Cerita yang wajar dicontohi! Selamat Datang ke Falsafah Politik Baru Abad 3,000

Selamat Datang ke Dunia Politik yang serba baru. Inilah yang sebenarnya seharusnya berlaku. Bukannya kacau – bilau, bergaduh tak tentu pasal.

Bila berkempen dalam pilihanraya, kita semestinya akan berbeza pendapat. Bila keputusan diumumkan, maka wajar yang kalah menyokong yang menang. Tambahan pula yang menang itu, akan memberikan perkhidmatannya yang terbaik kepada kita, samada kita suka beliau ataupun tidak.

Jadi berubahlah. Cukup – cukuplah bergaduh!

Sila baca cerita dibawah.
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Columnists: Down 2 Earth - Terence Fernandez ( Every Tuesday & Friday )
For the common good, The Sun, 29 Jan 2010

TODAY, I’d like to bring you a feel good story of how two people despite their political differences can work together for the common good.

She is the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) assemblywoman for Rawang, while he is a long-serving Umno member and local community leader.

During the election campaign, they worked tirelessly for their respective parties but when the results came through and she won, Gan Pei Nei and Mohd Saufi Shafie set aside their differences to work together for the benefit of the constituents.

When I met them a week ago in Rawang, they were marshalling efforts to save one school site from encroachment by housing developers, and land meant for a mosque from being taken over by a hypermarket.

These two issues will be reported in the next few days).

Whether I like it or not, she is now my boss. So as a community leader it is my job to assist her in resolving the people’s problems," said Mohd Saufi, who is the chairman of the Zone 19 Joint Action Committee.

Due to her petite size and youth, Mohd Saufi said he had his doubts that Gan would be up to the job, as her only claim to fame before the elections was campaigning against high-tension cables.

"But I have a lot of respect for her as she is a hard worker and as I have a responsibility to the people in my area, I must work with her," he told me over lunch courtesy of Gan at their favourite nasi campur shop.

Mohd Saufi is a rare breed indeed as instead of playing petty party politics and sabotaging Gan’s efforts he gives her credit where it is due: "For four years we had no street lights. I met with previous representatives to fix the problem but to no avail.

"When I complained to YB, she got it done in two weeks. Did I hide that fact? No! I brought her to meet the people and tell them that she is the reason why we got the street lights."

Gan, meanwhile, said there is no such thing as Umno or PKR when it comes to serving her constituents and regards Mohd Saufi as among her most trusted allies but adds: "Make no mistake! He is still a strong Umno man but he is first and foremost a community leader who puts the people first."

People like Gan and Mohd Saufi are part of a huge network of local folk in Rawang who are trying to make their neighbourhood a better place to call home. Idle land, stalled projects, indiscriminate development, poor roads and infrastructure were among reasons cited for folks here giving their vote to a greenhorn like Gan.

Those who have been around longer like Mohd Saufi have taken her under their wing in helping her to get things done – be it quarrelling with the local authorities, drafting letters, convincing his party superiors that he is not a "traitor" but merely looking into the best interest of the people and introducing Gan to those sceptical or suspicious of her motives.

I suppose stories such as these though rare are not unique. Nationwide – even in the Parliament canteen and MPs’ lounge – it is common to see those from both sides of the political divide breaking bread together or catching up over teh tarik to discuss issues of common interest; and at the ground level working together to get things done.

Of course in Gan and Mohd Saufi’s case there may be no such thing as being bound by the whip. They are perhaps only motivated by their conscience.

But is it not this trait that is sorely lacking among many of our leaders these days – when doing what is right is bound by the rigidity of partisan politics.

Contrary to popular belief Terence does not like "to simply whack only". He prefers to be the bearer of good news. He can be reached at terence@thesundaily.com

Malaysia yang semakin ketinggalan..... Mari Semuanya Berubah Bersama

Jika dipandang - pandang dan dilihat – lihat, Malaysia sebenarnya sedang ketinggalan dari aspek peningkatan taraf hidup warganegaranya baik secara individu ataupun komuniti.

Jika dahulu kita boleh merayau - rayau ditempat awam dengan rasa selamat. Tetapi kini ianya tidak selamat, sebab Peragut berada dimana - mana. Disesetengah tempat, ketibaan malam merupakan mimpi ngeri yang perlu dihadapi setiap hari, kerana bermaharalelanya kecurian. Akibatnya muncullah gated komuniti dimana - mana serta tanpa kawalan rapi serta pemantauan mana - mana pihak berkuasa. Pihak berkuasa pula menyatakan bahawa gated komuniti ini tidak dibenarkan, tetapi malangnya tiada tindakan mahupun cadangan bagaimana membantu mengurang jenayah. jadi rakyat bertindaklah sendiri jawabnya!

Dari sudut peningkatan gaji juga kita telah tertinggal amat jauh. Skala gaji kita masih masa seperti sepuluh tahun yang lepas, sedangkan kos barangan, perkhidmatan telah meningkat begitu tinggi. Mungkin sebab itulah juga, kadar inflasi kita tidak berubah pada skala yang besar. Entah betul, entah tidak data tersebut agaknya. Cuba bayangkan, kos membeli pakaian berkaitan persekolahan sahaja akan menyebabkan ibu bapa yang bertaraf Middle Class ke bawah tidak bercakap selama sebulan. Pada bulan tersebut juga, perbelanjaan akan dikurangkan. That's mean no pizza, etc, etc. Itu Middle Class. Class yang dibawah akan lebih teruklah lagi.

Pemilikan kereta kita juga amat mahal. Realitinya kita membayar harga kereta antara yang termahal di dunia tanpa sebab yang munasabah. Yang diperah dan dilanyak ialah rakyat Middle Class ke bawah. Yang Upper Class tak ada masalah, sebab pendapatan mereka cukup untuk membayar apapun dan bercuti ke luar negara setiap tahun tanpa gagal. Yang lain ini bercutilah di air terjun yang penuh sampah sarap dan kekotoran. Balik - balik ayat yang keluar ialah bantu Proton. Balik - balik Proton. Yang lain kita tidak peduli. Caj rakyat dengan harga yang lebih mahal menjadi dasar utama Kerajaan Malaysia. Bila dah berubah dasar ini, hanya mungkin Syaitan yang dapat mengagaknya.

Dasar yang dilaksanakan Kerajaan Malaysia sering berubah - ubah mengikut kesukaan peribadi mereka. Kejap laksana, kejap tangguh, kejap lagi modified, dan seterusnya tak laksana terus. Lagi best umum dasar tanpa ada kertas kerja dan sampai hari ini pun tak pasti apa dia i.e. Islam Hadari, ada ke dak ataupun dah ditamatkan tidak siapa yang tahu.

Yang pastinya yang meningkat ialah rakyat miskin. Sewajarnya naik tahun ke tahun, jumlah yang miskin seharusnya semakin berkurangan, tetapi di Malaysia, Kerajaan bergembira pula bila menyatakan statistic bahawa Orang Yang Miskin semakin bertambah. Sepatutnya kita bersedih dan berjanji untuk mengurangkan setiap tahun. Sepatutnya inilah KPI Kerajaan untuk mengurangkan kemiskinan setiap tahun dan bukannya bertambah.

Tetapi lebih malu dan memeranjatkan juga, beberapa bantuan untuk Orang Miskin dan Pelajar Miskin di Sekolah Kebangsaan dikurang atau dihapuskan terus seperti Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pelajar Miskin dan sebagainya lagi. Hak Orang Miskin jangan dikurangkan. Jangan nanti kita tidak Berjaya membantu mengeluarkan mereka dari kancah kemiskinan.

Realitinya kita memang sedang ketinggalan. Dari sudut, internet, kita sibuk nak menutup itu dan ini. Yang sepatutnya ialah menyedarkan penggunaan yang bertanggung jawab dan bukannya menggugut tidak tentu pasal.

Tapi iyerlah, seluruh dunia sedang memastikan capaian internet ke taraf megabytes per second (mbps) atau gigabytes per second (gbps), tetapi di Malaysia, termasuklah inisiatif Kerajaan hanya hendak mendapatkan capaian kilobytes per second (kbps).

Alahai Malaysia….!