Political reforms say it all

Lim Sue Goan, Sinchew Daily, Asia News Network/Selangor, Malaysia

And before too long, it will be time for us to bid the past adieu.

Looking back, the past one year has had a fair share of malpractices in various sectors, including the abuse of power by the police, the ear-squat scandal highlighting the infringement of human rights, heavy losses incurred by government-linked companies, gross defects prevalent among government projects, deteriorating ranking of our public universities, accentuated racist politics, and lack of proper reasoning among senior government officials and elected representatives, among many other things.

But with so many things taking place around us without the slightest will of reforms, even the report on the country's police force filed by the royal committee has not been dealt with in respect, the mentality to protect and shield the police remains very much alive.

It appears that many of the old concepts continue to be deeply rooted, such that the violators are spared from the deserved penalty, while the whistleblowers come under assault. Such mentality has thrown the country far behind in the race of globalization, and dealt a further blow on the already bruised national competitiveness.

As such, to break through the current quandary, the key lies very much in political and psychological reforms. Reforms must be initiated at the top before they can wield their influences on the grassroots, hence transform the entire nation from the fundamentals.

Political reforms entail the elimination of quotas and luring of talented Malaysians of all ethnic origins. Only by discarding racial taboos are we able to hire foreign experts or Westerners to run our government-linked companies like Malaysia Airlines and Tenaga, reverting losses and mismanagement while saving the nation and her people from indiscreet squander of resources.

Only if we can emancipate ourselves from the psychological confines of bumiputra equity are we able to throw our arms wide open to invite foreign buyers to purchase shares listed on Bursa Saham Kuala Lumpur (stock exchange), so that these foreign partners can bring in the skills, technology, knowhow, professionalism and management techniques we badly need.

We must shift our focus from grooming bumiputra entrepreneurs to grooming national entrepreneurs in order to produce more competent and capable entrepreneurs based on meritocracy.

Other areas of political reforms include the setting of a long-term objective to establish a non-racist political ideology for the country, and bury the existing racist politics once and for all, so that the country's progress will not be hampered by race-driven politics.

Only political reforms can help us achieve true liberalization, democracy and civilization. Only if we can bring about political reforms can we slowly move into other areas, enhance our management levels, including more liberalized and competitive economy.

Consequently, to make visible progress in the year to come, we must implement political reforms. Without reforms, there is no way we can look forward to a more bountiful year.