COMMENT I wrote a suggestion that perhaps the opposition should resign en bloc out of protest , in the event that the parliamentary speaker refused to accept the no-confidence vote.

The other option, of course, is to vote down the national budget today, a brilliant suggestion indeed by political analyst Wong Chin Huat. This, too, has received positive support from Gua Musang Umno Member of Parliament Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

There are really no other options for the lawmakers but to do what is necessary to put the country on track again.

My suggestion, of course, received the most brickbats! Well, admittedly, it was stupid of me, and I humbly accept that I overlooked that under the Malaysian laws, when a parliamentarian resigns, he will not be able to stand for election in the next five years.

Still a democracy?

But, imagine a parliament without the opposition bloc. Would Malaysia still remain a respected democracy?

Apart from making it into the headlines internationally, the resignation en bloc would send a chill to the voters out there that we have already arrived at a point in Malaysian history where the situation can only get worse, if the rakyat remain apathetic and do nothing about the current political stalemate.

We have seen some half a million voters making a public statement during the recent Bersih 4 rally, but the present cabinet under Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak remains oblivious to the people’s demands.

In the initial stages, the parliamentary speaker had the cheek to even set the condition for the no-confidence vote, by asking for the list of anti-Najib lawmakers. Even after accepting the motion submitted by opposition leader Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, the vote on no-confidence was not given the priority that it should receive.

Can the opposition take this? Or should they push for the vote of no-confidence to be placed on highest priority? The nation is bleeding, and the people have lost their confidence in Najib as a leader.

What is the meaning of having the opposition in Parliament then? You might as well do away with the opposition bloc if you want to turn this country into a dictatorship.

Those were the rationales behind my suggestion. After all, it was a mere suggestion and I am sure that the opposition MPs themselves know what they should do. Ideas have to be discussed, debated and dashed, if they are no good!

Continue the brainstorming

But, my point is that the parliament can only operate when we have an effective opposition, and the opposition lawmakers need all the support that they can get from each of us in order to put the country back on track.

There is no point complaining about the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the high inflation, increase in petrol prices and toll charges, when Malaysians themselves do not take positive interest in the current political development to make a positive impact.

If the parliament is left without the opposition bloc, we will have a dysfunctional democracy. This, too, like one reader rightly pointed out, is also not a good idea - and I fully and humbly agree with him (or her) that opposition MPs should not resign en bloc, but in addition to what I said yesterday, can I suggest that it is the thinking out-of-the-box that we have to train our minds to do and the willingness to contribute ideas, no matter how ‘stupid’ or ‘obnoxious’?

In the past, I have always told my staff to be bold to share even their weirdest ideas. No one is supposed to shoot down the idea, but they have to build on it. Out of the brainstorming, a great idea will usually emerge, but the bottom line is every member of the team must contribute ideas.

In one particular case, I tossed up one of the dumbest ideas. All my staffers laughed at it, but one lady built on the idea and came out with a million dollar suggestion. When I made the proposal to the management, the idea was shot down.

Judged as ‘obnoxious’ by one of my bosses, it turned out to be a jewel in another institution that I worked for. The idea of an edu-van and edu-jays to hype up the brand of a rebranded tertiary education became a big hit in the secondary schools!

It is getting out of one’s cocoon into broad daylight that is hardest. It is the willingness to be labelled as ‘stupid’ or ‘obnoxious’ that was hardest to swallow for someone with pride, but I cannot deny that out of every good brainstorming session that we will all be able to come out with a good solution.

Petition

Despite what we see today, a number of Barisan Nasional MPs, apart from former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin and a former Umno divisional deputy chief Khairuddin Abu Hassan, are still burying their heads in the sand as if nothing serious is happening.

The rest of the MPs, especially from MCA, Gerakan and MIC, have chosen to “see no evil, speak no evil and hear no evil”. They have failed to open their eyes to see where the country is going.

Unless the rakyat apply pressure on them and the Umno divisional leaders themselves, we will only be running in a circle. Soon, like the hamster, we would all be tired running on the ferris wheel.

Umno members have to decide once and for all whether they will trust former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad or Najib; they cannot be sitting on the fence forever.

It is time that voters should openly voice our their discontentment with their local parliamentarian, especially they are part of the small group of Umno divisional leaders who are responsible for propping up Najib.

Umno members who are unhappy with the current situation should also voice out to their divisional leaders. If Umno members themselves openly tell their leaders that they would vote against BN in the coming general election, do you think Najib would remain in power?

Last resort

My last resort is that we have to sink together as this great Titanic sinks. Until we hit the crunch, it is hard to wake up my fellow Malaysians. If future generations of Malaysian will have to pay for the money borrowed by 1MDB, let them look back at us - and ask, “Why didn’t our forefathers do something back then?”

Several months since the Wall Street Journal expose, and we still do not know what really happened to the money that went into Najib’s private accounts and later transferred to a bank in Singapore. If Umno can accept that Najib is the only one that they can trust in Umno, let it be and see what happens in the coming general election.

What I can say is that we cannot leave it to only the opposition to find a solution to the current national crisis which has even caught the attention of the Conference of Malay Rulers.

When they fail to put their act together, do we just throw our brickbats at them, when we have to take the share of t he blame ourselves?

People are simply refusing to put on their thinking caps or even share their thoughts for fear of being lambasted. Therefore, I urge the lawmakers to do what is best for the nation for now, and do the necessary to see corruption being stamped out.

If we cannot solve the 1MDB scandal now, we might as well kiss the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency goodbye forever.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.