Who can still remember what happened exactly a year ago?

LETTER | It’s this day a year ago when we Malaysians finally claimed back our beloved country from years of mismanaged administration.

I am grateful to have witnessed and been part of the change. I remembered staying close to my laptop and gleaning over the phone throughout the day of the 14th general election, feeling so anxious over the polling counts.

I got upset when the internet line was too slow or got interrupted. I have also been touched by the number of Malaysians who went all out to ensure clean voting - even those from overseas. They formed their own groups and provided support bringing back votes from those who were unable to come back.

I jumped with joy whenever I saw the new government’s increased votes. I recalled bursting with tears of joy when they announced the good news - it is like being given a new lease of life.

I remembered sleeping very late that day, simply because I did not want to miss anything.

A year ago, we were hopeful.

And then a year later, there were already some changes, although they are not that significant yet - but at least something gets moving.

It is still too early for us to compare what the new government has done in a year, versus the previous government. Come on, be realistic, have faith and be patient that all good things will come. But, how long more do we need to wait?

Well, change is a process...

There is no magic wand that can speed things up. And change happens (for the better) if we allow it to happen, even more for those in the government. They should embrace change from within themselves and then radiate it to those around them.

The day that we got back our country is the result of that strong desire to change. And alas, the change happened when everyone came together, regardless of whether they are from the then existing ruling coalition or opposition. Everyone set aside their differences to save the country. It is the merging of hope and dreams, and that spirit should remain until today! The battle is far from over. Do not rest on your laurels!

Nevertheless, as a Malaysian (and a parent), I look forward to seeing the following:

1. Blockchain the next general election (GE15)

We want transparency and traceable votes. To ensure that every vote is from the legitimate voters, no more suddenly missing ballot boxes, stained fingers, possible corruptions and to keep up with the technology era, why not Blockchain the voting process?

Surely the new government can commission a special task team to look into this and consider implementing this before the next election - if it doesn’t want to lose out unfairly.

2. Flexibility to change a nonperforming minister or agency head

Let’s face it. Becoming a head honcho is a job on its own. In normal circumstances, anyone with a job has a key performance index (KPI) to meet and can easily be replaced if he or she is unable to perform.

It should be the same for ministers and heads of agencies. If they can’t perform after a certain period, they should be replaced with one who can do the job. No need to wait until their terms are finished – two years are good enough for us to gauge if that person is suitable or otherwise.

Competent ministers/heads of agencies should know that they have a time-based KPI to meet – yes it’s tough because we want the best men/women in the job, don’t we? This is not about who is more popular – it’s about who can best perform the tasks and bring positive changes that benefit the New Malaysia, even if it’s an unpopular decision.

3. Strong enforcement and deployment of Animal Act

I am truly appalled with the rising number of animal cruelties lately. Although we have the Animal Act 1953, revised in 2015 – apparently both East and West Malaysia have different Acts – yes, even if it’s for the same country!

I don’t get it why we cannot streamline this law. After all, laws and policies are manmade and can be altered.

And despite news of sick people taking matters into their hands poisoning and killing cats/dogs, disposing pets in open areas like markets or five-foot ways, unkempt zoos and animals parks, foreigners killing and eating our strays – I did not see any ministry (or minister) come down to assess the situation and work with local councils and NGOs.

I would like to see active participation of the ministry working together with the members of the public. To know that it’s compulsory to teach our children in school to be compassionate to animals gives us hope that our future generations will definitely be better than ours.

Even matters pertaining to the monitoring of our endangered species is being pushed to agencies, and to whom do these agencies report to? Surely there should be someone in charge, right? But who?

4. Improved education

We need to study how the Finnish, the people of Finland, top the world’s education.

The Ministry of Education should form an independent team to study and bring back suggestions on how the existing education system or syllabus can be improvised. Do we really need all the subjects taught in school today, or can some of them be optional? Do we really need a lot of homework?

And instead of being too academic-oriented, we should encourage fun-based learning to gauge the attention of children (and teens) and get them to focus on skills and team-based activities.

Skills-based education encourages both children and teens to be hands-on, while team-based activities help them to learn how to nurture relationships and manage them.

5. More tolerance and openness

We need to stop playing the race and religion cards in election campaigns and in the media. Yes, don’t even publish them. If it’s posted on social media – get the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to take it down. Yeah, it sounds drastic, but maybe that’s what we need.

Sometimes I wish there is just one race - the ‘human’ race. And one religion - and that is ‘being human’. All these categorisations of race and religion only invite unwanted remarks and attention of some sort.

While I know we can’t do much about this category, I just hope to see less of using race and religion to manipulate others as we frontier the Malaysia Baru.

And how do we do this? Through continuous education.

We need to make “unity” a compulsory subject in school – via class and school activities, perhaps? The children are our only hope. Teach them well and they will lead the way.

6. Get rewards for merit – not race

We need to start encouraging everyone (yes, all Malaysians) to do well and get rewarded over their efforts, regardless of their race.

By favouring – even with the good intention to “help” – will only lead to complacency and this is not good for Malaysia Baru.

We need capable men and women to drive our country to greatness, regardless of their race/belief.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.