A few months ago, I blogged about an Edward Ling, whom I see as the next generation leader, someone I am proud to have met.....
Today, I add on this short speech that the same Edward Ling gave during the recent DAP Convention, I sure am proud of this young man.....
"Good day,
Leaders of DAP, fellow delegates.
My name is Edward Ling, delegate from Damansara branch, now pro-tem Chairman of DAP Bandar Subang Jaya.
Let me start with a little story. There were a bunch of new recruits at boot camp. Their trainer said to them “For the next two weeks, you are going to do all of your training without changing any of your clothes”.
So for the next two weeks, the new recruits did all their exercises & training without changing their clothes. Finally after two weeks, the trainer announced “I have got good news for all of you. Today, I am going to allow you to change your underwear”
“Phew, finally!” sighed the relieved recruits.
Then the trainer continued “Tim, you change with Ken, Ken, you change with Reuben, Reuben, you change with Jack…....etc...etc...”.
The moral of the story here is that when we change, we must change for a good reason. We should not change merely for the sake of changing.
Much has been said about change. Malaysians has voted for change – our challenge to all Malaysians is to change their negative attitudes. However, DAP must also change as we propel Malaysia forward.
We speak about Malaysian Malaysia, but we need more concrete steps to achieve this.
Firstly to attract more Malays into DAP, we need to learn from the private sector – there is no need to reinvent the wheel – we can learn from some multinational companies and what they are doing. One idea is to practice what is called “diversity and inclusiveness”.
What this means is that we have to value the background, perspectives and diversity of all Malaysians, and strive to incorporate the needs and viewpoints of diverse communities in the design and implementation of policies.
A simple example would be to have more of our DAP meetings in Bahasa Malaysia. If this is not possible, have it in English, the neutral language. We should try to avoid using certain exclusive languages that only certain communities understand.
Let us not repeat the mistake of not being prepared to govern. Some of our leaders openly admitted that we were surprised to become government in the states that PR won on March 8th. Is DAP in Pakatan Rakyat prepared to govern Malaysia tomorrow? What is our blueprint for the country? What is our negotiation strategy with the rest of the coalition parties in Pakatan Rakyat? Are we actually able to propose new systems that will work immediately? I know for a fact that we have leaders who will be able to draw up a budget immediately (since we have come up with the alternative budget). However, what about other areas? We really need to attract the right experts and the professional into the party. When we become the federal government, we must not simply give positions such as ministerial positions to party leaders merely for the fact that they are party leaders. Don’t forget, we speak of meritocracy which means we have to fit the right candidates for the right jobs. Those who are not qualified for the job should not been given the task.
On a side note, it is important to reassure our voters in the last elections that the party is not sidestepping its promises to hold local council elections by having a concrete proposal on how we are going to implement this once we are in power.
I believe there are two key areas in which we must focus our energy and brain power - the Malaysian economy and education. In terms of these two key areas education, let us start to draw up a blueprint in which will truly propel Malaysia forward.
I also observe that DAP needs to rapidly grow its leadership base. Today, DAP leaders are wearing too many hats. We should strive to avoid giving too many positions to a single individual, but instead give the opportunity to raise and groom other young talented leaders. We need to do this in order for our leaders to be effective in their jobs. For example, today we have leaders who are elected representatives in both parliament and state assemblies, who hold state positions, are in the CEC and also hold a position in the CEC, etc, etc…
Let me now turn my suggestions to our friends in Pakatan Rakyat. Firstly I think it is good that we openly give suggestions as the saying goes “iron sharpens iron”.
To the groups in PKR and PAS who protested at the Bar council Forum, I totally disagree with reasoning of the protest. However, we must allow for freedom of speech as we so often talk about.
To PAS members who say that you are sidelined in Pakatan Rakyat, pleased be informed that we are equals. The statistics show that in terms of ratio, the number of councilors appointed to PAS far exceeds that of DAP.
Thank you."
Now you know what I mean about having faith in this guy.....
