Restore confidence, not rhetoric

Thaksin Shinawatra and Abhisit Vejjajiva are the two most talked about politicians in Thailand at the moment.

As I took a cab from the new Suvarnabhumi Airport to the downtown Bangkok for my week long holiday last week, the taxi driver who is in his late 30’s is no doubt a Thaksin diehard supporter as he showed his thumb up when I asked who does he support.

Despite news of street protests in Bangkok, I just nonchalantly went for my holiday as I had not been to this sprawling city that never sleeps with people still thronging the night markets till the wee hours in the morning.

Life goes on for the Thais despite the political chaos which has since very much cooled down recently with street protests changing hands between anti and pro- Thaksin groups.

I could not really gauge who the Thais really support- the ousted Thaksin or the new good looking Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva.

In this trying time of economic uncertainty, I guess Thais do not really bother who rules the country as what matters to them is bread and butter issue.

Maybe like most of us do in Malaysia, Thais just love to talk politics as a pastime interest.

Over in our own homeland, coffee shop talks are all set on the on-going Umno general assembly as the party, being the backbone of Barisan Nasional will set the political direction for the next few years before the 13th general election.

Incoming Umno President, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is expected to be sworn in as the sixth Prime Minister, taking over from Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi sometime in April by virtue of him being the Number One in the party.

Najib will certainly have no honeymoon period, as he readily admitted once taking over the premiership as he assumes the highest office in the country when BN’s morale is at its lowest, losing its two third majority in Parliament and five states last year before making a coup in Perak recently.

Furthermore, the current economic uncertainty will definitely make Najib’s job not the most sought after as Malaysians are bracing for the worst with many economists predicting bleak outlook in months to come.

The foremost thing that Najib should do once he is officially sworn in is to restore the confidence of the people from both inside and outside the country.

So why confidence?

The recent few cases which happened have cast many doubts on many of us, what more to say foreigners on the way things are handled, thus making many of us to be skeptical.

The Perak constitutional and political crisis which has yet to be resolved has left a big question mark on the independence and impartiality of our judiciary system.

One needs not to be a lawyer to understand the great negative implication this crisis has set on the Malaysian legal system and thus instilling fear among the people that the separation of powers in this country is dead

The rule of law and separation of powers must be restored as I believe none of us would like the politicians to wield too much power, thus destroying the sanctity of a responsible good governance.

Then come the most talked about subject- corruption.

While we cannot get rid of this evil which is the root of all problems, Najib must prove himself that there will be no tolerance in fighting corruption when he takes over.

The just set-up Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) must not remain just a name changing effort by the government but it must wield sufficient uncompromising power to nab the culprits without fear or favour.

Malaysians have long loathed the rhetoric of the politicians as what we want to see now, and I repeat NOW is just a simple word- ACTION as the old saying says, action speaks louder than words.

With new batch of leaders taking over the Umno leadership, all eyes will definitely turn on to Najib and his team on how he can best turn what he said into reality or it may just turn out to be just another usual rhetoric.

Are we Malaysians who have grown extremely tired of such rhetoric anticipating another tsunami, bigger or perhaps fatal I guess, if no real action is taken to remedy the already chronic situation?

I would still give these politicians ample time to do what they have to do until the next general election.

Like the Thais say, mai penrai (never mind) as life still goes on.

After all, I am a registered voter!