By Tunku Abdul Aziz
MySinchew

Today, I begin a new life as a columnist for Sin Chew, an experience that I know I will enjoy enormously.

Two days ago, I had lunch with a parliamentarian and two senior bureaucrats from Germany on their first official visit to Kuala Lumpur. They came, they saw and were impressed with our capital city and the development they had seen so far as they travelled around KL and its environs. They had obviously been well-briefed by their own government agencies about the social and political climate in our country and apparently were extremely well informed on Malaysian affairs. The Germans, as we all know, are meticulous in everything they do, and so I was not at all surprised when one of them who headed his organization’s foreign department asked this penetrating question.

“Why is there all this flurry of activity to bring about a regime change when the government has brought so much prosperity to the country?” I must admit that for a while I was stumped for words. Why indeed! When at last I recovered my composure, I explained between mouthfuls of tasty offerings that what was apparent was not always real. In our wide-ranging conversation I reflected aloud our national concerns in the following terms.

Underneath all the glint, gleam and glitter of aluminium, stainless steel and plate glass lies a sad tale of greed and corruption, involving the political and bureaucratic elites who govern and administer this land. There will be official denials galore. Some years ago, Transparency International estimated, somewhat conservatively many thought, that Malaysian public infrastructure projects cost 30% more than they should. As far as political corruption is concerned, a major component of the ruling coalition has admitted that problem exists among its membership and the party is wrestling with it as best it can.

In any case, if corruption in national life had been robustly confronted instead of wasting scarce resources and time on cosmetic touch-ups, if fine rhetoric was backed by resolute deeds, and if there was more of that all important ingredient called “political will”, Malaysia would have emerged economically, socially and politically stronger as a society. Instead, close to three decades of the Mahathir and Abdullah stewardship of this nation, our ratings, judged by every social, economic and political indicator, in one survey after another, have continued to take a tumble with regular monotony, with little or no prospect of improvement any time soon.

The real issue here is not just how well we have done, but, more to the point, how much better we would have succeeded in all aspects of national development and social integration if we had adopted policies that were fair for all. For example, much of the sense of marginalisation felt by certain ethnic groups as well as the rural poor could have been avoided had more thought been given to the needs of our citizens irrespective of race or creed. Instead, for much post-Merdeka period, we spent our time and energy on implementing policies that have tended to divide rather than unite us.

In earlier times, we were happy enough to put up with restrictions on personal liberties and human rights violations, up to a point. We believed when we were told that a developing country that had just broken away from colonial subjugation and, since 1948 for close to two decades, living in fear under the menacing, dark sky of militant communism, could not expect to enjoy the luxury of life taken for granted in a full blown democracy. Sacrifices were demanded and given, on the whole, without a murmur.

However, as the country developed from a plantation economy to a much more complex industrial society, and as Malaysians became better educated, they began to claim their rights under the Constitution and to question the manner in which their country was being governed on their behalf by elected representatives more interested in feathering their own little nest than performing their work in the public interest. They had seen with their own eyes how the institutions of government once admired and respected had been systematically compromised by a government that threw ethical behaviour out of the window.

Coupled with policies that ignored the need for inclusiveness in a multi racial society such as ours, public confidence in the BN coalition, already fragile to begin with, following one scandal after another, evaporated into thin air. The steady slide down the slippery slope had begun. The people, having decided enough was enough, voted with their feet in the 12th General Elections to deny the ruling Barisan Nasional not only the 2/3rds parliamentary majority, something BN had always assumed as their birthright, but also succeeded in ousting the BN governments in five states. Change had indeed arrived and with it the realisation that ordinary Malaysians had come of political age by rejecting, in a totally unexpected demonstration of their power and judgement, the racial politics of fear, and in one dramatic gesture buried once and for all the ghost of 13th May 1969 that Barisan Nasional had refused to put to rest. It had become their stock in trade. People obviously could think for themselves, and could no longer be taken for granted and ignored.

As we sipped coffee towards the end of the meal, I made my final observation that material progress measured in economic terms alone was no substitute for an incorruptible regime that put great store by sound ethical governance principles and practices. My German friends left, I hope, with a better understanding why the well-fed people of this strange country wanted more than bread to sustain them in their relentless quest for a new Malaysia that is grounded on democratic principles, justice and equality for all. Therein lies the soul of a country.