YOURSAY ‘Where things are so bad, change can only be good.’

Hishammuddin cautions against changing leaders

 

Negarawan : "We are highly resolved that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

These are the famous words of Abraham Lincoln, a true and courageous leader who ended slavery in the US, and lost his life because of it. Will there be a Malaysian leader who will end corruption, racism and religious bigotry?

 

Hplooi : As usual, Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and the usual Umno apologists use failed Third World nations as comparison.

 

How about comparing with, say:

 

1) When the British electorate threw out the conservative government of Maggie ‘Iron Lady’ Thatcher, or

2) When the Indian electorate overwhelmingly threw out the Congress Party (who had been in power since independence) back two decades ago, or

3) How South Korea transitioned from a dictatorship to real electoral-democracy, or

4) How the Chinese-Taiwanese threw out the Nationalist Party dictatorship and voted in a party more responsive to the populist agenda.

 

In all these cases, did the country go kaput? In fact in some of the cases, South Korea and Taiwan, their countries overtook Malaysia.

 

Truth1 : Aiyah, even I can name an alternative scenario where there was a necessity for changing leaders and the change improved things - South Africa, the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia?

 

Worldly Wise : The examples are not apt. None of the countries named are members of the Commonwealth. India, Sri Lanka and Britain are better examples showing that change was for the better.

 

Shanandoah : Those countries mentioned by Hishammuddin that went crazy were not because of leadership change. The people of those countries wanted to live like the Europeans. They want freedom from religious persecution. If PAS gets its way we will become like one of those countries whose nationals are fleeing like rats from a sinking ship!

 

Oh Ya?: He doesn't have to look far. The Indonesians and Filipinos have changed leadership many rounds since disposing their corrupted, dictatorial and cruel Suharto and Marcos. They are doing much better socially, economically and politically than kangkung land under Umno. Ironically by referring to Saddam and company is he alluding that Umno leaders are equally corrupted, dictatorial and cruel?

 

Sabahan : Why did he not mention developed countries like the USA, Germany, Japan and Britain, where leaders are changed every few years and there has been no violence and chaos. Umno appears afraid and is fast running out of ideas.

 

Jaycee : Is this guy for real? Essentially he is saying it is better to support a corrupt government with no accountability, no transparency, and consists of ministers with no competency. And a government that cheat, lies, loots, and did not even win a majority of votes.

 

Eagle : When leaders become so bad, they have to be overthrown like Marcos, Mubarak, Saddam, Suharto, etc., it’s difficult for the nation to recover because the whole system has gone rotten. Malaysia deserves a good leader, not a reckless one like Najib Abdul Razak who is bringing the nation to ruin. After 50 years we have been left behind by Singapore. But it’s better late than never for us to rebuild ours into a great nation.

 

The Observer : History has proven that change by the ballot is always more peaceful than change by the bullet. Change is the only certainty in life and politics. The only ones that do not change are the dead ones.

 

Change is inevitable when the masses continue to be burdened by undue and inequitable taxes, when the people do not have a voice in the way they are governed, when the leaders continue to plunder with impunity, where the judicial system has no legal and moral basis and where leaders have lost their legitimacy to govern. Where things are so bad, change can only be good.

 

Freethinker : You are right to point out these three countries that changed leader and their stability was affected. What have the three countries in common? All three leaders refuse to step down peacefully.

Their ‘loyalists’ created the instability and infighting. All three leaders abused their power and were highly corrupt. See the similarities here? But there is a difference. We still have the chance to learn from their mistakes.

 

Kingfisher : One gets a deep sense of dejection reading this gentleman's unreasonable reasons for supporting his PM's continued leadership. He misconstrues the right of an elected popular political party to administer the nation as against the leader of the party to lead the nation despite his failings in keeping with the nation’s trust in him.

 

What else can one propose under the present peculiar circumstances expect to suggest a vote of confidence in Parliament or alternatively to institute a dissolution and seek a fresh mandate from the people all in the name credibility of the individual who is in the eye of the present controversy/predicament.

Then it would be fair game if one answers to the people and not any one individual as articulated recently by the PM.

 

Anonymous$&@? : Now we know even the Umno government thinks that Malaysia is at the same level as Libya, Iraq and Egypt. What an insult. Umno government, if you cannot manage then please give way to someone that can manage. Malaysia is nothing like those countries.

 

Dizzer : I imagine the propaganda unit of the Prime Minister’s Office will be having a heated chat with Hisham after he compared their boss to Saddam, Mubarak, and Gaddafi.

 

Appum: Hello, defence minister, you are addressing a crowd of Umno members, who Mahathir Mohamad has said will just follow what their leader says. In other words they are like lemmings, a species of rodents that follow their leaders to lead them to jump over the cliffs and kill themselves. Umno members are exactly like this as portrayed by Mahathir.

 

By quoting the specific examples of leaders like Gaddafi, Mubarak and Saddam, isn't it an insult to Najib to put him in their league? You are just putting fear and threats, all negative perception and false prediction (as if you can predict), for Umno members to follow.

 

But generally, most Malaysians have seen enough failures and mismanagement of this country by a hopeless government for 58 years.

 

Malaysians have more positive thinking, they can see the need to change, they want to change and change, at least, with a positive hope for the future. There is no future with Umno-BN running this country any more. This nation has been deteriorating and sliding down rapidly down the slope.

 

Vgeorgemy : Hisham, any comment on the leadership changes in Indonesia? What we need is the type of leadership changes that happened in Indonesia. That's all. No need to travel to the Middle East and North Africa to learn the leadership changes.

 

Fair Play : I suppose what he is trying to convince the right-thinking rakyat is this - in the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed jack is still the best choice.

 

Anonymous #45522856 : Yeah, our leaders are great bringing us from Third World to Sixth World.

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