Is It Possible to Vote for PH at Federal Level, yet Vote Against PH at State Level?
By Stephen Ng
Is it possible to vote Pakatan Harapan (PH) at the Federal level, yet vote against PH at State level?
The answer is Yes!
But does this surprise you as coming from one who supports PH?
No, it should not. And I am certainly not a paid Perikatan Nasional cybertrooper based on all the articles that you may have read where I try to knock some common sense into both our ordinary rakyat and the politicians themselves.
I give credit to whom credit is due, but when a minister or a state exco underperforms, I will crack the whip, yet it does not mean that I would not support them. I do this for the sake of the nation, because we have had too many politicians who failed us for as long as we are a nation.
Clarion Call: "Be Humble."
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has kept reminding his ministers to be humble and stay in touch with the people. The same clarion call applies also to the State exco and state assemblymen.
But sadly, based on my observations, a number of them have forgotten their oath to serve the people. Some have even forgotten their manners. I just received a complaint that the Menteri Besar of Negeri Sembilan, who is a member of PKR, was very late for a function as a guest-of-honour.
This reminds me some 30 years ago, when I attended a function where the cabinet minister was late for more than two hours. She only arrived when the function was nearly over. For whatever reason, or excuse that she could whip up, I told the organisers never to invite such a minister in the future.
I can tell you that even with the current cabinet, to even post an emoji to say 'Thank you' is no longer important to some of them now that they are made 'Very Important Persons' in the country.
Some of these politicians whom we thought would become great leaders are, in fact, not worth the mettle after you observe the blunders that they make. In fact, one or two of them do not even know their roles as ministers and they are simply speaking off the cuff.
Although I do not set up myself as an 'advisor' to any of them, I offer my feedback as a sounding board because I care for the present government to ensure that they are successful in delivering their promises.
During the previous two governments under Muhyiddin Yasin and Ismail Sabri Yaakob, I did not even bother to engage with any of the cabinet ministers privately. I did write to Ismail Sabri regarding several longstanding issues, and even recently, to Anwar but I have yet to receive any positive response.
The time will come when I just say it openly when any of the ministers make a big blunder that could cost the country a lot of money.
So, when I sound out an alarm, it is something that I can foresee coming. I can either choose to remain silent and let the blunder be turned into brickbats or I can preempt the people I care for what is to come.
Let's put it bluntly, if the economy minister talks about prices of goods and boycotting restaurants, when his job is to revive every sector of the economy, including the F&B business, then he is simply failing to perform his job.
In the first place, I would tell him either privately or now in public: "Sir, the control of prices of goods comes under the Ministry of Domestic Trade. Your job is to look at how you can incentivize all the economic sectors so that we can enjoy a robust GDP. Boycotting any businesses will only be counterproductive to your own performance as a minister of economy."
For me, the minister can hold his head high, and remain aloof, but a blunder is still a blunder in the eyes of the public. Humility is what Anwar has learnt from his experience as a good leader. Until now, he exemplifies what I call a good leader whose attitude of a servant eventually wins the hearts of hardcore critics. He knows that Malaysians are generally very forgiving and are hardly 'hardcore' critics at all.
I really pity such ministers if they choose to continue to gloat in their 'successes' that they no longer want to listen to feedback on the ground. What's worse, when you take time to become their sounding board, and you do not even get a response, unlike times when they were still striving to climb the ladder.
I can understand the feelings of a former senior cabinet minister who sent a handwritten note to her successor 'down the road' asking if he could assist the case of a maid working with a friend. Her friend would have gone through the normal channels and found no help. Instead, she received a blank response from her student.
In my experience, I would have thought this young man has the potential to be the country's best prime minister, given another 5-10 years, even now, I would withdraw my own support based on my ongoing assessment of the individual's performance.
I can say this of a few other ministers, but I will give them time to perform. I will continue to interact with the good politicians if I know they are still "alive" and "kicking" but I snub those who are arrogant and aloof, who think they have reached their dreams by their own intellect and abilities.
They want people to look up to them, but if they do not know how to respect the man on the street or lift their fingers to solve people's problems on the ground even when brought to their attention, they are not worth my respect.
When they are heartless like Muhyiddin Yasin, people will also be heartless towards them. Whatever a man sows, that he shall also reap. This is a universal law. Najib Abdul Razak is another good example.
No matter how high or mighty one may think he is, eventually as politicians, the day will come when people throw them out. Instead, if we stoop low to help those in need, some day, when we are in trouble, others will also help us.
Worse, when these politicians just cut you off. For me, I just block them. I had to do that to a former foreign minister.
So, the next time he made a blunder, I did not bother to nudge him privately. I expressed my concerns for my fellow Malaysians stranded in a foreign land when the minister did not prove his mettle in solving the issue. The rest is up to him to clarify what he has done to solve the problem. I believe till now the issue is not solved.
Likewise at State Level
If I can do that to a minister, there is no reason why a state exco or Menteri Besar would get the VIP treatment from me as a voter. My vote may be just one, but even this one vote can make a difference if there is a tie between two opponents.
Bottomline is: State exco and assemblymen should be humble and come down to the ground. It is no point appearing on banners with a big smile and only starting to become active when the state election is nearing. We know who these people are. How often do you see your state assemblyman in the wet market? Or, at the local eatery?
Suffice for me to mention just a few names like Elizabeth Wong (Bukit Lanjan), Ng Sze Han (Kinrara), Hee Loy Sean (Kajang) and Amirudin Shari (Gombak). They may claim to be active in their own constituencies, or pretend to be active, but if they fail in their portfolio and it affects the quality of my neighbourhood, I may just choose to catch up with my sleep on the voting day.
They can win the election, but I will continue to speak up when they fail to deliver their promises. Not only I, but some people I discovered has also been doing the same even much earlier than this blog I created out of necessity. A good example is Selangor Scheiss by Charles Moreira. It is from Moreira that I learnt the meaning of the German word, Scheiss. Google to find out the meaning yourself.
I base my comments on what I see -- all the blunders that these politicians make, their performance on the ground, and promises that they fail to deliver.
For example, Freedom of Information Act was put in place by the state government led by Khalid Ibrahim, but the current state exco in Selangor under Amirudin Shaari is using the Official Secrets Act to cover up the allocation of quarry plots in Bukit Lagong.
Anwar is aware of this, but if nothing is done before the state election, I dread to think that that many who are aware of this, along with their friends, they will either vote for alternative parties or they may not turn up at the voting station at all.
Some have even been forced to hit out at PH openly and attempting to set up yet another political party, because these people have lost all hope in getting a solution in their fight to preserve the tropical rainforests. If everyone plays the role of politicians, soon our tropical rainforests will be gone.
No member of parliament or state assemblyman can claim to represent the people when he is nowhere seen to be with the people, whether in his own constituency or the state that he represents.
So back to my original question: this is the reason why I can vote for PH at the federal level, but when it comes to the state election in the middle of this year, my family and I would most likely snub PH at the state level unless they solve all the issues highlighted to them in the past three years. Otherwise, I would even talk to everyone I meet to snub them, too.
In Selangor, Anwar only has two choices: either he changes the state line-up in Selangor, or the once PH supporters will just snub PH in the coming state election.
Although many of us are heavy hearted to allow Pas to run the state, this would have to be a lesson that PH will have to learn never to be arrogant or aloof. Umno leaders have already experienced this.
Both state exco and ministers have to realise that people make a lot of sacrifices with both their time and resources just put them there.
What Drives Me to Write this Piece?
Well, the answer is simple: they snub us, all we need to do is snub them in the coming state election. Look around you. How has the local government performed a good job under the care of the state government all these three terms that PH forms the state government?
Read Selangor Scheiss about Petaling Jaya City Council's lackadaisical attitude and you will see why Moreira, a once supporter of PH, has turned into a big critic.
Although I think the current Member of Parliament, Lee Chean Chun will find him to be a great help in understanding the local issues, I doubt if the newly elected MP of Petaling Jaya Utara has even engaged with him.
If Lee does not, perhaps, my university alumnus and MCA's Tan Gim Tuan can help him to solve the local issues and help swing the people's votes towards PN? I don't know, but I personally would not want Pas in the equation. But what other choices do we have? If Pas Selangor can prove to be a better government, why not?
And if, at the federal level, they also fail to deliver despite all their promises that they make, we will eventually snub them when the next general election is up in five years' time. That would be the end of PH's one term in Putrajaya.
Ultimately, it is how these politicians behave. They can snub us but wait till we snub them. Meanwhile, let me remind Pakatan Harapan at both state and parliamentary levels of the unresolved issues.
If you are reading this article and you experience the same problems with your local council, yet problems are never solved all these years until we are now just a few months away from the state election, perhaps, it is time to tell this to your local MP (in my case, Gobind) that you will snub the candidate for state assembly, or worse, to change a new state government, no?
I am still waiting for a solution which Gobind promised would be given by 'tomorrow.' So much for a member of parliament whom I was only beginning to respect after meeting him last year,
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