LETTER | Public appeal to PM Anwar Ibrahim - our hope

LETTER | Dear PM Anwar,

First and foremost my congratulations and appreciation for your willingness to sacrifice your time and energy to lead and make Malaysia great again.

This is a thankless job. Some may support you but others may loathe you. For whatever you do, I hope you put Malaysia's interest ahead of any individuals, states and political entities.

This country is on the path of self-destruction because of personal interests and politics. I hope and pray that you will consider the following suggestions.

1. Any suggestions or proposals by any member states must take in the context of strengthening Malaysia as a nation. For example, Sarawak's request to have autonomy in health and education should be disregarded. Still, we need them to be involved in the policy-making decision at the federal level and help a unique national school programme which applies nationwide. English needs to be included in national education as a second language. National schools need to be revamped as national schools. Similarly with health. Sarawak Health officers must be placed in MOH Putrajaya.

2. Ethnic and religious-based political parties need to be managed in the context of Malaysia. Political parties that use ethnicity and religion are dividing the nation. Religion is a matter of the exclusive rights of the state/sultan. As such, political parties cannot use religion as their name or in their political drive. Similarly, ethnic-based politics should not be allowed to continue. Existing ethnic-based parties need to merge. As it is, two opposition political parties continue spewing lies using ethnicity and religion. This is not acceptable to our East Malaysian states and is against the principle of Malaysia.

3. There is a need to enhance clarity on the process of selecting a PM in the constitution. Such a matter cannot be left to the king or sultans. It is unlikely, moving forward any political parties have the same experience as BN or Umno of ruling the country in the past. It is in the best interest of Malaysia that a change of process is done to ensure clarity of leadership succession takes place by incorporating popular votes and the support of appointed MPs. PM must be selected among members of the party that received the most popular vote. This will ensure the total representation of Malaysians.

4. Much has been spoken about the structural alignment of the civil service, and separation of powers between prosecution and AG. The structural independence of the judiciary, civil service, police and armed forces must be put in place. Political interference must be removed from Police Commission and the Armed Forces Council (AFC). The soldier's remuneration system and veteran retirement benefits must be decided by the AFC and not the PSD as per the provision of the AFC Act.

5. Petrol subsidy rationalisation is important and we hope that the implementation is spread over three years so that everyone including the industry has ample time to adjust. There is a need to ensure that a fair system is developed without burdening those retirees above 60.

6. Modernisation of government hospitals under the Health Ministry must continue. IJN should be used as the benchmark. MOH must stop forcing IJN to send its existing patients back to MOH because MOH is not ready. MOH is running at a very high cost because of inefficiency and a "rental-seeking business structure" involving vendors. The corporatisation of MOH hospitals, with the development of private MOH primary care units, needs to be integrated with National Health Financing Scheme. It's time to implement rather than waste money doing studies since at least three studies have been commissioned since the 90s.

These are my wishlist and I hope you can consider them for the benefit of the nation and future generations.

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