn going to benefit the children? Is it 'people first' or is it 'my position first '? You can bet your last ringgit that our children will be handicapped for generations to come and the taxpayers will be continually taxed heavily to finance the re-retraining programmes of unemployable graduates.

Again look at our universities standing in the world. Only recently our premier university – Universiti Malaya – was ranked under 200, a big jump undoubtedly but still far below par. Please do not mention the other 16 public universities and bring tears to our eyes. They are nowhere in sight.

While 2009 is not over yet; there is still time to make a good u-turn and make the children for generations well-geared to challenge the world in knowledge and technology; and perhaps produce a Nobel prize winner in one of the vital subjects.

1 more u-turn: When Abdullah Ahmad Badawi became PM, he made corruption one of the important issues to tackle, apart from the efficiency of the civil service. He called for a royal commission of inquiry for the police force to make it efficient and to ensure that corruption was minimised. The royal commission diligently went about its and finally it came up with the IPCMC. But the police force objected to the passing of the IPCMC bill.

The PM buckled under pressure and made a u-turn and watered it down. If the bill is good for the whole police force and for the nation as well, why abandon it just because there were some objections? As a leader you do what is right and not bend to the voices of dissent because you want to please them. Do the right thing. Full stop.

If you read the book ‘Lee Kuan Yew: The man and his ideas’ by Han Fook Kwang, Warren Fernandes and Sumiko Tan, you will learn the wisdom and greatness Lee Kuan Yew. He said: ‘I'm very determined. If I decide that something is worth doing, then I'll put my heart and soul to it. The whole ground can be against me, but if I know it is right, I'll do it. That is the business of a leader.’

Malaysia has all the natural resources – rubber and tin earlier, later oil palm and now petroleum – whilst Singapore has none of them. Where has all the money gone to? Corruption and over- runs in projects and auditor-general’s annual reports have revealed discrepancies year after year and after year.

1 more u-turn: It has been agreed that oil royalties are given to the four states – Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu, Kelantan – for oil from their oil fields. When Terengganu fell to PAS, the oil royalty stopped flowing. Instead the smart idea of 'wang ehsan' came up. Simple logic dictates that what is due to each state should be duly given, no questions asked. And no delay please.

The same applies to State allocations. Give to each what is due to each. No delaying tactics. This is a test of integrity.

1 more u-turn: The Registrar of Societies earlier said that the MCA problem was not its business. MCA should tackle the deputy president's position concerning Dr Chua Soi Lek by itself. A few days later, probably through the prompting by Umno leaders, the ROS suddenly made a u-turn and announced that Chua is the rightful deputy president of MCA! Where does the ROS stand in the eyes of the public? Make a firm answer. No u-turn, please.

1 more u-turn; When the demonstrators took a cow's head and protested against the relocation of a Hindu temple in Shah Alam, the police, who are supposedly to be impartial enforcers of the law, stood rooted to the ground. They must have beeen so stunned that they were literally unable to move against the protestors. And the home minister got into the act and visited the people and said it was normal for people to protest in modern times.

The next day, he made the fastest u-turn and announced that the guilty ones should be punished. Simple logic says that all people should respect other people's religions. If we wish to promote harmony we should treat all religions with due respect. No double-standards please.

A great leader must not make too many u-turns: they make the people giddy and groggy and they will not know where they are heading. A rudderless and directionless ship will smash into the rocks. All workers 'cari makan’ and seek fairness and justice; not u-turns to please some and displease others. No hitting below the belt.