JULY 9 — Fortunately, the debate title "Chinese at a Crossroads — Is a
Two-Party System becoming a Two-Race System" for the second debate
between MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek and DAP
secretary-general Lim Guan Eng was kept so that everyone could pay
attention to policies instead of talking about dirty scandals.
It was indeed a very serious topic concerning public interest.
However, the two coalitions have been pursuing populism to fight for
votes, and policies have not been mentioned for so long.
The Penang Pakatan Rakyat government allocated over RM50 million for
cash assistance distribution, including RM100 aid for each senior
citizen, disabled and single mother; RM1,000 one-off payment to the
beneficiaries on the demise of registered senior citizens and RM200 for
newborn babies.
Meanwhile, following the BN government's pace, the MCA spent RM30
million to distribute RM100 each to its 300,000 members above 60 years
old, RM200 each for members with newborn babies. In addition, there are
also the 1 MCA Medical Foundation, 1 MCA Education Loan Scheme and 1 MCA
Micro Credit Scheme For Youth. It seems like the MCA and the Penang
state government are equally resourceful.
The two parties barely talk about polices nowadays. Even when they
mention about policies, they still stress on how much money they would
distribute. For example, Lim Guan Eng often said that once Pakatan
Rakyat rules the country, it would distribute RM1,000 each to senior
citizens annually.
Substantial benefits seem more attractive than
policies.
However, they cannot afford to distribute money, provide aid and
subsidies forever. They must find a way to implement reforms, improve
the overall economy and improve the people's income, to truly help the
people and achieve the high-income economy vision.
Policies of the DAP and the MCA are in fact set within the policy scope of Pakatan Rakyat and BN respectively.
BN has clearly revealed its policy, namely the Government
Transformation Plan (GTP) and the Economic Transformation Programme
(ETP). However, the transformation plans have failed to achieve the
targets over the past three years. The efficiency of the administrative
system has not been improved, corruption and crime remain serious while
the economy has not been transformed from foreign worker-reliant into
knowledge-based and creative, and the focus is still on large-scale
projects.
As for Pakatan Rakyat, its policy agenda has been written in the
Orange Book. As it has not yet ruled the country and thus, we do not
know whether its policy will work. However, there is nothing special
about Pakatan Rakyat's state governments' policies either so far.
Regardless of whose policy is better, there must be room for
implementation. Too much noise would divert attention while sharp
U-turns made to safeguard votes would also affect the effectiveness of
any policies. I believe that India showed us the best example.
When India was listed as one of the BRICs, it was hailed as a strong
economy comparable with China. However, the myth has shattered.
The depletion of reform momentum slowed down the economic growth of
India while politicians were too busy fighting. Its government allowed
foreign investment to enter its retail industry but the policy was
suspended later due to the opposition of the opposition parties and the
trade unions. The move had dampened investment sentiment. Politicians
cared only about votes and the opportunities to make economic
breakthrough were stifled.
Such a scenario has also been seen in Malaysia. Sharp U-turns have
been made due to the fear of losing votes, causing the transformation
plans to be neither fish nor fowl. They are just old wine in new
bottles.
If the political struggle remains even after the next general
election, there would still be no room for the implementation of good
policies.
Everyone is talking about scandals and who is still interested in
policies? Even the political debate between Dr Chua and Lim was not able
to change the political landscape. — mysinchew.com
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