On Feb 26 last year, at the height of disputes between the ruling party and the opposition, I wrote an open letter to Malaysian politicians asking them to put aside politics and focus on the economy.

Today one year later, while the world’s and Malaysia’s economy has seen some improvements, our political parties are in an endless round of tit-for-tat spiraling ever downwards.

Malaysians have lost their ability to judge rationally and while many demand meritocracy, ideas

today are not being considered and weighed on merit. Instead, they are being judged by whose idea it was.

If the idea is from the ‘other side’, opponents will do their utmost to find a hole in it or poke one or two just to kill the idea. If an idea is from their leader, they will follow it blindly and find justifications to support it.

Whether it is prime Minister’s Najib’s ‘1Malaysia’ or Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s CAT (Competency, Accountability, Transparency), both sides are not studying closely the merits of these ideas. Instead what’s being practiced is ‘curse everything on the other side, and follow my leader no matter what’.

Another affliction we seem to be suffering from is ‘everyday- is-election-day’ syndrome. Every subject or issue calls for fresh elections or another look at past elections and cries of ‘change of government’.

We have elections once in five years so let whoever wins get a real shot at it; no need for elections on a day-to-day basis. That way everyone can get to work and the country can move forward.

Is there anyone who does not see how competitive it is becoming in the region? How the future of Malaysia does look like vis-a-vis our immediate neighbors? Can we afford political energies spent on continuous internal friction instead of working for our nation? What is to be done?

a. Suspend judgment until the next election so everyone can do their work, and then decide if

you should vote for this person again or not.

b. Identify our biases and be conscious of them. Learn to see both sides before making a decision.

Judge ideas based on merit and not whose idea it was.

c. Find solutions, if you do not agree, provide a better alternative. Condemning is cheap and

easy - fight ideas with ideas.

d. Support leaders who are serious about the economy, unity and making things better. When

leaders spend their efforts playing politics, internally within their own parties or nationally, let

them know they do not have your support.

e. Be especially weary of leaders working and living for the next general election.

f. Stop pointing at who is or isn’t supporting ‘1Malaysia’, understand what ‘1Malaysia’ is trying to achieve and support it with everything you’ve got.

For the Malaysian rakyat to change our leaders’ behavior, we must change our own behavior first. Our leaders take their cue from us. If we behave like an ultra, they, too, will follow because they want to show us that they are with us.

To create better leaders, we need to be a better ‘rakyat’. For example, if we want to our leaders to put into practice ‘1Malaysia’, we must do it first. The strategy to point fingers and complain that so-and-so is for or against it, is not a smart strategy. We do it first, and then the leaders will have to follow.