YOURSAY | ‘We are reaping what we sowed.’

COMMENT | An open letter to my prime minister

Patriot Marhaen: Yusuf Hashim, your words are meant not just for the prime minister but as a reminder for all Malays, including myself.

A policy of discrimination on the premise that people still need help, after decades of aid, has its limits. Poverty, sickness and hunger, like natural disasters, do not choose their victims.

Remember, people who are insulted, abused and suppressed cannot be blamed if they act to preserve their culture, race and religion. This is the right of every citizen in a democracy.

Our ailing nation needs urgent attention before it reaches a point of no return. Let us choose what is good and discard what is bad. God willing, we will rehabilitate and rebuild our ailing beloved Malaysia together.

Let’s return to the glorious days when we sang Negaraku with great pride, a lump in our throat and tears in our eyes.

The Wakandan: Our national standard can only be as good as the people who are placed there to execute it. Korea, Singapore and Taiwan achieved sublime standards because they placed the correct people in the correct places.

Some countries may not have the talents to carry out certain responsibilities, so they source from outside their countries, like the UAE. There is no shame to admit it if we lack the expertise.

Malaysia became stagnant and lagged behind because we used substandard people to carry out important jobs, which could not be compromised. This is a result of race-based affirmative action rather than merit-based policies.

We are reaping what we sowed. Years of pretending “Malaysia Boleh” has destroyed us.

Former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s view of other races caused all of us to stagnate, his Vision 2020 unachieved, and we lagged behind so far that Indonesia and Vietnam have begun to overtake us.

We did not produce any LG, Samsung, Hyundai or Huawei, things which we could possibly do but couldn’t because of our government policies of jealousy and selfishness.

Anon25: Yusuf, thank you. Most, if not all, Malaysians who read your open letter to the prime minister will agree with you.

Let me make one modification to your excellent recommendations. Yes, Bahasa Malaysia must be a compulsory subject in our schools so that we can all communicate across the country and especially with our rural brothers and sisters.

But it makes more sense to revert to English as the medium of instruction in national schools. The important reason is that it is the language of science and business and an enabler for us to communicate with the world.

Try this and the vernacular schools and even the religious schools will shrivel and possibly change also. The silos will gradually disappear. For me, education is the biggest roadblock we must clear.

Shibboleth: Dear Yusuf, what you have written are all true. But on this platform, you are preaching to the converted.

If only you and your friends can turun padang (go to the ground) and help Muda, Amanah, and PKR to persuade the Malay heartland that there is no threat to their race and religion, meritocracy is good in the long run, corruption in any form is insidious to society, financial assistance must be based on needs, and beware of religious bigots and charlatans.

We know, Singapore is not a “good” reference. But look at how Jokowi Widodo is transforming Indonesia.

BluePanther4725: This is a good article though there are a few points I disagree with:

1. Privatise GLCs (government-linked companies)

Not all should be privatised. Essential services should not be privatised as these will fall prey to greedy businessmen whose main aim is profiteering and not serving the people.

We don't want to end up like extreme capitalist countries such as the US, where poor people cannot access basic needs. The government should take care and regulate basic needs and services like food, shelter, medicine, and energy and not leave them to private actors.

What we need is a clean, accountable, and competent government.

2. Death penalty for corruption crimes

This sounds too harsh and brutal. A long prison term and seizing of assets and wealth of those convicted of corruption is more appropriate.

Jega Muthu: Indeed, a very well-written article and every line hits the mail. The author is not the first nor the last to expound all these obvious truths which are absolutely necessary to save our country.

But is the current PM man enough for this job? Not in a million years. This fact is borne out by his complete silence when so many controversies are going on.

Unfortunately, I cannot see anyone on the horizon who has the guts and charisma to save this country. The culture of fear and patronage is too ingrained.

AB Sulaiman: “In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man rules supreme.”

That would describe the pattern of behaviour of many of our past prime ministers. Well, Yusuf has brilliantly summed up where the country has gone with this kind of leadership.

In real life, Malaysia is not one kingdom of the blind. Its people are wide-eyed and in fact quite intelligent and hardworking. So, its leaders have to begin to realise this. They have to begin realising they are the handicapped one-eyed, and the people are not blind.

Our leaders have to learn to be aware of this situation and take remedial action, for the sake of the future generation.

Justice: Politicians who choose to remain in power will always choose to abuse race and religion or whatever means to be in power so long as the ends justify the means.

They are what they are because they choose to be what they are, no matter how much we protest, criticise, ridicule and condemn them. Not even until the cows come home.

The only thing they fear is our vote, because whatever or whoever they are, like each one of us, only has one vote to cast.

As long as we can cast our vote and are not foolish to vote for them no matter how they change the electoral boundaries, commit gerrymandering, carry out election bribery, or threaten us, they can be kicked out and buried alive in the dustbin of history.

So just learn to be a smart voter. If possible, also volunteer to campaign against them during the election to ensure they and their gang of robbers and thieves are soundly defeated and lose their election deposit!

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