Malaysia was ranked 53rd in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2013, 52nd in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) ranking, and the major flash floods in East Coast…all these happen during the Umno general assembly and we cannot say that all these have nothing to do with the party at all.<\/p>\n
As we all all know, our government policies have been shaped by Umno, and Umno leaders are helming the government administration. Any change in major policies will have to depend on the attitude of the party.<\/p>\n
For instance, deputy prime minister cum education minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced in 2010 Umno general assembly that SPM students would have to pass the history subject in order to get a certificate. In addition, teaching of science and maths in English was also the decision of Umno leaders.<\/p>\n
Without broadbased reforms, it is simply impossible for us to make any significant leap in various international rankings while floods will continue to plague the country year after year. Disappointingly, this year’s Umno general assembly continues to play the same old tune (emphasis on bumi assistance) without any new idea or ways to address the many issues of this country.<\/p>\n
Why has our corruption ranking only improved by one place having spent so much to tackle the issue? Why have our students’ reading and science abilities dropped even behind those of Vietnam? Why floods have become increasingly serious even as we have thrown in hefty amounts of money on flood mitigation?<\/p>\n
Malaysians have hoped Umno leaders would voice out on such issues and offer tips to enhance the competitiveness of our youngsters.<\/p>\n
Although the prime minister did not put too much emphasis on the bumiputra agenda in his presidential address, the same has become the focus of the speeches of Muhyiddin and Khairy Jamaluddin.<\/p>\n
Khairy especially, who used to be quite open in recent years, has lashed out at non-bumis for discriminating bumi professionals. Besides him, other delegates also openly endorsed racism during the debates, such as a proposal by Bukit Mertajam division chief Musa Sheikh Fadzir to replace the 1Malaysia concept with 1Malay.<\/p>\n
Businessmen are the most pragmatic. They care not about politics nor the ethnic background of professionals so long as they have the capability to perform. As the biggest ethnic community in the country, if the Malay professionals would help their companies explore the Malay market, there is no way any profit-minded private business will ever want to shun them.<\/p>\n
It is downright regressive to stress skin color and racial quota in the age of globalization. The government and political leaders should by right accommodate talented people based on the principles of meritocracy irrespective of race. Interfering the hiring policies of private sector is one big drawback.<\/p>\n
Meritocracy should be upheld by both the public and private sectors. If Chinese civil servants have poor command of the national language and limited capability, how do they expect a promotion? The best solution to address the issue of manpower shortage is to improve the overall education quality of Malaysians.<\/p>\n
Umno should find out why the target to improve bumiputras’ economic status is not achieved even after 43 years of NEP implementation. Could this be a problem with how the policy has been carried out or is it just a matter of value system? Without going into the root of the problem, we will continue to beat the bush around these issues, overlooking other important issues in its course.<\/p>\n
No one would oppose to policies to help the underprivileged, but this has to be done the right way. While the government is striving to improve the country’s financial standing, such inefficient patronage programs will only bring up the fiscal deficit.<\/p>\n
The government must not separate the issue on bumiputra assistance and enhancement of Malaysians’ competitiveness. Our young people are uncompetitive because they have been overly pampered. How do you expect a young man on wheelchair to ever outdo a foreign young man in a sprinting race?<\/p>\n
Najib proposed five solutions on Umno transformation, including enhancement of the economic status of Malays and bumiputras, and identifying the key performance indicators for Umno, but, this is more for the next general elections.<\/p>\n
As the backbone of Barisan Nasional, Umno should focus on not only more intimate issues but also broaden its scope to concern about how to manage the country.<\/p>\n
For example, as a Cabinet minister, Khairy should not just criticize TNB for being profit-minded, but should instead propose ways to bring down the fiscal deficit in a bid to evade more cuts on government subsidies in a way that will adversely affect the livelihood of middle to low-income families.<\/p>\n
Khairy has hit out at TNB after the Cabinet approved the 15% electricity tariff hike in a way as if to imply that Umno is synonymous with the Malaysian government. He should reflect on why the bumi agenda has yet to achieve the desired goal instead of pointing his finger at a government-linked company.<\/p>\n
We only have six more years to go before 2020. If our political leaders continue to play the zero sum game, the country will lose its directions.<\/p>\n
The ruling party should have loftier ideas than this. Nelson Mandela won the respect of the world for his life-long struggle against racism. Racism is the stumbling block that stands the way of national unity. It is now time to bury it-MySinCheww<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Malaysia was ranked 53rd in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2013, 52nd in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) ranking, and the major flash floods in East Coast…all these happen during the Umno general assembly and we cannot say that all these have nothing to do with the party at all. As we all all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"better_featured_image":{"id":17586,"alt_text":"","caption":"","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":400,"height":266,"file":"2013\/12\/umno_2013.jpg","filesize":31189,"sizes":{},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":17585,"source_url":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/umno_2013.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17585"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}