Monday, August 13, 2007

拒绝软骨头政客

In my last week's column in Oriental Daily entitled "Reject Politicians Without Backbone", I wrote in part on Sdr Lim Kit Siang's call for bloggers to "dirty their hands" in politics. I used the examples of Mahatma Gandhi as well as Mandela on politics' ability to make a difference in a country's direction and future.

In addition, I welcomed the new high profile talents joining politics today, such as Jeff Ooi into DAP and Victor Gu into MCA. I noted that despite the fact that Jeff was continuously intimidated by the Government for his blogging exposures, he possessed the moral courage to persist in his fight for justice.

As for Victor, while I don't know him personally, I hope that his motive for joining politics is noble and he is sincere about bring positive change for Malaysians. Hopefully his decision to join politics has not been motivated by other percuniary reasons.

拒绝软骨头政客
潘俭伟

很多人对政治总是抱持冷感甚至反感的态度。俗语常形容政治是肮脏的,但我觉得这个论点太过武断。政治不一定肮脏,我们只能说政治是被害群之马玷污的高尚志业。

环顾国内政坛,总有许多不争气的政客。一旦攀上高职后,他们往往会滥用职权享受荣华富贵,并肆无忌惮使出政治权术来对付政敌,进而忽略他们要履行为民服务的责任。

尽管如此,甘地毕竟是印度伟大的政治精神领袖。其首创大规模的公民不服从运动就是要抵抗暴政,同时为印度争取独立。其行动更启发全球各地推动波澜壮阔的争取公民权利和自由的运动。

作为印度国大党领袖,甘地还积极协助低阶层人民摆脱穷困、争取妇女解放、团结不同种族和宗教,同时终结印度社会根深蒂固的种姓制度。

此外,1993年诺贝尔奖得主曼德拉出任南非总统之前,曾是南非非洲人国民大会及反种族隔离运动领袖。为了坚持斗争,他在监狱内被关了近30年。在1990年获释后,曼德拉通过制订解政策及谈判,带领南非过渡成为多元种族的民主国家。

虽然我国的政治与种族问题,绝不像1940年代的印度或1980年代的南非般严重,但是若没有浩然气节或骨气的政客领导改革运动,我国的情况会愈加糟糕。

从另一个角度看,既然印度与南非在最艰难时期,都能推出有气节和骨气的政客,带动群众引导国家朝民主及团结的大方向和平蜕变,这种情况为何不能在我国出现呢?

我国最近掀起一股"青年才俊闯政坛"的风潮,其中就有民主行动党与马华分别拉拢超级博客黄泉安和电视新闻前主播胡渐彪入党。

过去4年来,我们通过黄泉安的部落格了解其追求司法公正和法治理想的决心。虽然曾被政府动辄以内安法令恐吓,以及被大牌媒体集团通过入禀法庭起诉诽谤等,黄泉安体现了其傲然气节,并且勇者无惧地继续抨击及揭露官场丑态。

虽然我不认识胡渐彪,但我希望其参政绝不是为了飞黄腾达,或是谋得一官半职,而是为国为民竭诚服务。唯有分辨是非黑白并显露无遗个人的勇气、节气与骨气,代表大家呼出心中的那一股闷气,青年才俊参政才会带给国人一股新的希望!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

980万年轻人,网络上心联心,在来届大选,为我们的国家马来西亚,安装新的操作系统(operating system),不要再用那已经过时的WINDOWS 3.11 (BN).转而改用最先进的WINDOWS VISTA (DAP + KEADILAN)吧!

看看这两个系统的分别:
WINDOWS 3.11 (BN)
- not support latest application
- only support 386 and below
- vulnerable to security loop hole.
- many bugs (很多虫)


WINDOWS VISTA (DAP + KEADILAN)
- Core 2 Duo processor
- support 128bits application
- more secure and bug fixed
- more interative and multimedia enhanced, more entertainment, MORE FREEDOM, MORE DEMOCRATIC!!!

980万年轻人,你们要先进的VISTA 还是 落后的 3.11 ???

请在来届大选发挥你们980万张选票的威力吧!!!!

到时告诉全世界,到底这980张选票能不能改变现任政府.

HQ, MCA

Anonymous said...

Immediate action must be taken to check corruption, bureaucratic red tape, race problems, religious intolerance, the brain drain and crime, the Sultan of Selangor said.

“Corruption is still a problem, which the people are very concerned about, and more effective action needs to be taken,” he said.

Describing corruption as a cancerous cell, the Sultan said if graft could not be wiped out, it should be checked effectively.

He also took to task government agencies that continued to slow down approvals for foreign investors, saying the lackadaisical attitude of some government servants had affected the investment momentum.

“They must change their mindset because delays mean escalating costs and lost job opportunities, which may even lead to corrupt practices,” he said.

The Sultan also expressed his concern over the country’s brain drain, saying talented young people were leaving the country.

“No one, irrespective of his race, should be denied any opportunities. I am sad to see good people being lost to other countries,” he said.

------


Hello Mr. Pak-pandai-tidur-Lah, did you read and hear this? Shame on you lah!!

Anonymous said...

I think the Rulers have realised that BN is taking Bolehland down the drain (http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/newsncom.php?itemid=7252).

More and more positive speeches are coming from the Royals.

DAULAT TUANKU!

Anonymous said...

Dear All fellow citizens of Malaysia,

马哈迪寄望部落客监督政府
轰阿都拉凭贪腐手段赢大选
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/71232

Tun Dr.Mahathir says UMNO encourages and covers up corruptions and Pak-tak-bolah-pakai-Lah wins election using dirty tactics. Dr.M hopes that bloggers can play an important role to disclose more lies and wrongdoings of UMNO, and don't trust the news in the mainstream media. You should read real news at the following sites:

http://www.malaysia-today.net/index.shtml

http://www.malaysiakini.com/

http://www.malaysiakini.com/cn/
http://www.merdekareview.com/

Thank you for not voting BN (UMNO in particular) for a better Malaysia!! Else the whole nation will be destroyed by the selfish 4th floor evils.

God Bless.

Anonymous said...

Interesting to note that our royalties are intelligent and can see what's wrong with our country than the so-called full-time ruling politicians, the servants that many of our voters voted for in the last GE.

Anonymous said...

It should be 'pecuniary', surely?

Anonymous said...

This Government does not deserve another chance

These mistakes cannot simply be because of ignorance on the part of the ruling regime; this regime is not merely incompetent, but outright malicious.

People often say that despite all the shortcomings of the present Malaysian regime, they deserve another chance. After all, everything has its ups and downs; we can't expect a perfect government.
Some modicum of incompetence is often to be expected from any human, especially an institution full of humans like the government. Inefficiency and corruption is often a by-product of this incompetence.

But really, what is the logical case for continuing to support this regime, and giving it another chance? The evidence suggests we have given it more than one unnecessary chance to prove itself.

Assuming you care about human rights and all that jazz, or just want a stable legal environment for your business, the regime which has run West Malaysia for over 52 years and East Malaysia for 44 has been given way too many chances.

A present member of the cabinet, Rais Yatim, has already chronicled how this regime has manipulated the laws of the land to its liking far too many times and for far too long. Those who like to think the deterioration of the rule of law and our country's institutions can only be traced to recent times ought to read Rais' PhD thesis, Freedom Under Executive Power in Malaysia: A Study of Executive Supremacy.

But let's assume you don't care about the law or institutions or any of that crap. Let's just assume you like seeing your tax money being well-spent, and the fruits of your labour being well-invested.

We don't have to go very far to see how this regime spends your money. Today's Sun frontpaged the Port Klang Free Zone, which it labeled the "Disaster Zone".

In the early 90s, the Selangor state government gifted 405 hectares of land to some fishermen's co-operative. The co-op sold the land to some company (whose current chairman is the treasurer of UMNO) for an average price of RM2 per square foot. (Each hectare is about 90,000 square feet.)

This same company sold that land to the Port Klang Authority for RM25 per square foot. PKA also granted this company a contract to develop that same land. PKA is now in debt to the tune of RM5 billion. With no source of revenue to pay off this amount, it goes to the government to pay off its loans.

This isn't an isolated event. Almost every other day scandals like this break. But still, not everyone cares about this. I mean, maybe the government is just so stupid that they keep investing in projects that are bound to fail, right?

Let's not kid ourselves, folks. This is not a government that is just a bunch of nice bumbling fools. How does this argument even fly? Do you seriously believe that the flaws of every government failure have not been apparent in some way?

Let's return to this Port Klang Free Zone disaster. The government advised PKA that they could legally force the company concerned to accept a price of RM10 per square foot. And it's patently obvious that PKA could have had an open tender to see if anyone could outbid PKA for the chance to develop the free zone. Heck, it's so obvious that Abdullah Badawi has acknowledged it (of course, he flip-flopped and hedged on when the government would actually get around to implementing open tenders).

I really don't see how you can attribute these disasters, these scandals, to just government ignorance. How much longer are we to persist in believing that this does not come up to the level of outright malfeasance? Until we realise that this is a government that does not give two shits about the country's future, I don't have much hope for Malaysia's survival as a united developing nation.

Infernal Ramblings

Anonymous said...

The voters were conned at the last election. The promises have never been kept. There is no transparency and accountability in the present government. Corruption has gotten worst under the sleeping Bodohwi and the womanising Najis. We have gangsters threatening the opposition in parliament and racist Keris waving minister.
Brethren..please wise up...tell all your friends to vote oppostion, regardless whether it is PAS, DAP or PKR. We have to kick the arses of this BN government.

Do you want to be 2nd class citizens??

Do you wanna corrupted government who only know how to enrich themselves and their cronies?

Do you wanna Islamic State??

Do you wanna lose all your freedom??

Do you wanna police state??

If you do..then vote BN. If not, then you MUST VOTE opposition and tell all your friends and relatives to do the same.

Anonymous said...

Yaaaaaaaaaaaa......

Go for politicians with front bones and wear workingmen's overalls!

Aiyoh, shot my mouth off too soon oh. Sorry sorry ah! Millions of apologies loh!

Anonymous said...

I hope our useless PM will have the same fate as Thaksin - being toppled and prosecuted/exiled to Iraq.