The importance of reforms
Sin Chew Daily, Asia News Network, Selangor, Malaysia
Since Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over as the country's Prime Minister a month ago, he has implemented a string of new policies, including telling of truths, fighting corruption and improving the efficiency of our public services. These are good things and Malaysians naturally give their thumbs up to the initiatives.
However, we need substantial and feasible actions to ensure the success of these moves, and what we are having now are indeed not altogether satisfactory.
On the battling of corruption, the Prime Minister has proposed three solid measures to wipe out corruption, including the setting up of the region's first Anti-Corruption Academy. Nevertheless, the most important element, the efficiency of enforcement, has yet to be given a boost. To eradicate the problem of corruption, we must never neglect the adjustment of existing systems.
Has the operational efficiency of our public services improved following the PM's shock visit to the Immigration Department?
We are all well aware that given more than 900,000 public servants in the country, there should be no problem with the availability of manpower. The problem lies very much in the work culture and administrative systems. It is therefore utterly essential that the public services be streamlined.
Consequently, to achieve the desired objectives, we need more than just instructions. We need to undergo the most fundamental reforms. We must not oversee the fact that a lot of irregularities in our society have been deep-rooted and we must delay our actions no more.
Malaysians are expecting some changes from the new Prime Minister, especially reforms in our systems, failing which the new policies would not be able to take off at all.
On top of that, it is imperative that the government comes out with new policies to manage the country's economy. The country is now facing the challenges of globalization and open market. We can no longer sit on the fence and do nothing. Despite a strong showing in the country's third quarter economy, the consumption power has not been significantly improved.
The country's politics is also semi-open at this juncture, with infightings a common thing among our political parties. As long as the country's politics is not democratized, the authorities will have difficulty listening to the true stories from the people. Besides, they will also be distracted by such immaterial infightings.
In short, Malaysians are hoping that the country is changing for the better. But first and foremost, we need to make some fundamental changes and adjustments in our systems in order to encourage more people to echo the government's moves.