TMI: What Malaysians want — by John Teo

What Malaysians want —               by John Teo

July 26, 2011

JULY 26 — Prime Minister Najib Razak has asked the silent majority to speak up.

I belong to the silent majority and here is a wish list of what Malaysians want. We want to live in a country that is peaceful, prosperous and progressive.

We want a government that truly cares for the people rather than just paying lip service to the people. We want a government that launches projects for the people’s benefit rather than mega projects that benefit a few elite groups or do it to score political points.

We want a government that truly believes in the maintenance of quality in our education system as well as a human workforce that is at par with the rest of the world rather than shut our doors, producing wholesale a poor quality workforce and education system and proudly proclaiming to the world we are the “best”.

We want a government that is transparent and accountable in its implementation of policies rather hide behind layers of bureaucracy and pass the buck around when something goes wrong. We want to pay our taxes with pride and to feel that we are contributing to our nation’s prosperity and progressiveness rather than to see our hard-earned taxes being squandered in multimillion-dollar scandal after scandal.

We want to feel in control of our own destiny and have the government truly engage the stakeholders and listen to the stakeholders rather than form policies and shoved them down our throats. We want our politicians to truly work for the people’s benefit rather than engage in useless mudslinging and creating discord to score political mileage.

We want our politicians to be humble in the way they conduct official duties and the way they live rather than be escorted by police outriders, garlanded and seated in reserved VIP seats as if the people, who voted for them and put them where they are, are made to be seen as inferior human beings.

We want our politicians to lead a moderate lifestyle rather than live in million-dollar plush mansions, chauffeured around in luxury cars and drabbed in priceless jewellery while the people are struggling to make ends meet and worrying endlessly on making sure their children get a decent quality education.

We want to live in a country that embraces talent and hard work rather than political connections.

Last but not least, we want to be proud to call ourselves Malaysians, embracing our diversity and celebrating our differences rather than be bombarded by individuals trying to tear apart the fabric of our uniqueness. Is that too much to ask?

* John Teo reads The Malaysian Insider.