Take People First Stand

This is my letter which was published in The Star on 19th August 2011. The link here.

I READ with interest the announcement by our Prime Minister on the formation of a parliamentary select committee to look into electoral reforms. The terms of reference will be announced in due course. A lot has been said about this development and a lot of people have come forward to voice their support.

Barisan Nasional has said that it shares similar concerns on electoral reforms, thus the formation of this committee. On the other hand, Pakatan Rakyat claims that the formation of this committee justifies its cry for electoral reforms. It even wants the committee head to be from Pakatan.

Even at the onset, everybody seems to be claiming credit for the development. Politicians will always be politicians.

Since 2008, the nation has seen politicians on both sides of the divide going into overdrive to gain political mileage from even the slightest of issues. This has caused a lot of uncertainty and grievances, and the nation has stood still rather than moved forward.

Everybody is too preoccupied with politics. It does not help either that a number of by-elections had to be held due to various reasons.

This is probably due to political immaturity of Malaysians in general and politicians in particular.

I would like to make a few suggestions for the committee to look into:

> Limit the Prime Minister to two terms. This shall also include Chief Ministers. Somehow Malaysian politicians tend to overstay their welcome. With proper administration policies in place, it will be the same regardless of who leads the nation. Ten years is enough to see through policy implementation;

> Fix the election date in advance so the whole country knows when the next election will be held; this will reduce the amount of politicking along the way;

> Ban political ceramah in non-election years. Rather than focus their resources and energy to serving the rakyat and nation better, politicians prefer to go on a ceramah spree in the name of “spreading the truth”.

We will have enough time for political matters when the general election is due. Time other than that shall be spent on building this nation of ours.

> Ban candi;ates from contesting for both parliamentary and state seats. More often than not, those who won in parliamentary and state seats can’t focus on serving the people, worse when the seats are located in different states. One seat per candidate should be enough;

> Have candidates put through a full medical examination. Since 2008, we have had 16 by-elections, most of which were due to the death of the MP or assemblyman. To avoid this, just bar candidates with serious health problems such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

The rakyat should expect their representative to be able to serve them throughout the five years effectively, rather than spending time receiving treatment in hospital.

Make medical check-ups a prerequisite since they are also public servants to be. Unnecessary by-elections are such a waste of our country’s resources; and

> Ban party hoppers for life. When an elected representative quits his/her party and joins another, it creates uncertainty. Uncertainty is what a country moving forward doesn’t need.

For a more mature political landscape, we need these changes to take place. To the parliamentary select committee members, do put the interest of the rakyat ahead of that of politicians.