Today, we have a new prime minister in Najib Abdul Razak and and a new cabinet to administer the country. It is the wish and aspirations of all Malaysians that PM Najib and his new team will lead the nation to greater heights, introduce good and sound policies benefitting all sectors of the population.
Najib must strive to ensure that fairness and equity remain the guiding principles of his premiership. All efforts must be made to harness the talents of our multiethnic and multilingual populace. The Sedar Institute has come up with a ‘wish list' for Najib and his team to ponder upon.
1. Promote Bangsa Malaysia
a. Support for the ‘1 Malaysia concept'. It should be guided by ‘One Vision and One Heart', meaning a strong sense of commitment and purpose by all Malaysians. The government should strive to promote harmony and unity and to reduce racial prejudice and politicking in all its policies and practices.
b. Encourage inter-faith and inter-ethnic dialogues.
2 Economic Development
a. Generate competitive and sustainable economic development vis-a-vis restoring business confidence and adopting drastic measures to reverse the current economic downturn;
b, Preserve jobs and ensure employment remains robust;
c. Stimulate consumer spending;
d. Enhance competitiveness for long-term economic stability and sustainability;
e. Address the income disparity of the people
3. Advocate good governance and integrity
a. Promote transparency and accountability at all levels of public administration with special emphasis on open tender.
b. Set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to assess and monitor the performance of all ministries and key public institutions to ensure efficiency, transparency and accountability
c. Allow free, fair and critical media.
d. Decentralisation of decision-making. Consider the needs and requirements of the people. People should have greater participation in formulation of policies, not only through their elected representatives but also the civil society.
4. Safeguard human rights, rule of law and the federal constitution
a. Review the ISA. The ISA should only be used to protect national interest, internal security and against terrorism. The ISA should not be used to silent political dissent.
b. Review Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, particularly the need to renew the annual printing permits of newspapers..
c. Institutionalise the independence of judiciary. A good start will be restoring the powers of judges to review the decisions of ministers. The law must not be seen as a hindrance; rather it must be respected as a conduit for efficiency and transparency.
d. National Human Rights Action Plan. There is a need for such a plan to safeguard and strengthen human rights practices. A good end result will be a Law and Human Rights Ministry similar to the one established in Indonesia after the fall of Suharto.
5. Enhance Human Capital and Knowledge Society development
a. Adopt a merit and need system at all levels of Malaysian education system to ensure no talents will be denied opportunity to further their studies due to financial constraints or any other factors not related to their academic performance.
b. Promote the concept of Life-long learning. Acquiring and updating all kinds of abilities, interests, knowledge and qualifications from pre-school years to post-retirement.
6. Sustain ecological balance and quality of life
a. Address the issue of climate change by promoting green technologies to regulate a more efficient use of energy and to implement green agenda, ie, practice 3R (reduce, reuse and recycle) etc.
b. Overhaul and enhance our anti-crime and crime prevention system. People should feel safe when they go out to work, shop, eat, jog etc.
c. Advocate a better, accessible and affordable healthcare system for all Malaysians
Najib has stated in no uncertain terms that the wishes of the people will be his overriding concern. He has coined the phrase ‘1 Malaysia, People First, Performance now' which we believe aptly subscribes to the aspirations of Malaysians who want a clean and efficient government. These wishes are clearly not unattainable and must be fulfilled at all costs.
Malaysians have every right to demand the very best from their government. PM Najib has promised to meet the expectations of the people.
The Sedar Institute is ever ready to serve and assist; and as a start, we wish him the best of luck and present him this wish list which we believe reflects the desires of most Malaysians.
The writer is executive director, Sedar Institute.
