YOURSAY | ‘We are in this sad state because we do not have capable, competent leaders…’

Nation trails due to complacency, PM told to tackle youths to make M'sia soar

Legit: Treasury secretary-general Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, here are the facts - South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore have overtaken us decades ago and they are in a different league now.

Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam have already overtaken us and they are steadily on an upward trend. The Philippines, Cambodia and Myanmar are closely behind us and will very soon overtake us in a few years.

Malaysia, we were ahead of all these countries about 20-30 years ago and now have regressed to competing with the bottom of the pack.

Now, Irwan Serigar, why don't you suggest changing the regressive policies of the government instead of giving this kind of outdated lecture to the youths. These poor youths cannot do anything unless these antiquated policies are changed.

But things will never change until and unless this allegedly corrupt and useless government is replaced.

Pemerhati: Singapore, which was roughly at the same level as Malaysia in 1957, is now five times richer than Malaysia and its education and other institutions are also very much superior to Malaysia’s and are highly respected in the world.

Malaysia is not only blessed with vastly superior natural resources but it also has more Malays, Chinese and Indians than Singapore. So why is Malaysia lagging so far behind?

Mainly because Singapore has a relatively non-corrupt leadership which makes sure that only the best people are in the political leadership and the public service. They then ensure that the standards in all areas are maintained at a high level.

In Malaysia, the leadership is very corrupt and retains power by pleasing the majority Malay population by discriminating against the non-Malays in all areas and fills up the public service with a lot of incompetent Malays.

This has resulted in a sharp decline in all areas. Serigar is unable to or pretends not to see the true reasons for Malaysia’s sharp decline.

Appum: Sorry, for a senior civil servant to conclude that it's complacency that is troubling us is really a wrong conclusion.

The Umno government has never been complacent. They have misplaced policies that have created poor quality leaders to run the country in a plural society like Malaysia.

They would rather push away talents than absorb them. So many talented youths of all races are not coming back to serve this nation because they can see their restricted and limited future here.

Unless Malaysia is prepared to use the best talents and youths from all races, creeds and religions, no way can it overcome its regression vis a vis other neighbouring countries. That is why Umno needs to go.

The Truth: Yes, noble idea but wrong leaders. There is a wise saying that if you keep doing what you have been doing in the last 50 years, what will you get in the next 50 years?

The same results (that is if you are lucky). Most probably, you can't even produce the same results.

So BN keeps introducing more and more race-based policies, keeps projecting itself as the 'defender' (more like devourer) of the Malay race, keeps insisting on New Economic Policy/New Economic Model (NEP/NEM) policies that drive talents to other countries, keeps doing "you help me, I help you" and keeps the electorate under the spells of Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M).

Kamal19: I thought we were leaders, not just in Asia but in the world, for corruption.

Furthermore, we don't need to take the limelight as no other countries in the region can claim to be in the limelight as much as us, thanks to our leader.

P Dev Anand Pillai: Our young have been made to become political pawns and scapegoats for the fickle-minded who are at the helm in this country.

We keep flip-flopping and pandering to the extremists and language nationalists all for the sake of votes and continuance in power. How on earth are our young going to shine when you keep shackling their minds and that of their teachers?

Remove the barriers, appoint in accordance with merit, not race and religion, and make efforts to bring good people back into the teaching profession. Perhaps we will see our glory days of yesteryear come back again.

Ksn: We are in this sad state because we do not have capable, competent leaders with integrity focused on nation-building.

Instead we have leaders who are allegedly corrupt, allegedly focused on abusing public funds and laws, and allegedly helping themselves, their families and cronies. That has been the problem of our leadership for the last 30 years.

So your advice to the PM is of no use. The damage done in the last 30 years is too deep. A change of government and leaders is necessary.

Onyourtoes: This country is moving backward because of people like you helming the Treasury are supporting idiotic leaders who know next to nothing, except enriching themselves.

Anonymous #40538199: What really led Malaysia to trail other Asian countries are the entrenched ‘cari makan’ political culture and ‘cash is king’ political principle. The youth must exercise their votes wisely to change all that.

Oscar Kilo: Youths want leaders whom they can respect. Not greedy and power-crazy politicians who only know how to collect donations from Arabs.

Anonymous 29051438068738: Irwan Serigar talking about complacency?

I guess he knows exactly what that is after his jaw-dropping complacency as the Finance Ministry representative and a member of 1MDB's advisory board even as his boss allegedly looted the joint.

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