LETTER | The ninth of May was a historic moment when confident Malaysians decided to reject BN which had enjoyed uninterrupted rule for over 60 years and they voted in a loosely formed coalition of political parties called Pakatan Harapan.

Undeniably Dr Mahathir Mohamad was a factor but I would agree with Rafizi Ramli that Mahathir was not the main reason which caused BN to lose power. Anwar Ibrahim would have achieved similar results if he was not put away in prison. After all Anwar Ibrahim was instrumental in causing the BN to lose its two-thirds parliamentary majority in GE12 and maintained this record during GE13.

I believe that the main reason which caused BN’s downfall was their inability to offer any reasonable explanation on allegations of financial scandals and also rampant incidences of corruption including leakages which the people felt were being condoned. Cost of living and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) were merely aggravating factors which Harapan effectively capitalised on.

It was rather unfortunate that other than Muhyiddin Yassin and Mohd Shafie Apdal, who decided to raise questions, other members of the previous administration who probably thought that they were indispensable, decided to remain silent, condoning such practices.

Moving forward it is hoped that BN members of Parliament will provide a strong opposition to prevent future domination by Harapan. For democracy to flourish, a two-party political system must be achieved.

Since winning the general election, Harapan has been on a cleaning up mode reviewing key policies and mega-projects which appear to strain the country’s finances, zero-rating the GST seemingly to help ease the cost of living impact, initiating institutional reforms to strengthen key government institutions and also investigating former politicians for corrupt practices.

All these commendable efforts are being celebrated by many to the extent of donating to help pay for country’s alleged out of control debt situation. Embarrassingly, the government had legitimised it as Tabung Harapan, this after deciding to forgo over RM20 billion in GST revenue.

It is interesting to note that people who have overwhelmingly rejected the GST claiming it to be an unfair tax system are now willing to donate money to this specific fund purportedly to help the government pay debts. What is a better way to help the country’s finances if not by diligently paying taxes?

In order to effectively contribute towards nation-building, it would be worthwhile for us to look at ways to increase our own productivity levels so that the economy is able to record impressive sustainable growth. It is also important that we begin to celebrate our diversity and stop prejudicial behaviour against one another so that we can have better confidence and an improved living environment.

Let us all move away from being emotional and adopt a more pragmatic approach to achieve long-term desired results rather than rejoice over short-term plans.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.