Leadership Resides In Individuals Regardless Of Age Creed Faith Gender Or Heritage By Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz

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OSTB : There has been some discussion about the two new political parties that are being set up. One based on 'lets fight' and the other based on age.It will certainly cause even more "diversity" in the country's politics. (You can read 'diversity' as 'disunity' or 'divide and rule'.) One theory is that the same person is behind both the new parties - the idea being to draw votes away from UMNO, PAS, Bersatu etc in marginal constituencies. I have more views about this but first here is a statement coming direct from Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz. 
Begin quote:Frankly we should be moving away from politics that only focus on particular cohorts...Youths / Gender / Racial Groups / Religious Groups.Our destinies are Common and Intertwined..as Malaysians. We should address Issues which are crosscutting, with no discrimination or favoritism or undue bias.Politics is about levelling - up  across the board...whether in the context of Economic opportunities,  Education, or socio economic wellbeing.We are already facing divisiveness and fractiousness in our Society.Festered and exacerbated by narrowly focussed politicking.Now there is that additional chasm based on age.LEADERSHIP resides in Individuals..regardless of age, creed, faith, gender or heritage.Because A LEADER LEADS EVERYONE..NOT A SELECT GROUP !End quote.My comments :Thank you Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz for this concise and precise statement. At a time of despair like this your wisdom is soothing. Your absence however is greatly missed. I want to address my comments about this to ALL our political parties. Especially those that were in power in the past and those that are in power now.After 62 years the ruling Barisan Nasional was summarily kicked out. The corruption by Najib and gang was an added spur to hasten their exit. But what really failed was the policies adopted by the BN.Take the NEP or New Economic Policy. I believe the official name was OPP1 or Outline Perspective Plan 1.  The NEP never achieved its objectives.It first failed by 1990 - the year it was supposed to expire.So it was extended as the Outline Perspective Plan 2 or OPP2. Another 10 years. Along the way Wawasan 2020 crept in. When 2000 came by OPP2 also did not achieve its objectives. Hence another 10 year extension as OPP3 (which I dont think the public knew).In case you are confused allow me to confuse you more :  the OPPs, the Five Year Malaysia Plans, the Wawasan 2020 were all simultaneous. The public never knew which one was which.Now we are in 2020 and far from achieving the objectives of the Wawasan 2020.So another "plan" was floated - the Progressive Malaysia 2050 plan. Or was it just a sound byte?  It was a postponement of the NEP / OPP / Wawasan 2020 by yet another 30 years.Perhaps by 2050 the gigantic rock carvings on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial would have been fully eroded by the elements. Mount Rushmore National Memorial 

Anyway the BN was kicked out because the policies failed as well.Then in 2018 the Pakatan Harapan took over for 22 months. Basically the PH continued the failed policies of the BN. Hence the PH lost its perch as well. Now since February 2020 the PN has taken over.  So far the policies have not changed. So would anyone like to make a prediction? There is obviously a huge vacuum in the country's leadership.Since nature abhors a vacuum we see various groups trying to fill the void. Hence the new political parties, new NGOs and Independents venturing forth.This is democracy at its best. The freedom of association. But this country does NOT YET HAVE a unity of purpose. How to go about achieving success and prosperity for all.A section of the population wants to rule by religion.A larger section wants to rule by race.Now there is a nasi lemak - chicken combo : they want to rule by both race and religion.Then you have the other varieties - we must ignore religion but not race. Or we must ignore both race and religion.The latest entrant wants to rule by age. Youth shall rule.My quick view is none of these are going to succeed.As Tan Sri Rafidah says :  LEADERSHIP resides in Individuals..regardless of age, creed, faith, gender or heritage.  Because A LEADER LEADS EVERYONE..NOT A SELECT GROUP !That is so spot on. My view is that at this point in our history a good leader has to surface who can present a clear platform of what exactly will be his policy objectives.We need a clear statement of new but achievable and do-able policies.Yes that Pakatan Harapan Manifesto was a tad too long. Maybe it was not practical to have that many 'proposals'. But the Pakatan Harapan Manifesto did cover the type of new policies that our country needs.Personally I am not against any type of political affiliation. Even if you are a Stone Age communist party - bring it on.  Or an age based party, or a gender based party, or a religion based party, or a 'lets fight' party. Go ahead. This is a democracy. Lets just vote on it. You have the absolute right to make a fool of yourself.My view is that today in our country Malaysia there are sufficient numbers of voters who are matured enough to be loyal only to  good government. They are no more permanently loyal to any party on account of race, religion, age, gender etc.   That is why the BN got kicked out. That is why the PH lost so many by-elections and got booted out in just 22 months. Lets see what happens to the PN.So if you are a political party and you are still dependent on race, religion, age, gender, 'lets fight' etc then you have lost the plot.  You will not go anywhere.  The 1960s and the 1970s and the 1980s have long gone. So 'Wake Up' you Sleepers of Ephesus.The country needs good policy making. The country needs BRAND NEW policies.We really have to get rid of the old policies that DO NOT WORK.It was those failed policies that saw BN and PH getting kicked out. So to all the new political parties, Independents, NGOs and other hopefuls - WHAT ARE YOUR NEW POLICIES?State your NEW POLICIES clearly and concisely.The OLD POLICIES have failed. The OLD POLICIES have failed two groups of people.The first group they failed are the people of this country.The second group of people they have FAILED are the BN and the PH - both got kicked out  because of their failed policies.You can set up all the new political parties that you want.But without NEW POLICIES you are just wasting your time. Without new policies - you WILL FAIL.If not today then tomorrow. BUT YOU WILL FAIL.    
Posted by Syed Akbar Ali 
The views expressed here are those of the authors/contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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