Like many, I ponder over which candidate will receive my vote for the 15th general election (GE15).
The conundrum is whether to vote for a party or candidate regardless of affiliation.
What causes my anxiety is weak leadership that will not be able to drive Malaysia’s automotive industry to the world-class status that it has the potential to be.
As an automotive industry-focussed journalist who started writing for the Business Times/New Straits Times in 1980, I aspire for a government that can manage the economy so that our brothers and sisters and children can get good jobs and earn enough money to buy their own houses.
This could be achieved through improved foreign investor relations, greater pragmatism and less rhetoric regarding multi-cultural and multi-racial harmony.
A review of policies is urgently required at this juncture regarding energy, transportation and the automotive sector – all of which have been overtaken by global issues such as climate change, energy security, and the de-coupling of economies due to the US-China trade war.
Taking a converse angle on who to vote for, it is the candidate who stooped to populism who will not receive my vote.
A politician recently proposed that if he was elected, he would lobby that workers would be entitled to time off or ‘official leave’ on their birthday.
The downside of this is that employers will be burdened, eroding the country’s attractiveness in terms of labour productivity.
We should ignore politicians who dangle the proverbial “candy” before voters, rather we should identify those who champion policies that benefit the nation’s citizens through employment prospects and infrastructures, to name a few.
While parents tend to nurture their children with healthy meals, “pseudo-leaders” along with their ulterior motives, will provide “sugar-coated” temptations in order to “buy” their electorates.
Additionally, we should not vote for politicians and/or parties offering to write off all student loans unconditionally.
Should government-guaranteed student loans remain unpaid, it will correspond to a denial of funds for future students who need such assistance and the same goes for government handouts that include iPads.
Rather, the concentration should be on building up the nation’s education system so that school leavers will be highly sought after by employers.
The ideal candidate to vote for is the politician or party that seeks to re-balance the country’s dual-status governance with regard to the state government’s autonomy over land matters and the Federal Government’s international commitments toward the environment.
As discussed during the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), recently held in Egypt from Nov 6 to 18, it was made clear that decarbonisation targets pose a serious dilemma for Malaysia’s duality in resource administration. One of the key matters discussed at Sharm el-Sheikh was how countries can turn the tide on deforestation.
A constitutional change is needed by Malaysia’s leadership to ensure forests can continue to act as carbon sinks by defining them within the Federal government’s rights over land rather than the state.
Led by Sabah politicians with the “Sabah for Sabahans” call, the Borneo state has already defined its rights over land as a carbon sink resource.
Should there be any entity which seeks to enrich the national wealth and employment of workers within the forestry sector, then this would be worthy of my vote.
Another “winner” for my vote is the increase in employment opportunities and the attraction of foreign investors which will signal consistency in investment policies. And on the flip side of the coin, I would deny my vote to the politicians who with a stroke of the pen disenfranchised the foreign investors in Johore’s Country Garden, a property development funded by China’s largest private developer by sales.
One obvious change that is needed in the context of the automotive sector is for certain politicians to admit that Malaysia is no longer in the good books of investors.
Although it is well known that PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is currently vying to become Malaysia’s next prime minister (PM), former Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin – commonly known as KJ, recently decided to follow in Anwar’s footsteps – declaring that he will one day become the nation’s prime minister too.
To Anwar and KJ, I would like to ask: How would you enhance the nation’s automotive sector so that it may rise to within the ranks of the E&E sector which happens to be the country’s largest export earner at about 36%?
Malaysia’s E&E industry is such a vital link in the global automotive electronics supply chain that “I was having to attend to calls from my overseas colleagues seeking critical semiconductors and components,” said a senior manager of a German premium brand.
Let us vote for a government that can seize the opportunities presented by the US-China trade war as well as the rising energy crisis in Europe.
Within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Malaysia must compete with Indonesia and Thailand within the parameters of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
Good political leaders who have a national agenda and actively seek the betterment of their voters in terms of employment, quality of life and affordable flood-safe housing, to name a few, will help to make Malaysia great again.
Thus, we should resolve not to be taken in by populist candidates and political parties, because oftentimes, they tend to eye for the opportune moment to seize the ‘spoils’ of office once in government.
Such ‘spoils’ include, but are not limited to, the awarding of multi-billion ringgit contracts to their business cronies who are oftentimes without any relevant experience and usually at highly inflated prices.
Hence, we should resolve to vote for candidates and political parties that want to implement good public transport services delivered by a transparent tender process.
Therefore, let us come together and vote wisely during GE15.
By: YAMIN VONG
yamin@malaysiamotorexpo.com