Walk with us......

I find the letter by Meng Yee in Malaysiakini ; his thoughts most refreshing and I reproduce it here in full.

Yes, The Change that came on 08/03/2008 must also come with a change in our mindset, otherwise it would come to nothing. We must walk that talk - and be willing to "soil our hands" to effect the changes that we want.

Indeed, "For eveil to succeed, it is enough that the good do nothing...."

Come, lets walk together...hand in hand, side by side.....

We're the shareholders, not bosses

Meng Yee Apr 20, 09 4:59pm

I refer to the letter YB, don't forget who the real bosses are.I understand the writer's trend of thought and idea and in principle he is right. Those in public service serve the rakyat and govern the country for the good of the nation as a whole. They are like he said the general managers or CEOs and we are the board of directors, the stakeholders. They are accountable to us, the rakyat. However, I caution against the use of the ‘boss' analogy simply because if you spend anytime on the ground, you will understand what the state assembly person goes through. Members of the rakyat, truly act like bosses and insist on calling their state representatives at all times of the day. They give instructions to do this and to do that and threaten like the assembly person owes them a big favour. You may say, that's part of the job and who in the first place asked them to run for office? Let me tell you as one who was involved with an opposition party prior to March 8, 2008. Let me remind many what the sentiments were like then. Whenever there was any call for support or anything to do with the opposition, most would run away as if the opposition were lepers. Few were willing to sacrifice. Many lived in fear, tremendous fear. There was blatant injustice then as there is now. There was corruption and daylight robbery from our national coffers but as long as there was rice on the table, many closed an eye or even both eyes. The judiciary and the constitution were raped and abused as if the ends justified the means. Even the royalty were snubbed. Many, however, were to afraid to speak up. The opposition workers were many who had nothing to lose. Either they were young and idealistic or old and poor and not much to lose to the BN gestapo. Some of the leaders today are from this pool of people who joined the opposition parties then. They are the ones with guts, who are farsighted and visionary. They were prepared to face the consequences of BN's gestapo. Many are young and adapt well to the new politics. So I hope that many will understand that these YBs serve the country and have sacrificed much. We are the stakeholders and we should support them rather than lord over them. Malaysians are very good at complaining but when it comes to rolling up our sleeves, we shy away. How will our young respect us when we are afraid to get our hands soiled? Stakeholders must be involved and interested to work to ensure the CEO succeeds. Was it not Kennedy who said ‘Ask not what your nation can do for you but rather what you can do for the nation'? And Bush Sr who dreamed of the ‘thousand points of light' in relation to volunteerism. It is time Malaysians show commitment by joining a political party and show outright open support for what they believe is right and true. Every decision made in Parliament and in the state assemblies affects us and if we remain armchair critics and finger-pointing directors than we will progress nowhere. We appreciate those who work feverishly for the good of the rakyat because we are not willing to stand in place for what they have done. We appreciate their day and night service as many have loss their personal space and freedom. Having said this, we will kick out those who are self-serving as we have seen many of them in the last 50 years. So perhaps a better analogy is ‘stakeholders' in a company and not bosses.