MINISTERS should start the ball rolling by empathising with others first before the idea can cascade down to their fellow Malaysians.
This is the challenge posed by former de-facto Law Minister Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim in his reaction to the Merdeka Day call by newly minted Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob for Malaysians to be “prihatin” by adopting a culture of caring citizens.
“Unfortunately, humility is not always the trademark of most of our leaders. We not only have the most oversized Cabinet in the modern world, but our Ministers – generally speaking, with few exceptions – are quite elitist in their lifestyles,” he lamented in his latest Facebook posting which reminisces the spirit of Merdeka.
“This makes it difficult for them to empathise. Our ministers rarely portray a down to earth and humble image to the rakyat.”
This is in stark contrast to the image of their counterparts in Britain, Japan, Singapore or New Zealand, according to Zaid.
“In those countries, ministers do not have many police outriders who pompously halt traffic so that some Ministers can pass through. They usually drive regular cars and go on holidays to places where ordinary people go. Most of the time, they fly commercial airlines,” he noted.
“They don’t wear expensive watches with brand names that most of us can barely pronounce. They live in comfortable housing but not in the most expensive neighbourhood. Angela Merkel does not even have a maid, and a former British PM flew EasyJet when going on holidays.”
Back home, however, Malaysian Ministers tend to rub shoulders with the rich and famous regularly.
“They fly first class, of course and occasionally in private jets. When one surrounds oneself with wealthy tycoons, one becomes insulated and detached from the lives of ordinary people. Prihatin then becomes more difficult to practice,” observed Zaid.
“If our leaders are so enamoured by pomp and wealth, they can’t be prihatin to the poor. They can show cosmetic concerns for the Orang Asli or those living in low-cost apartments or the villages and remote islands off Sabah, but their empathy may only be skin deep.”
Levelling his criticism that Malaysian leaders tend to be fascinated with big projects; Zaid said they “want to change the KL Master Plan and to de-gazette forest reserves in Selangor so that they can be developed by the rich tycoons”.
“They want to spend more on 5G although the poor rural students have no access to the internet, and 5G will not give them access,” he revealed.
“They build new airports, new elevated highways in Petaling Jaya, while the poor are still using pour-flush toilets with no septic tanks in the smaller towns and villages.”
Zaid said he agrees with PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that race-based policies are no longer workable.
“But equally unworkable and untenable is class-based. The rich have taken far too much for far too long,” he asserted.
“We can drastically change this with a sufficient dose of prihatin among our leaders. It’s a long shot, but the people must not lose hope by selecting the right leaders to govern the country.” – Sept 2, 2021
