Malaysian Government

Our institutions have clearly failed. It is time that we did more than just complain about them in the coffee shops, and take some concrete action to make them play the roles they are meant to play.

The biggest selling point of the Barisan Nasional government is its wise economic stewardship, but the facts speak for themselves: Barisan is not spending our tax monies wisely.

If our institutions become so corrupt that they cannot perform their constitutional responsibilities, the rakyat will have no choice but to take to the streets.

Malay supremacy discriminates based on whether your parents were Malay. Meritocracy discriminates based on whether your parents were lucky. Public policy should not favour either extreme.

Laws which stand in the way of truth are laws which do not just repress fundamental human rights. They are laws which hold us back from growing, be it in academic stature or economic expenditure.

Immigrants just want to enjoy all our great country has to offer; what is wrong with letting them work for us and buy our products? If they do not bear the costs of their presence here, should we not blame the government for failing to enforce our laws, rather than unfairly tarring all foreigners with the same brush?

When we prioritise race over country, when we would rather unite one ethnic community rather than the nation, why wonder at the rate at which Malaysians are abandoning a country they cannot really call theirs?

Unfortunately each successive Malaysian Prime Minister is worse than his predecessor. We have never resolved the basic issues our founding fathers first started to work on. We must challenge our present and future leaders to go back to the basics of nation-building, and to not only live up to but exceed those who went before them.

The political turmoil unleashed by the SAPP decision to pursue a vote of no confidence against the Prime Minister is a reminder of the tension we have always had concerning federalism; we are a federation in name, but not in practice. It's time to change that.

Let's not be misled here: the ruler reading the speech from the throne is reading a speech written for him by the government. We are obligated to constructively criticise that speech, rather than hold back for fear of disrespecting the monarchy, because we must see to it that the government governs well; we must criticise the message, which is distinct from the messenger.

There is no such thing as "Malay rights" or "non-Malay rights". Under the supreme law of Malaysia, there are only Malaysian rights.

Amidst the anger at the jailing of Raja Petra over sedition charges, it is time to look again at one of his life's causes: abolishing the Internal Security Act. Why do we let this repugnant law make a mockery of our liberties and our democracy?

We have to hold our elected officials accountable, but how can we do that when we do not know what they are doing? The people of Malaysia have a right to know exactly how our MPs are wasting our time and money insulting each other, so we can hold them accountable.

The Pakatan Rakyat government has appointed Barisan Nasional members to important positions in its apparatus, to the consternation of many. But in governance, political partisanship is not a qualification; competence and a willingness to cooperate with others are.

The Sultan probably was within his legal right to act as he did; however, what he has done is almost certainly counter to the spirit of the principles our country was founded upon.