YOURSAY | ‘Everything looks possible but it’s only good on paper.’

COMMENT | Malaysian crisis needs structural solutions, not Superman

Poppy: If you look at the World Health Organisation chart yesterday, you will find only about a dozen of nations reporting more positive cases than Malaysia out of the 222 nations, especially those nations that are much bigger and more populated.

Where have we gone wrong? If the figures are real as recorded, it clearly shows the incompetence of the present administration.

What had emergency done in order to help this administration to fight the virus? Nothing. It is a common fact that this was to sustain the administration of Muhyiddin Yassin politically.

It may have secured the position of Perikatan Nasional (PN), but at what price? Over 3,000 dead and hundreds of thousands affected. Millions are in financially dire straits.

A compromise should have been made between the political parties to work together to solve the Covid-19 first.

We need a unity government in place at this time. Select ministers according to their competency and not according to parties.

We have to leave this wise decision in the hands of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, as he is the sole authority to decide the fate of the 33 million citizens. Their future and their children's future now lie on his heavy shoulders.

We need to clear the first hurdle of clamping down on this virus and moving the vaccination at a faster pace. Next, we need to open the local economy by removing the travel ban across districts and states.

As to the other changes that we need, it will be left to the voters to decide as to who they think will be the leader capable of rebuilding this nation.

Justice: By all means, political analyst Wong Chin Huat, have structural, institutional, policy and legislative reforms; the sooner the better.

But with the same elites, opportunists, greedy and corrupt political leaders in the government who greatly benefitted from the failed system we currently have which they manipulated to the best of their ability, they will never allow any changes or reforms that could stop their corrupt acts or which will threaten their position in government.

It’s like asking a thief to agree to put CCTVs as well as security guards in the house which he intends to break into.

Will there be any positive changes if we have a new prime minister? As far as those in the PN coalition are concerned, the answer is no!

This is because either they themselves are corrupt or unable to unshackle or decouple themselves from their corrupt buddies from whom they derive their political and financial support, and/or their political ideologies are of the old school which drove our country into the mess we are presently in.

Their trademark of political horse-trading and even “frogging” among themselves to keep them in power is obvious for all to see.

To me, real positive changes and reforms can only happen if and only if a fresh, young, and brave set of leaders with progressive ideals rise up from among Malaysians of all races, and in particular from among the Malays.

Maya: Everyone has many points of interest and approaches in bringing an end to this political deadlock.

Everything looks possible and good on paper, but is it workable? Nobody can say for sure, because the matrix is now very complex.

One glaring situation is that, even when in a crisis, where health, economic and political crunch is happening, there is zero political will among our leaders to come together.

This means no number of choices will ever materialise into a workable change.

Milshah: The reason why we are facing this crisis now is because no one has the majority. By majority, I mean at least 112 seats, not 90 seats.

According to the Federal Constitution, the king will appoint someone who in his view command the majority in Parliament as prime minister, not necessarily commanding the most seats.

"Majority" means at least 112 of 222 seats. Pakatan Harapan’s 90 seats out of 222 seats are not majority. Yes, it has the most seats, but that, too, is debatable.

By right, when no one has majority, an election is held. But with the pandemic raging, an election will make the situation worse.

So, how to solve the problem? Some have suggested the National Operations Council, but many are against it. Some have suggested Parliament be open and let the parliamentarians choose the majority, resulting in an open season for statutory declarations.

Another suggestion was an Umno-Pakatan Harapan combo. The problem with Umno-Harapan government will be who will be prime minister - Anwar Ibrahim, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi or Mohamad Hasan?

Looking at the mess, a change in government is destabilising. So, I am suggesting for Umno to continue to support the PN government at least until this pandemic tapers off.

Yes, I know no want wants the PN government, but we are just not organised enough to have a change in government.

GrayBird9813: We reap what we sow. For decades, most Malaysian voters choose their leaders based on race and religion and not based on the capacity for good governance.

If voters still can't change their mindset after this pandemic is over, there will be more suffering to come in the future.

BrownLlama8804: Structure follows strategy. And strategy must be aligned to the national vision and mission. We all know how the last Vision 2020 panned out.

The leadership in the last 60 over years has only been about the 3Rs (race, religion and royalty). Indeed, why are we surprised as to where we are today?

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