Do you know where you are going to?

May 24th, 2008 Posted in Uncategorized

There are so many political stories making the rounds  currently that you don't know which one to believe.

Maybe it does not really matter as long as life goes on as usual for most of us. Who cares what the politicians are up to . At the end of the day we still live in our terraced houses and they end up living in mansions.

This cynical attitude is so prevalent these days, where ever you go people just take the stories as one big spin by interested parties to further their own personal agenda.The general belief is that people are made use of and  are generally ignored until the next election time.

Maybe they should consider making voting compulsory in this country soon!

Politicians are politicians, they are brilliant actors. When  former PM Dr. Mahathir announced he was resigning  from his post during one of the UMNO assemblies, many of the UMNO politicians rushed up to him to ask him why, like life without him would be the end of the world for mankind.

Today the same politicians are his worst and rudest critics. 

These people have little  or no principles. Credit must be given where it is due, just because  Dr. Mahathir is critical of the present leadership, it does not mean you treat him as a nobody.  He has earned his respect, so give it to him. 

Say what you want,  Dr. Mahathir has always been consistent. The latest episode of him resigning from the party he has been  with since 1940s is one of them. 

After all, who are these politicians? What have they achieved for the country? Dr. Mahathir has touched many lives in  and outside the country that many of these politicians can only dream about.

He has got many admirers around the world. I remember taking a London cab whose driver was  an African  student who had nothing but praises for him  and became extra friendly when he found out I came from Malaysia.

Even though a well known anti-Australia politician, I have met Australians who admire Dr. Mahathir for his passion and guts. 

This is a free country, people must be allowed to give their opinions without fear or favour. Even party members must be encouraged to do so even if it goes against the party line, otherwise, we will only have ''yes men" protecting their own interests instead of the people who put them up there.

It's so easy now, all they need to do is to say things the leaders want to hear,  there is no need to use your brains even. Might as well say that to a beautiful woman, you will never know what that will lead you to! 

 The current administration is trying to project itself as  open and transparent, but, on the other hand party members are not encouraged to be critical of the leadership. Even if the leader is perceived to be below par, you  cannot question his wisdom. We cannot progress this way.

Poet William Blake wrote a long time ago- without contraries there will be no progression. 

Dr. Mahathir has contributed a lot, this is not to say that he is free from faults, he is after all  human . I am sure  many Malaysians will agree that his positives outweigh his negatives. During his rule, the country  enjoyed a fantastic economic growth and was known throughout the world. Who saved us from the financial crisis in 1997? Now, we are almost off the international radar screen.

While we can give our current PM  Badawi credit for making the country more liberal and open, he lacks  the vision to take us higher. He plods along like the civil servant he was . He does not inspire, he looks tired and lethargic most of the time.

While nobody wants to be pressurised to do things he does not like, Badawi is no exception. All the pressure being piled up for him to resign will not work, unless he himself comes up with his own timetable.

Until he does so, stories will float around like falling leaves in autumn, and in the current global scenario especially with record crude oil price, it is not good for the country and the people.

This uncertainty must end now.