Yoursay: No M’sia Baru in sight without change and reform

YOURSAY | ‘It's not rocket science to realise that you will reach the same destination if you use the same road map.’

'History repeating, Harapan heading in same direction as BN'

Kangkung: There is nothing new under the sun as the Pakatan Harapan government mirrors the Umno government in more ways than one.

The only good thing is the Harapan government 'seems' to be working towards getting rid of corruption. Other than that, it is the same old story. Race and religion continue to divide the country like never before.

Umno-PAS has won in Cameron Highlands and they will win in Semenyih as they are playing the race and religion card.

Bersatu Youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has said Harapan may lose GE15 if it pushes reforms too fast. Indeed, what he is really trying to say is Umno's policies are here to stay.

TehTarik: It's not rocket science to realise that you will reach the same destination if you use the same road map.

It is now clear that Malaysia Baru was a fallacy sold by Harapan to win GE14. Without economic reforms, the economic stagnation will continue with the country stuck in the middle-income trap.

The ringgit has fallen 25 percent compared to the Thai baht and our foreign exchange reserves are half that of our northern neighbour. Purchasing power of the average Malaysian is destined to fall.

Hoodwinking Harapan supporters will come with a heavy price in GE15.

Anonymous_760572c6: Universiti Malaya professor of political economy Terrence Gomez, this is a transition phase. I think as an academician, you may find it difficult to accept anything that is less than ideal. It takes time to show to show the result.

Anyway, thanks for highlighting the matter. Keep it up as I think your points are valid.

The rakyat are more patient, I hope, because things cannot get any worse than prior to GE14 and can only get better.

Go check Singapore, most GLCs (government-linked companies) are run by politically-linked personnel and they seem to do pretty well. Why? Maybe you can shed some light on that for us.

ChuenTick: Thank you, Gomez, for pointing explicitly the writing on the wall. DAP senator Liew Chin Tong appears to have missed these points when he wrote his piece in defence of Mahathir.

Mo Saladin: It is clear that we are all edgy. Our initial high expectations on reforms and economic development still remain unfulfilled.

I think collectively, we are expecting way too much from a 93-year-old man to change and be an economic moderniser overnight.

Despite all the promising rhetoric, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is deeply a political animal and his stint at office this time around will be nothing more than consolidating power for his fledgling party, rather than ensuring thorough reforms or shared wealth for the nation.

It is very critical at this juncture that Harapan does not implode and squander its mandate to govern.

Any divisive agenda within Mahathir’s party or his coalition allies would only distract them from implementing the economic reforms that the nation badly needs.

Anonymous_1537050742: Spot on, Gomez. DAP’s Dr Boo Cheng Hau's call for Mahathir to resign is not outrageous after all.

It should be the voters who voted for Harapan in GE14 who should be outraged by now.

Clever Voter: It is not difficult to be an armchair critic. Exactly what Gomez is doing. That's also exactly what the same people in government today did when they were in opposition not too long ago.

Habits of bureaucracy are deeply rooted. Change demands efforts and time. Gomez, of all people, should know this from his experience with Universiti Malaya.

Understandably, the current government faces both internal and external challenges. First, they do not have the experience and capacity to drive change.

Many of the proposed reforms are impossible to implement without the necessary approval. The rule of law demands a longer route, take the case of former premier Najib Abdul Razak's charges. It is hard to be an optimist given the current circumstances.

For Harapan to succeed, they need to ensure the seeds for real change are being sowed now. If they haven't done something about this, they don't deserve a second term.

The Malay agenda is not going to go away. For this to succeed, the government has to facilitate the process of creating new wealth. To date, many are not convinced this is being done.

Indeed, there is much to be done given the challenges ahead.

TCM: I think we are putting too many noble expectations on our politicians. Politicians will always be politicians, swaying with public opinion and always balancing (or scheming if you prefer) to ensure an extended stay in Hotel Putrajaya.

May 9 was never about expecting the alternative government to outperform the previous one in all aspects within 10 months after a surprise victory. It was about finally getting a chance to choose the government we want (or to kick out that which we don't).

Sure, the current ones are still practising that which they opposed vehemently earlier but this is still the best chance we have at changing in the long term.

Want the old regime back so that it could have a chance at not moving some more?

Léon Moch: How not to emulate the previous ruling party if many of those in the current one came from there?

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