The 10-point 100 days Reform Plan unveiled by the potential ‘alternative government in-waiting’ (PAS, DAP and PKR) would have certainly ruffled the feathers of the elite. Greedy technocrats and the power-vested bureaucrats closely aligned to the ruling political party will in all likelihood fight back as they have everything to lose if the rakyat sanction support overwhelmingly for the Reform Plan.
That is the truth and it hurts.
The PM would have done better if he had instead of lambasting the 10 point manifesto, taken pains to explain to the rakyat in believable language, transparent approach and examplary action that what BN has in store is tested and proven.
It is everybody’s guess now that uder pressure from those with vested interests in the spoils of the nation, the PM has taken 'ground attack' strategy on the ‘opposition’ parties.
In fact the PM now has a more inundating challenge at his door step as Anuar Ibrahim has dared him to a public debate. Will the PM be rightly advised to take it on? Or will he not, giving time for the issue to hopefully abate?
What is the reality?
In a nutshell the 10-point manifesto is an agenda representing the rakyat’s dream of hope; prayer for a miracle; a place in the sun for their generations to come.
1. The restructure of crucial institutions like the Royal Malaysian Police can be easily appreciated by the public especially when the PDRM’s image has been far too soiled. Today we even have a government agency employee (BERNAMA’s pixman) becoming a victim of power abuse. It is not enough any more for the leaders of the police force to claim that ‘one bad apple does not spoil the entire basket’.
2. The repeal of the Internal Security Act (ISA) reflects the truth that the rakyat’s refusal to have this yoke around their necks is no more just a political war-game but one of demanding civil liberties.
3. The plan to have Khazanah Berhad, Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and other government bodies to take over highway assets from the concessionaires in order to abolish the toll system summarizes the rakyat’s support for development and progress but at the same time ensuring that what belongs to society goes back to the people and not letting excess enter the pockets of the elite.
4. The restructuring of the country’s subsidies, to lessen subsidies given to the private sector (such as the RM19 billion in gas subsidies given to independent power producers) and transferring these to subsidies for the man on the street echoes the rakyat’s cries that have long being sidelined. No rakyat with zero vested personal and sole gain interests will object this reform point.
5. The acknowledgment of the role and sacrifices of civil servants and revising appropriate relief incentives has mass appeal especially when we have an oversized civil service.
6. The transferring of private water concessions back to the government is what every citizen has been clamouring for. They know what it means as they have not forgotten the great times when the ‘Public Water Works’ and later the ‘Jabatan Bekalan Air’ provided world-class service in yesteryears.
7. The offering of free wireless Internet access to those in urban and semi-urban areas is something that the ruling government should have addressed a long time ago. If in the past when the word 'technology' was not even understood, telephone lines could be provided by Jabatan Talikom, why fail the rakyat now by depriving them of internet access? Fear of creating an educated mass? In the first place why is internet usage notfree? Is it not a classic case of technocrats fleecing the working rakyat with helprom the self-serving bureaucrats?
8. Cancelling Felda Plantations and opening up its farms to second- and third generation Felda settlers certainly axes the very root of profiteering by the elite.
9. Increasing oil royalty payments to Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu and Kelantan to 20 per cent from 5 per cent currently is an arithmetic that every student will understand and appreciate. BN should have dealt with it a long time ago as it had every opportunity to do so. But it was not the case. So, any reason why the rakyat shouldn’t support this manifesto?
10. Formation of a Royal Commission to solve the problem of illegal immigrants and citizenship issues in Sabah and Sarawak will strike a cord in the very hearts of every citizen in Sabah and Sarawak. People will recall the widely traded joke in the warongs: If you threw a stone over your shoulder, it is bound to land on an illegal immigrant.
Indeed, the 10-Point Reform Plan deserves more examination then criticism unfounded. A good way froward is for BN to take on a public debate and let the rakyat appreciate the truth.
Will the PM agree, Sir?
Or will the entire adminstration of his buckle under pressure from the ill-intending technocrats and self-interest-driven bureaucrats?
- Written by J. D. Lovrenciear
from MALAYSIA UPDATE
