What a waste of 12 months
All the indications are that the general election will be held some time in the first six months of 2011. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has not said anything yet but the signs are there – Umno, the MCA, Gerakan and even the DAP have postponed their party elections to get ready for the biggie.
By WONG SAI WAN, The Star
Hopefully, 2011 will be more productive and effective for the nation as a whole.
TODAY is New Year’s Eve and over the past few days, we have been inundated with reviews of the year 2010 which seemed to have gone at a much more “fast-forward” speed because so many things have happened.
Ranging from the miracle rescue of the Chilean miners to the uncountable number of by-elections we have had and the constant quarrels between our politicians, the past 12 months have been rather tiresome.
There was hardly a week when one political party was not setting up a trap for the other side to walk into.
For that matter, there was hardly a week when these political parties did not have egg on their faces from their own mistakes.
If anything that stands out for 2010, then it surely must be the year of too much politics. The people – politically-minded or otherwise – are fed up with the overdose of politicking.
Political fatigue is the new phrase that has crept in at the second half of this year. The people were no longer interested in the manoeuverings and counter-actions of the two sides.
The deluge of by-elections did not help. There had been so many by-elections since March 8, 2008 and with the recent death of Datuk Sulaiman Taha, the Tenang by-election will be the 14th.
Never has Malaysia seen so many of such contests. At first it felt like an excellent exercise in democracy but it has now become a chore – a disruption to our daily lives.
It did not help that the business of governing the states and the country was also disrupted by this constant politicking and the suspicion that it aroused between the two sides.
In the words of a businessman, “time seemed to have stood still in Malaysia in the past 12 months. So much seems to have happened but I find that we are still standing at the same place.”
He is not far wrong.
This year, Parliament met for a total of 93 days but according to records, 24 parliamentary hours were wasted not on the business of governing, passing and examining new laws but on politicking.
These 24 parliamentary hours, which is equivalent to about 10 days, were spent debating motions to deduct RM10 from a minister’s salary.
This did not include the time wasted to debate the suspension of MPs and other emergency motions to censure something or someone based on political interest.
Our elected representatives seem to forget that being parliamentarians their most urgent task is to look after our welfare, interest and future. In the same vein, promoting their own political interest must be at the bottom of their priority.
As a result of this wrong priority, much of the business of passing laws to improve government and governance lay unapproved and we have to wait until next year for the process to start again.
This year also saw all sorts of policies launched by the Government and the introduction of more acronyms into our lives. Yes, this is the year we learnt about GTP (Government Transformation Programme), ETP (Economic Transformation Programme), NKRA, KPI, RM10, MRT and many more that most of us cannot remember.
If everything goes according to plan, all these acronyms are supposed to make sense to us from Saturday onwards, provided politics does not get in the way.
All the indications are that the general election will be held some time in the first six months of 2011. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has not said anything yet but the signs are there – Umno, the MCA, Gerakan and even the DAP have postponed their party elections to get ready for the biggie.
There are also the other reasons, like Najib needing to get his own mandate as he became Prime Minister only because his predecessor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi resigned.
There are also those who opine that the last general election left many “unanswered questions”, which can only be answered by a fresh election.
Then there are also those who say Najib should call for the election because the Opposition is now in disarray and his approval rating (which now stands at 68%) is still high.
But many Pakatan Rakyat advisers and supporters are quick to point out that they are now in charge in four states with a mandate until 2013, and they do not have to dissolve their state assemblies to follow Najib.
Yes, it is highly possible that Penang and Selangor will ignore any general election called for 2011 but PAS, which controls Kelantan and Kedah, has always followed suit in the past three general elections.
PAS leaders view separate elections for states and Parliament as a waste of time and money.
The irony is that Sarawak, which has always held its state election separate from the federal one, must go to the polls next year and therefore it is likely that it will hold state and parliamentary elections at the same time.
However, there are also those from the federal ruling party who feel that Najib should not rush into calling for one because not all the parties are ready.
We can cite all sorts of reasons for and against Najib calling for the election next year but for me the biggest rationale to do so would be that Malaysia needs to get down to the business of building and growing for the future.
The faster we can settle political issues, the faster we can get down to work. We have wasted enough time in 2010.
