I am afraid that most of the people are disappointed rather than having high expectations over the national achievements for the past two years. They are disappointed with BN, as well as PR.

By LIM MUN FAH/ Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE/ Sin Chew Daily

Pakatan Rakyat has recently announced its political achievements in the four PR states for the past two years. But it is still hard to judge its performance based only on the data. Most importantly, we still have to see how the people think and do.

PR and BN are still unable to get rid from the fight over the past two years. As a result, the political war of words engulfed us and the media. They mutually ridiculed as BN described PR as a chaotic party while PR said BN an indiscriminate party. The fact seems to be the case, too.

PR is a new political coalition formed by three parties with different ideologies and directions. There are constant disputes, mutinies and party switching. It is indeed annoying.

As for the three major pillars of BN, MIC is still at its last gasp while MCA has been drowning by its party crisis. Even though UMNO has revived from the "setback", its reform commitment does not seem going as well as expected. Some politicians are still opposing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and racial provocative remarks can still be heard everywhere.

I am afraid that most of the people are disappointed rather than having high expectations over the national achievements for the past two years. They are disappointed with BN, as well as PR. The only difference is, compared to BN, which has ruled for 53 years, the general public is more lenient to PR and are willing to give them more time to learn how to coordinate and rule.

However, PR must not think that all these are taken for granted. PR should not neglect that all political honeymoon periods will come to an end one day. If PR fails to show incorruptibility and people-oriented politics in the four PR states, but becomes more chaotic, and is always busy with exposing scandals of the former state governments, or tries to please the people with some small populist policies, the so-called honeymoon period will be over earlier.

It is undeniable that PR has indeed shown something new in its states. BN should learn and be vigilant against it. For example, the Penang state government is able to turn the state's financial loss to profit within two years. The Johor state government should be ashamed of itself for facing losses almost every year and owning the central government a great amount of money.

We must be fair. As a person of integrity can stand severe tests, if BN does not agree with the arguments, it can show us data and facts to prove that it performs better than PR.

In the next two years, we hope that the competition between BN and PR will no longer limited to blindly spreading hatred, but they will seek for greater interests and happiness for the people and the country based on the democratic values.

A democratic politics needs to be built together with mature voters. When we are opposing to draconian laws, we should also oppose to populism. We must loudly tell both BN and PR: A good government does not please the people but it carries out its tasks well. Only a democratic, fair, incorruptible, capable and good government will be our final choice!

Comments (15)

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written by justice seeker, March 13, 2010 10:22:28

What kind of government we want?

ASK THE M*M*K. HE IS AN EXPERT ON DECIDING HOW THE RAKYAT SHOULD WANT.
IF U ASK ME, I GIVE MY MIDDLE FINGER TO THIS GOMEN.

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written by This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , March 11, 2010 15:14:27

I don't think a PR government can do any worst than the present government. The present government is the worst and lowest we can ever go.

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written by NanoNano, March 11, 2010 11:53:46

What kind of gomen we want? Elementary my dear Mr. Lim. The kind that has a PM that is not afraid to confront the C4 accusations head on! Plus all the others... TBH, submarines, sodomy 2... blah, blah.. the list goes on.

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written by popuri, March 11, 2010 11:18:15

What kind of government we want? The kind with brains.

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written by ctlyn, March 11, 2010 10:31:21

people want the justice and their right. democracy can be achieved when both parties think about all races rights.

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written by onnetline, March 11, 2010 10:21:14

What kind of government we want?

......................... a non-racist and a transparent one ! ! ! !

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written by freerpk, March 11, 2010 08:59:37

Let's face it PR has done very well considering the number of restraints it is working under.
Firstly the politically BN led central government has shown its unfairness to PR run states like Kelantan where the oil money was not given to the state.
Secondly it has to also content to the fact that many top civil servants in all the ministries are politically linked to BN and as such will try all possible means to derail PR led state government like refusing to attend meetings called by PR state government.
Thirdly all the events organised for the rakyat of the state by the PR state government are thwarted by the enforcement agencies so that the events "failed" in the eyes of the rakyat.
Fourthly members of PR government are unnecessarily investigated by agencies of the central government without any basis e.g. after TBH interrogation and his demise was there any evidence of any wrong doing discovered????

ALL I can say is well done good & faithful servants of the PR team who are not lured by money or fame, continue with your good work. The rakyat appreciates what you have initiated and done in these short 2 years when compared with the the BN ruling of Malaysia more than half a century.

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written by Nasikerabu, March 11, 2010 07:45:27

PR and BN were never on a same level playing field when it comes to governing their respective states, though I admit PR is young and rather new in the field of administration. But they are energetic, hardy, still striving under such unfavourable conditions.

UMNO/BN since 308 has never stop in using tax payers money through corruption agencies and the police to harrass, disrupt, destabilise PR's policy makers.

I say we ought to give PR a chance to govern Malaysia free of harrassment by UMNO/BN.

Hidup Pakatan Hidup Rakyat.

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written by NSTPravda, March 11, 2010 05:06:55

What kind of government we want? Aiyah, simple lah, anykind at the moment will be better than UMNO lah. Semua-nya OK if we can kick them out!

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written by eloofk, March 11, 2010 00:12:39

Dear Mr. Lim,

You should have asked what kind of government we have and not we want. Of course everywhere in the the democratic world, people longed to have a competent government to lead them and provide its citizens with a standard of sustained living in housing, education, health care, security, jobs, environment, a fair legal framework and system, availability of basic utilities, sanitation and many others.

In Malaysia, we have a corrupted government with a tainted PM who spends his time politiking just to stay in power but not governing. The whole apparatus of the government just couldnt find its bearing to chart the direction of the country to move forward but instead going backward towards bankruptcy.

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written by Aduh, March 10, 2010 22:41:59

Lim, Be fair to PR. Take into consideration the persistent buggerings and obstacles imposed by beEND/umNO on PK.

If anything , a lot of credit should be given to PR for still being able to provide what is good to the rakyat.

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written by AlwaysFair, March 10, 2010 21:49:46

Whatever you write about BN vs Pakatan you had to grudgingly concede that Penang outshone the rest having turned a deficit into a surplus. This is a good example of good governance with no corruption because of implementations of CAT and many principles of justice.

With the heavy attacks on Pakatan leadership over these two years it is indeed astonishing they even managed to keep together, so to just compare them 2years to 52 years would not even be fair. These 2 years Pakatan had to walk on a tight-rope.
They have demonstrated they are service-oriented to people and are responsible to their voters unlike BN still so arrogantly abusing the govt. machinery against even the people and are self-serving and indulging.
They also love to sow discord among the races to thier advantage.
They are not only unfit they are also lawless and evil. The 50 years of tyranny have really been mostly destructive.

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written by Better My, March 10, 2010 21:05:51

Disagree with your following statements, written to appease BN , not written with your eyes wide open.

1) You say "They are disappointed with BN, as well as PR"
Reply: They are diappointed with BN only.

2) " Most importantly, we still have to see how the people think and do (about PR states)"
The people are happy with PR states. Only you are unsure.

3) "The political war of words (by BN & PR) engulfed us and the media".
If you looked the past weeks issues , it is the "vomit that are regurgitated by UMNO extremist endorsed offshoot Perkasa. PR and the public are just responding to these regurgitation.

4) "PR is a new political coalition formed by three parties with different ideologies and directions. There are constant disputes, mutinies and party switching. It is indeed annoying"
It in your doped minded dream that PR is in constant disputes. PR is not annoying at all to all supporters.

5) '(Most people) are disappointed with BN, as well as PR.(past 2 years).
No, you are wong. More people are not only diappointed with BN , they want to kick BN ass for the continuing damage done the country for their personal elite agenda. They are happy with pR.

6) "If PR fails to show incorruptibility and people-oriented politics in the four PR states, but becomes more chaotic, and is always busy with exposing scandals of the former state governments, or tries to please the people with some small populist policies, the so-called honeymoon period will be over earlier"
Your reasoning is amazingly shallow - like the intelligence of an uninformed village chinese school boy in Standard 2 education. The more scandals/wrongs done by the former state government , the more the public know about them and the better that the state rakyat are able to discuss to find solutions to the bad things done. Eg if corruption by former state ministers are found, corruption should be brought into the open and remedial actions are discussed and implemented to prevent such occurence again. Honeymoon wont be over even even after a few terms of the alternative govnement if the BN refuse to return fund$, refuse to apologise to the country and refuse to compete change their party.

7) "We should also oppose to populism".
What is wrong with appealing to populism on corecting the wrongs? Eg What is wrong with PR saying that they want a) freedom of expressiom, b) eradication all form of corruption, c) independent judiciary system d) security by polcie (not lawless situation as it is now) etc, etc, All these populism issues that the rakyat want solutions to. Only PR government can give us the solutions as it is now.

You skewed journalism is a disgrace to your profession. Your MCA mouthpiece is very much decimated, if you still in drugged state. In the new alternative government, there is no place for you and your fellow writer, like TIANCHE, in the new Sin Chew Daily if it is still permitted to publish.

ISA kills LIM MUN FAH/SINCHEW DAILY workers's sons and daughters too.

We have stopped listenring to you. For malaysia.

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written by watchman, March 10, 2010 19:14:52

I think PR has done extremely well under the difficult conditions in which they govern; where most of the corrupt civil service are pro UMNO and have their own agenda. A good example is the Perak State Secretary. On the other hand, UMNO/BN has really gone downhill with their extremism and racism. On top of that the UMNO/BN controlled police, macc and judiciary (especially the Federal Court) have shown that they cannot be respected and trusted.

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written by Nunudada, March 10, 2010 18:36:23

PR is having to function with adversaries in its midst.UMNO/BN isall out to make things difficult for them.This is already well known to the sane public.Their performance cannot be expected to be great under these circumstances.The way the police,the MCC and other UMNO controlled authorities are behaving ,it is good that they have withstood this.The odds are strongly against them,yet they have prevailed through this .UMNO/BN is running wild like a chicken with its head cut.The regime cannot concentrate on running the country and is hell bent on only destroying PR,because it knows of the consequences of having their true worth/naked truth exposed.Dr.M,is quite active in the background working the strategies.If good is to come to the people of Malaysia,then the bad and evil should perish.We need to hold on to this hope and fight on.

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