05 October 2015

Directly elected Prime Minister will do more good to the country

I am conclusively convinced and consumed by the notion that a Prime Minister of this country should be directly elected by the people in a general election. The present system of electing a Prime Minister by the Parliament through the consensus of the ruling coalition parties  is already obsolete as it results more harm than good to the country. The present conventional system is too prone to abuse by any leader who becomes the PM just through the consensus of the Legislative members who control the Parliament without being voted in by the people.

What we are facing now is the negative consequence of the current system. The current system was only good in a situation when the leaders of the ruling party were truly responsible and upright leaders  like The Tunku, Tun Razak and Hussein Onn. The three leaders were leaders with utmost credibility as they were purely serving the people without any quench to show personal differences with other leaders for personal glory and legacies. These three leaders had only one legacy, leaving the country safe and sound for the leaders who inherited their positions and power.   

To alternate the BN with Pakatan Rakyat will be equally at risk as the Pakatan Rakyat too will choose the Prime Minister on the consensus of parties within the Pakatan Rakyat. At the current moment Pakatan itself is facing huge problems on inter-party issues even before assuming power. Pakatan Rakyat does not even have any candidate for the post as they are warring each other among the members of its coalition. The risk of the elected representatives not being sensitive to the pulses of the people has been the main apprehension in getting a proper and appropriate leader to lead. 

If we were to practise direct election, a leader like Najib and Abdullah Badawi  or their likes couldn't have been elected in the first place.  Only the best perceived person with sterling records of contributions to the country could have the gut to to be nominated and run for the position for the Chief Executive of the country. Najib's credibility have been in suspicion even before he became the Prime Minister. Najib was chosen through the influence of Dr Mahathir's taste buds who presently is his number one enemy. Let's not ask Dr Mahathir why he chose Najib to be ascended to power. Let him keep the reasons to himself.

We have to change and keep abreast with the need of time. To maintain the current system will only benefit the elite, rent seeking leaders and those group within the corridors of the ruling party. This situation has been there for a long while. There is no more possibility of getting any good and appropriate leader if this system persist. It will remain as a fertile soil for unscrupulous and debauched leaders to hijack the leadership of this country and serve their own gullible needs.

If the election of the Prime Minister is done through direct election by the people there will be a serious and genuine competitions among the aspiring candidates to prove their worth as a leader. Only the fittest will be assuming the position of the Prime Minister. Every one of them will serve at their best of their capabilities and usually these kinds of leaders would not be in the hoards of corrupt and self serving leaders like we have now. They will be of more dignified as maintaining one's dignity is their main concerned.

It is exceedingly important for this to happen as we truly need a new system of alternating leaders if we are serious in efforts to circumvent undeserving leaders to lead the country in future. Malaysian should not resist this manner of alternating the Prime Minister especially the Malays. Malaysian have accepted and come to term that we have to have a Malay to lead. We may legislate that a Prime Minister must be a Malay and by that it means we accept any good and legitimately truthful and astute Malay leaders to be nominated as PM's candidates. Let us all think outside the box as the change is needed to keep abreast with the demands of the competitive and changing world.

The Malays should not have any apprehension in accepting this suggestion or any other proposal that bring into effect the directly elected Prime Minister by the voting public. By this we have a truly representative choice of the PM and the rakyat can take accountability to their choice. Right now the rakyat is suffering by the PM's rule who was not chosen by them.

All the while our PMs were chosen among the members of the winning coalition (BN) and endorsed by the Legislative controlled by the ruling coalition, usually from UMNO. In other words no non Malays are involved in electing the PM. Right from the day we achieved independence and not even UMNO members have had their say in electing the PM other than much less than ten percent of members were given the chance to vote and decide who should lead the nation in a general assembly of the party.

A Malay leader who becomes the victor in the direct election as the PM will be truly a leader who is rounded and well accepted by the true and genuine choice of the general voting public.He will be the real leader of all Malaysians and not the choice of only few thousands Malay UMNO delegates.

It would then leave a minimal risk of playing politics along racial line as the choice is the choice of every Malaysian. This is because the winning Malay candidate will be a person who is magnanimous and with utmost credibility who will manage the country fairly and equitably among the diverse racial, tradition and ways of life that we have.

In short direct election for the post of the PM will result in having a Malay leader who is well accepted by Malaysian from all races who believe and have confidence in him. This blog have been repeatedly emphasizing the need to achieve the nation's ultimate, the national unity.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

to b a piem in msia...it needs only 300million..1mil to each ketua bahagian umno...litle bit to mkt.....kaw taw here kaw taw there..enough ma..the fund..potluck la...everybody give here some there some bznz man give somemore..more than enough man..then after winning ar...see project.n where to take wat to give..like that la malaysia.n esp umno..thinkng of malay..umno fight for malay.bullshit la..this people ar only talk..talk..when meeting come...they talk the same one.n every year like that..lifting the malay maruah n economy wat not...until now.where malay go..same.never change one...the talking guy n some the listening the talking guy..yes ..they got the rich chances..others ..just the same..year after year..baju melayu to go to meeting also must sponsor..so..I thinking ..better la to follow ur idea mr...good one the idea..but umno like this idea or not..well guys this is almost how our peeem to be...speeks in the eglish circle...long live zahid...or until nxt pru..u lll see changes...

Anonymous said...

Sir, I respectfully disagree. The Westminster system of government that we inherited from the British is a good one, despite its flaws. Many other countries, especially in the Commonwealth run their politics on that basis. It is a good system, I believe, and should not be discarded on a whim. The problem in Malaysia is that the institutions revolving around this backbone have been subverted beyond recognition - the legislature and the judiciary have been compromised horribly to the extent that they now exist only to prop up the executive.

The principles of federalism has been whittled down so much that what we have is effectively a unitary state now. Where are all the states' powers gone to? Why is East Malaysia run like a colony of Putrajaya? If we decentralise power and return some of it to the states, they can govern more effectively. Then you might even see more balanced and equal development. Instead of having just an ever growing (and horribly crowded) KL, you could have 7-12 good sized cities in the whole country, each a generating hub of economy and commerce to everyone's benefit.

You write about doing away with current system that we have. Well, I don't think it will happen in our lifetime, but I do look at envy at the proportional representation systems of European countries and how the coalition governments they tend to produce work so well there. It's all so constructive compared to what we have here: politicians cooperating and compromising in the name of delivering their best to their populations. What an idea!

I apologise for ranting somewhat. Have a good week ahead.

Unknown said...

prime minister post...

how do you directly elect ??
this not presidential vote...

albert magic said...

As salam mualaikum tuan aspan,
Terlebeh dahulu saya meminta maaf kerana menulis dalam bahasa melayu kerana saya sekolah tak berapa tinggi
dan kurang mahir dalam penulisan bahasa inggeris
Tak boleh ke kita memilih perdana menteri tidak bedasarkan bangsa, kan kita semua orang malaysia jadi sesiapa yang terbaik harus memimpim, di usa mereka boleh menerima obama sebagai president, tak ada guna nya jika perdana menteri orang melayu tetapi tidak beramanah, perdana menteri mesti lah orang malaysia dan menjaga kebajikan seluruh rakyaat malaysia

Anonymous said...

Saudara albert magic yang saya hormati,
Cadangan anda memang bernas, tapi malangnya ramai rakyat negara kita masih menitikberatkan aspek kaum, bangsa dan agama dalam politik. Seperti saudara, saya juga memegang pada harapan bahawa suatu hari kelak seorang pemimpin dipilih berdasarkan kebolehannya dan bukan sahaja kerana bangsanya. Bukankah semua warga Malaysia inginkan hanya yang terbaik untuk masa depan kita?

giorgio said...

Well written