YOURSAY 'No group will ever be fully prepared to assume the responsibilities of government, but once the majority decides a change is needed, no power can withstand that.'

Malaysia in the event of regime change

Malaysiawatch4: Regime change is never easy, but observe how some nations have achieved this smoothly in recent history - South Africa, Indonesia and even some former Eastern bloc nations.

No group will ever be fully prepared to assume the responsibilities of government, and my take is that once the majority decides a change is needed, no power in the existing regime can withstand that.

Yes, Pakatan Rakyat is not perfect, but is the Barack Obama government perfect?

Righteous: Change cannot be painless. Compromise and accommodation are necessary in the early years of any change. You take some, you give some. You gain some, you lose some.

Lim Ah Kow : I agree, call it the labour pains, but we the rakyat have to endure it prior to the birth of true democracy.

Anonymous #37634848: Some commentators doubt if Pakatan is ready to govern the country.

In my opinion, the BN government's ministers, including the PM and DPM, and other leaders have proven that they do not have the mettle to run the country efficiently and impartially.

Pakatan has a huge resource of talents and clean leadership. Given the multitudes of problems arising from BN's rule over the past five decades, surely Pakatan can do better than them.

All they need to do is look at the templates in the governments of Selangor and Penang. We have too many doubting Thomases, so let's have some positive thoughts.

Goat: Some naysayers keep saying that Pakatan is not ready because they have not formed a shadow cabinet, but the critics do not understand that when the five states were won in GE12, had they first formed shadow state governments before that?

So I think this kind of opinion is silly. Forming a shadow cabinet will give the ruling party Umno to drive a wedge into the coalition.

It is actually very simple, Pakatan at Putrajaya level just needs to copy what Selangor and Penang have done this far with some a little modification - there is no need to reinvent the wheel.

Bdnhg21423: Researcher Ong Kian Ming, I suggest you look at the India experience, where the government changes often and rule with very narrow majorities, frequently with a coalition of smaller parties of opposing policies.

Corruption and misrule and abuse still occur in India, but they are seriously contained and frequent changes of government ensure that nobody stays in office for 22 years and no party stays for 50 years and causes untold damage.

Look at India's technology and economy, it is a Bric (leading emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India and China) country and an Asian economic giant.

Malaysia with all its natural resources and no natural disasters is however now sliding down the drain. If the rate of abuse is unchecked, I don't know where we will be in 20 years.

Don't talk to me about slums in India - with a population of 1.3 billion in a capitalist economy, there will be such slums as there are in Malaysia, only that Malaysia's slum population may be proportionately smaller.

And talking about opinion splits, the BN has got bigger splits within the coalition than Pakatan.

The disagreements within Pakatan show that they are not a ‘yesmen' party where one party or individual can ride roughshod over all others, like how Umno can bully all the other component parties in BN, and where the PM is supreme.

In Pakatan, the disagreements can act as an effective check and balance.

Hopeful123: When Pakatan takes over Putrajaya it must form a strong commission to probe all the financial misdeeds and fraud committed by the earlier regime.

The commission must be independent. All the stolen and laundered money must be brought back to Malaysia. The crooks must be made answerable to all their thievery.

Why should they return only a percentage? Claim all the stolen money 100 percent, if possible. It is the rakyat's money. Not theirs to keep and enjoy for the rest of their life and for their families.

Sarajun Hoda: Pakatan's possibility of coming to power is not unlikely. Dr Mahathir Mohamad's newest concern is testimony of that.

One important issue missing is that Pakatan must keep its cabinet lean. In all probability, history and precedence elsewhere dictate that when a long-serving government falls, it returns to power the next term.

The factors that contribute to this are:

1) Unwinding is difficult.

2) Putting in new policies is challenging and testing to the people's patience, what more with a strong BN opposition, backed by the mainstream media in their stable.

3) Getting PAS and DAP to agree on many fronts will be a nightmare. If the Muslim clergy in power elsewhere is any indication, a lot of confusion and complications will take centre stage for BN to further exploit.

4) Sharing a smaller cake will be tough for those waiting in Pakatan's corridors.

ABBN: Ong Kian Ming, would you mind writing another on ‘Malaysia in the event of no regime change'?

What happens in the unlikely event that Pakatan cannot win control of the federal government after the 13th general election?

What are the disasters the people and this country face? How much more suffering and sacrifices the people would have to endure? How much more damage and to what degree this country could withstand it?

And what is left for the poor people of Malaysia after another five miserable years under the corrupt regime?

Don't expect BN to give up power easily

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