EXPECTATIONS OF MALAYSIANS

K. SILA DASS

Khalil Gibran (1883-1931), the renowned Lebanese poet, philosopher and artist wrote : “Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you, or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite, if the second, then you are an oasis in a desert.”

Now that the elections are over, those politicians who have ascended to the seats of power will have to decide whether they are going to be oases in the deserts or parasites. Strictly speaking, they have no option but to refrain from being parasites, otherwise Malaysians who have learned to reject the parasites will not hesitate to use it again.

So many things have happened in the recent past, and it was always felt that the Barisan Nasional will weather the storm and return to power. It had expected to retain two-third majority, but the combined opposition was determined to deny just that. BN had been denied two third majority. What will happen next is everybody’s guess. Fortunately, there appears to be a disciplined, mature approach to this shocking results. The euphoria of victory has not been translated into irresponsible processions or celebrations. The leaders of all parties have acted responsibly to ensure the transfer of power in the various states, BN had lost its hold.

BN will eminently conduct post-mortem to discover its dismal performance at the polls. And it will learn that it is BN’s own makings which had caused its poor showing. Among the many reasons for its losses, BN must realize that some of its leaders have been behaving in a manner that they owned the country, or the country owed them; and that the people were to be there to be ruled forgetting that it is the people who gave them the mandate to rule. Besides, arrogance of few leaders have had been very pronounced leading the people to feel that they are powerless to remedy the situation. When remedies were needed, the arrogance of these few leaders substituted fair analysis and approach. The people were told to shut up. The results of the 8th March 2008 show that the Malaysian voters will not countenance such arrogance for far too long.

The Malaysian people have decisively rejected arrogance as part of the Malaysian political norms, culture. Their decision ought to be respected.

The victorious parties have the paramount duty to translate the promises they made to the people during the election campaign. Thus all parties must evaluate the gains and losses, in a pragmatic manner. The victors should not lull into a false sense of security that the Malaysians could be hoodwinked or that they have poor memory. The recent elections results have shown that the Malaysians whilst are able to endure the disappointments, arrogance of its leaders, and are prone to suffer constantly, are capable of putting an end to such suffering.

Barisan Nasional’s responsibility will be far greater than it was. Although its component parties have suffered miserably, the surviving dominant partner should demonstrate that it will not abandon the vanquished. It was a general policy of BN, its attitude toward the people that had brought about the rude shocks.

The opposition, DAP, PKR and PAS, having made significant impact in Malaysian politics, must remember that it cannot afford to be seen to wanting power but lacks the capability to exercise it for the benefit of the people and Malaysia. Besides, it must show that it has the capability to offer a clean, efficient governance with transparency as its hallmark. Power brings strength, but it could also bring disaster when it is wrongly used or abused.

The victorious opposition parties have the difficult task to coalesce their good thoughts and bring about just rule in all the states that are under their control. They should work to ensure that Malaysia is the home for all Malaysians. Malaysians are aware of the distinct objectives among the opposition and it is obvious each will not want to encroach into the other’s political objectives but the Malaysians’ aspiration is to see governance in the states and in the Centre, which will be attentive to the people’s need. Malaysians will have to wait and see whether the objective differences are likely to yield unpleasant consequences which none of the opposition parties and Malaysians envisaged, or the differences will be put aside for the general good of the Malaysians and Malaysia.