YOURSAY | 'Mahathir thinks he is the only one who knows what is best for Malaysia.'

PM: No guarantee policy lasts forever if leader or gov't changed

Dompet Saya: Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad thinks he is the only one who knows what is best for the country.

The reason much was changed after he left as prime minister in 2002 was that not all of his policies were good for Malaysians.

Indeed, both the prime ministers hand-picked by Mahathir - Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib Abdul Razak - turned out to be failures.

Appum: So, what Mahathir is implying in his speech is that if his policies had been implemented successfully, Malaysia would have been developed by 2020.

We are now in 2020, not developed, but instead sliding down a slippery slope with Mahathir blaming his successors.

When he came back to power in 2018, Mahathir did not show any haste in making major changes to the “bad policies” put in place by the Abdullah and Najib administrations.

Among the structural policies that needed immediate attention and fixing are education, privatisation of government-linked companies and assets, abolishing discriminatory and unfair laws, and providing an environment for all Malaysians to prosper and excel.

So far, the people have yet to see distinct changes being made.

The Wakandan: Most policies on paper are good. They are never glaringly bad. They are composed carefully by experts with the purpose that they would be popular with the people.

The problem with these policies is implementation - sometimes implementation deviates from the original blueprint or is sidetracked by corruption.

The corruption practices in Malaysia grew during Mahathir’s first stint as the prime minister.

Corruption bleeds the country dry because the government-linked agencies needed a government rescue plan every time they lost money through poor management or corrupt irresponsible practices.

Good governance begins with the leader. The leader has to be impeccably righteous without being corrupt.

The leader needs to be surrounded by equally smart people to execute his plan without wastage through corruption and affirmative action.

We need to put a stop to the corruption by the ruling party, as what has been happening for the past several decades.

Anonymous 1543386425: It is wrong for Mahathir to think that only his policies would be successful for the country. Indeed, policies fail because of corruption, cronyism and lack of commitment and integrity.

As one of his final acts as prime minister, Mahathir should work on restoring the system by creating a power segregation policy to ensure check and balance.

Susahkes: So, was allowing Zakir Naik to remain in Malaysia a "good policy" by Mahathir?

It is one of several controversial and non-public friendly policies undertaken to date by the Harapan administration under Mahathir.

The by-election losses in Tanjung Piai and Kimanis ought to have pointed the obvious to the Harapan leaders. After those two defeats, the Harapan government promised a post-mortem to get back on track.

But now, instead of a post-mortem or to start listening to the people, we are entertained to statutory declarations, political horse-trading, shadow plays, and a karaoke-worthy session of Mahathir rendering the tune “Should I stay or should I go” by The Clash.

And nobody's the least bit bothered that the ineptness of the government's delivery mechanism remains. Or that racism and extremist issues continue to wag their fingers at Malaysia with impunity.

Anonymous 2475091498015598: The only change Mahathir can apply now is to allow the next prime minister to be the choice of Malaysians and not his own selection.

PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim is the choice of people, decided before the rakyat swept Harapan to victory in the GE14.

Anonymous_27235489439054: It was never Mahathir’s intention to hand over power to Anwar. He did not do so the first time 20 years ago, and he is not going to do so now.

Anonymous 770241447347646: Has Mahathir changed the bad policies or laws, while he has the opportunity to do so? It is easier to point at other people's failures, but looking inwards is very important.

Yes, policies may change according to the leaders. They either tweaked it to make it better or tweaked it to their own advantage.

This can only stop if, firstly, our leaders educate the masses with the best education facilities. Then, the people can decide what is right or wrong.

At the rate our education system is going, one cannot hope for improvement in the way the country is governed.

The mental capacity of an individual can be easily manipulated by the politicians using race and religion to forward their agenda.

What is a policy? If the leaders can manipulate the people easily, changing the policies to suit their own agenda is a simple process.

It will take at least a decade or more to change the mindset of the people. Only then, can we expect the masses to speak out against bad policies and defend the good ones?

Cari Pasal: Mahathir fails to realise that one of the main reasons why people want him to step down is because of his rotten policies, especially when it comes to race relations issues in the country.

Malaysians want a new leadership to introduce new policies for all Malaysians. Good luck to Mahathir in trying to tell the next prime minister to not abolish the bad policies.

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