Musa Hitam: Political reset needed before economy can be fixed

Former deputy prime minister Musa Hitam suggested that in order for the country’s economy to be fixed, the government and national politics need a reset.

He said this during the Parliament Lecture Series 1.0: Resetting the Malaysian Economy last night where he spoke alongside Dewan Negara president Rais Yatim and Economic Affairs Minister Rafizi Ramli.

“I know we are here to talk about resetting the Malaysian economy but it is the government and the politics that needs resetting.

“We often don’t look at the fact that our biggest problem is the politics within our government, to determine the success or failure of its promises to the country.

“That is how the reform starts,” he stressed.

Musa said part of the reason why the country’s issues take so long to be solved was that the government has a habit of dwelling on how to come up with solutions rather than just tackling them head-on.

He warned that if Malaysia’s current issues are not dealt with in haste, the next government will simply pick up the same habit and further delay the country’s progress.

“Get on with it! If they don’t pick up the pace, constantly finding ways to handle things but not taking any action, the next government will do the same thing.

“It’s a change of mindset that we need,” he said.

‘Don’t just discuss, do something’

Musa, who was Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s deputy in the 1980s, also took a friendly jab against his fellow speakers, citing how in their speeches, they raised the same issues faced by the country.

He reminded them that what they spoke about has been in discussions for a long time but nobody has made the step to initiate change.

“Both of you who spoke before me, I hope you don’t just sit there and list down the changes that need to be made but not do anything about it.

“All of those things have been discussed for years, from our subsidies to an independent Parliament body, but why did you two not take the step to make those improvements when you had the power to do so?” he asked.

At the end of his speech, Musa said one of the ways to reset the mindset of the government is by encouraging youths to express their opinions.

He said ministers and other government leaders need to sit down with young people and exchange their views, to make the leaders realise how “out of touch they are”.

Youths and parliament independence

In his opening speech, Rais spoke on the youth's impact on politics, stating that young or aspiring politicians need to be trained.

He said many of them have potential but lack preparation to become leaders.

“It’s great to see youths getting involved in politics, but they often do not have the right guidance on what it means to be good politicians and leaders.

“I’d say we train our ‘old dogs’ though we know that would not be fruitful, so we should instead train the young ones. Make sure they won’t repeat the mistakes made by the older ones,” he said.

He also said Parliament needs to be more independent from the government for a better separation of powers.

He said the Parliament currently does not have much control over its own resources, needing approvals from ministers for finances, administration, and conduct.

“It’s good to have a separation of powers because that way we can keep the ministers in check, to ensure they don’t go beyond boundaries,” he said.

He proposed the revival of two acts - the Parliamentary Services Act 1963 (PSA) and the Houses of Parliament (Privileges and Powers) Act 1952.

The PSA allowed Parliament to conduct its own administration, staffing, and financing. It was repealed in 1992 after then-Dewan Rakyat speaker Zahir Ismail removed it from the books.

In 2005, several MPs did call for the act to be reinstated when DAP’s Lim Kit Siang brought up the issue of power separation.

The other act is still an active law. However, according to Rais, it has not been enacted for several years due to unknown circumstances.

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