Do you think it is time to change the government?

Firstly, I am sorry to inform you that the Dear Young Malaysian advertisement (click here) will not appear tomorrow in The Star. The management of The Star has found the advertisement a little too sensitive for their publication.

Malaysians who do not have any political leaning, like me, have yet to decide who to vote in the next General Elections. In summarizing our current psyche, deep inside, consciously for some and subconsciously for others, we are debating whether we need to change the government or do we change the way the government works. I, for one, believe that I would need to lay my emotions and biasness aside and help to change Malaysia, one MP at a time. Thus the call for the Malaysian young to rise up to become the mechanism of check and balance.

But when the most widely read newspaper in the country can find an advertisement calling the Malaysian young to base their judgment on the Constitution, Reason and Conscience as ‘sensitive’, one wonders whether we have crossed the threshold of fear to an unacceptable level.

To be totally honest, my rational mind suggests nothing short of a slow, ground up change an MP at a time as our way forward. The next few months will be a critical period for people like me who have yet to decide who to vote. It is silly things like this which I think will tip the balance.

So, do you think we should change the government? Or do you think it is still not too late to change the way the current government works?

A call to action for Young Malaysians

Dear Brother and Sister Malaysians,

Unless The Star fails to carry it, you will find this full page ad on Friday, the 16^th December in the news daily.

I would like to be a part of the effort to make Malaysian politics better and I need your help. Please do whatever you can to the best of your abilities to make this message read by as many people as possible, especially the young.

We must be one of those who take action, not just those who complain. The future is for us to change. We have a role to play in making this country great.

I thank you for your enrolment in this cause.

Let us add value and make things happen,

anas zubedy

Dear Young Malaysian

Rise up!

You are needed as The Third Force!

Your country needs you to rise to the occasion. Malaysia needs you to rise above partisan politics. We need you to report directly to the Constitution, to Reason, and to your Conscience.

Let me explain.

Essentially, we no longer have an opposition. A country without an opposition is a country without a mechanism for check and balance. Today, our political actors are divided into two parties, fighting for seats of power. We are moving into a two-party system. While it provides us new opportunities, it also poses new problems.

In a two-party system, too often each side becomes preoccupied attacking the other - trying to make their side look better, and the other look bad. We cannot blame them as it is their modus operandi to get the most votes.

But we can add value and make things better. You can make sure we get the best to represent us.

We are a nation with 30 million rakyat. Are we saying that we cannot find 222 of our best people to represent us in parliament?

We need to send out a clear message to our political leaders. We want to be spoiled for choice. We want them to offer us only the best – the smartest, uncorrupted, hardworking, sound and healthy candidates. We want to be in a situation whereby no matter whom we choose, we win!

Young Malaysians, please do not take the easy way out and just follow this or that political leaning. Shape your own future, use your own judgment, trust your own thoughts, be confident. You have the intelligence, technology and passion to make things right. You must scrutinize every candidate, no matter which party they are from. Ask them questions, check them out, make them listen.

Why?

Because you, and your brother and sister Malaysians, deserve the best. You have the power to make things happen.

What can you do?

1.Be non-partisan. Plan actions guided by the Constitution, Reason and your Conscience.

2.Engage and enroll all your friends into The Third Force. Spread this message. Make this call what you talk about whenever you get together.

3.Form small groups to engage all the potential MPs in your constituency immediately. Tell them what you want. Stress that you are not going to give them a free ride.

4.Make it clear that you want them to put down their promises in black and white. Don’t let them off easy.

5.Make it your 2012 resolution - to be Malaysia’s check and balance, The Third Force.

6.Make a promise to yourself that you will not ever give any potential candidate a free ride.

Young Malaysians, thank you for listening. Remember, you cannot afford to be biased towards the left or the right, because you are needed at the forefront. You are the nation’s hope.

You are The Third Force!!!

Rise up!

Let us add value and make things happen,

anas zubedy

zubedy (m) sdn bhd

http://letusaddvalue.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/zubedy

twitter:@anaszubedy

How and who to vote?
Monyet King's added ideas on how and who to vote
Why register as a voter?

Fridays are not Muslim off days

I refer to The Star report today ‘Penangites in weekend conundrum’

Most Muslim majority countries around the world practice off days on Fridays.

In Malaysia, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu have weekends on Fridays and Saturdays. Many took it for granted that this act is an Islamic one.

In fact, the practice of not working on Fridays seems to go against the Quran as The Quran clearly suggest we go seek God’s bounty as the prayer ends. Not go home and lepak.

Here is the proof,

“O YOU who have attained to faith! When the call to prayer is sounded on the day of congregation, hasten to the remembrance of God, and leave all worldly commerce: this is for your own good, if you but knew it. And when the prayer is ended, disperse freely on earth and seek to obtain [something] of God's bounty; but remember God often, so that you might attain to a happy state! Quran 62 : 9-10

So, all this hullabaloo about Friday is an off day in Islam is unQuranic.

Youth As Catalysts - In house forum by JUST

" It is time for us to come together and build a new world through the power of the individul and the community. we are here to take our lives back into our own hands. We are not acknowledging subservience. We are declaring independance. Our demand is not to those in power, it is to those individuals still silenced. Join us. We are not afraid. We are not waiting. We are working to make a better world."

Peace!

Come and join JUST this Saturday to their in-house forum " Youth As Catalyst" details are as below:

Date: 10 December 2011

Time: 10.30 a.m - 12.30 p.m

Venue: JUST office, JKR 1258, Jalan Telok 5/2A, Jalan Gasing, 46000, Petaling Jaya,Selangor

Moderator: Mr. Louay Ghassan

Speakers:

1 ) Mr. Marjanie Salic Macasalong ( a Moro Filipino studying Islamic and Other Civilization in ISTAC)

2) Mr. Shogi Hamannop (former IYEP 5 participant who is also a teacher - in - the - making)

Let's hear the powerful voice of today's youth. RSVP at muza@just-international.org or call us (03-77812494) Seats are limited!!!

Integrity and 1Malaysia by Dr. Chandra Muzaffar

It is seldom realised that integrity and governance are intimately linked to 1Malaysia. If 1Malaysia is about uniting diverse communities, integrity and governance are concerns which transcend ethnic boundaries and create a bond of solidarity among the people. There is no need to emphasise that the other part of the 1Malaysia slogan --- People First; Performance Now---- is also of direct relevance to governance.

Issues of integrity and governance have come to the fore once again in the wake of the Auditor-General’s Report for 2010. The annual Audit Report has over the years emerged as a regular reminder to the Malaysian nation of the importance of accountability and effective financial management in the public sphere. It has become an indispensable feature of Malaysian democracy.

If the Auditor-General’s Report commands credibility in our democracy, it is largely because we have been blessed with honest and competent Auditor-Generals for many decades. They have enjoyed a high degree of autonomy and independence in preparing their reports. The Malaysian public appreciates the quiet courage and the unwavering integrity that they have demonstrated in their work.

In his 2010 Report the Auditor-General, Tan Sri Ambrin Buang, acknowledges that 25 ministries and 35 government departments have improved their financial performance. While most ministries and departments have done well, the Auditor-General also noted a number of shortcomings. He attributed these to lack of supervision and poor training.

What is distressing is that many of the shortcomings have been recurring year in and year out. Government officials have been giving the same old excuses. It is this that has irked the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid. He has rightly asked the government to buck up in the way public funds are managed.

How can one check the recurrence of shortcomings such as delays in approvals, inadequate planning, above market price purchases, ministerial and departmental over-spending, and so on? Better monitoring and more efficient and skilled staff would help. But perhaps a more effective solution is firm punishment of the culprit, regardless of his position. If a big head has to roll, let it be. Indeed, punishment should be as punitive and as public as possible. Transferring the wrongdoer to another department or freezing his salary increment for a year or two for a serious malpractice is totally unacceptable.

Sometimes, the real culprit may not even be a public servant. He may be just the pawn of his political master, a Minister or Deputy Minister or a Mentri Besar, whose hand remains hidden. There have been a couple of instances in the past where some evidence of this mode of operation had surfaced through the Courts. The PAC can perhaps play a role in exposing the involvement of politicians in such shenanigans.

In the ultimate analysis, it is the political elite who can set the right moral tone for the public services as a whole. If the core of the national leadership is clean, it will have a strong and powerful impact upon the rest of society. It is when that core fails to live up to the ethical principles that it professes, that individuals at all levels of society become emboldened “to dip their hands into the till.”

The crucial role of the leadership core in ensuring that society does not succumb to corruption is one of those eternal truths embodied in the teachings of Islam and all our religions. It is a shared spiritual and moral principle that should be put into practice in earnest if we want to build a society “united by virtues” to use the words of the late Professor Syed Hussein Alatas, who was perhaps one of the earliest scholars in Asia to disseminate awareness and understanding of corruption as a scourge to humankind. Incidentally, Alatas was also the first Malaysian academic to analyse the Auditor-General’s Reports in the sixties for wastages and leakages.

Professor Chandra Muzaffar is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Yayasan 1Malaysia.

Petaling Jaya.

2 December 2011.

How and who to vote in the next elections?

Lately, many have been asking about the next elections.

Some suggest voting for anything but Barisan, and some would say vote for anything but Pakatan. Some say votes for Barisan is a vote for UMNO, and some say a vote for DAP is a vote for PAS or vice versa, etc. etc.

I find these not only very myopic, but also, plain unthinking. It is such unthinking behaviour of giving someone a free ride based not on careful consideration of individual merit, but based solely on party partisanship, which in the long run helps create a corrupt government. In the short run, we have incompetent lawmakers.

While political parties have a big role to play, we must vote first for the individuals. This is because when we make this stand, no political party in their right mind will dare to choose incompetent candidates to represent them. When we choose the individual carefully, rationally and without partisanship, we will force and ensure that only good people become our leaders. When we have good people in the parliament, we need not worry which party they come from because good people will find a way to work together for the better of the nation.

There are people from both sides as well as some independents who I think deserve a place – people like Mujahid Yusof (PAS), Tok Pa (UMNO), Saifuddin Abdullah (UMNO), Malik Imtiaz (MCLM), Nik Nazmi (PKR), Tan Lian Hoe (Gerakan), Chia Kwang Chye (Gerakan), Zairil Khir Johari (political secretary to Lim Guan Eng), Teo Nie Ching, Jagdeep and Gobind Singh Deo (DAP), Ti Lian Ker (MCA)…even individuals like Jonson Chong (former PKR), Tony Fernandez, Idris Jala, Marina Mahathir, Hariz Ibrahim (People’s Parliament), Syed Akbar Ali (pro-UMNO blogger), Art Harun (blogger,lawyer) and Chew Hoong Ling (the selfless lady who donated her liver to save a complete stranger) and many more, are worthy candidates.

I have set some criteria to help me decide how to vote and I would like to share it with you. If you have any suggestions, I would be happy to hear from you.

I vote in the Lembah Pantai constituency and I will be asking candidates to fulfill and sign the criteria below. These are the minimum standard requirements that they must keep as a Member of Parliament. In other words, I want them to commit to the list in black and white. Although we cannot make it legally binding, we can use the signed document as a proof when we deal with them after they are in office. We can use it as a moral, ethical reminder.

This is the list:

1. Speak on behalf of all Malaysians regardless of race or religion, at all times and never fight only for their community. If they fight for their community, they must balance it up with equal consideration for others.

2. Within the first year of their appointment, take a course to understand all the religious and cultural practices of Malaysians

3. Show clear appreciation and support that the Malay and indigenous customs form our core culture, while the Chinese, Indian and other cultures play strong supporting roles as part and parcel to form the unique Malaysia brand

4. Always practice empathy; e.g. - refuse to allow beef or pork to be served or sold in all government-related premises, projects and all party activities.

5. Be able to speak Malay fluently, and English comfortably. If they cannot, they have to take courses to learn and pass a proficiency test within their first six months.

6. Publicly declare their assets with a third party register

7. Propose to make the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) report directly to Parliament, within six months.

8. Promote economic policies that provide support to all Malaysians in the bottom 40% strata of society, regardless of race

9. Propose the enactment of non-party hopping laws within six months and continue to fight for it until the law is in place.

10. Initiate a process to work towards one-stream schools which also adequately provides for all who want to learn their vernacular languages, to be established within the next fifteen years. Propose a constitutional change to make this happen.

11. Go through a basic management program for the management of self, people and organizations. (I would recommend reading Peter Drucker’s books on management which includes all the essentials)

12. Refuse to work just for politics and your party, but for the people first. As such you will be prepared to go against your own bosses and fellow party members if they cannot meet the minimum standard requirements. When it comes to what is best for our nation, it is above politics.

13. Always look for the middle path that can move us forward; even when being pragmatic at times will mean choosing a workable compromise that will be better in the long run for the nation.

If you have any additional ideas, please email me at anas@zubedy.com