THE first anniversary of Malaysia Baru is upon us in a matter of days. It was on most accounts, a historic if shaky year, full of downs and ups, surprises and disappointments, and the most by-elections in a year in recent history.

A year on, and many ministers still seem uncomfortable in their new roles, unwilling to make the bold steps, and policy change announcements, or sorting out inter-ministry issues, appearing to prefer to let the prime minister do it, though perhaps more out of respect of him than fear of doing something wrong.

Some ministers took to their new roles like ducks to water, but finding that they need to traverse a really large pond – agencies, civil servants, pressure groups and personalities doing work in that area, and related stakeholders. Others never entered the lake, preferring to skirt around issues, or stick their beaks where it doesn’t concern them, preferring to stick to partisan politics and party allegiances that they are more familiar with. It makes sense – with Malaysia still in transition, and many chess pieces still unmoved, all eyes are on the prime minister and deputy’s positions – with one “if” slated for next May, and yet another, at the next elections.

Unlike Barisan’s established systematic largesse-based, but time-honoured distribution of power, PH’s is more personality-based and appears more volatile. This volatility and the general non-committal answers and about-face by the PH administration on a myriad of issues, raises doubt, and potentially holds back support not only from the voter base, but government-related bodies, pressure groups and activists, who are still withholding their bets on which team to support.

Najib’s sudden newfound, or rather, reclaimed popularity, just makes it harder for would-be supporters to throw their 100% behind the new government.

The end result – an increasing perception of a government that does not have a firm grip on its own people or machinery, a clear, strategic, unified plan, and a rallying point beyond short-term politics and plugging the holes left from the previous government.

Opposition-like tactics, which are mostly offensive and guerrilla in nature, will not work, because as the sitting government, the aim is to come up with good policies, and defend them. Idealistic rhetoric and guesstimates and castles in the sky works for the opposition who do not have at their disposal, statisticians and economists and policy experts. The government is always held to a higher standard, especially so when that higher standard of expectation was set by the same politicians, when they were the opposition.

While it is true that some in the civil service may harbour loyalty to the members of the previous administration, one year should be enough time to separate the chaff from the wheat, and win over the undecided civil servants. The stubborn ones should be removed or isolated so as not to disrupt the workplace harmony or execution of new plans and strategies, as the case should be at any workplace.

Malaysia Baru brings with it a renewed sense of democracy and openness, but neither the media outlets, nor the public they report for, seems to have a grasp on this. Freedom of press does not necessarily mean surrendering your own narrative for others to define on your behalf- allowing another to tell your story for you; it could lead to them misinterpreting what you say or taking what you do to mean something else.

From the opposition side, disjointed, unrelated stories can easily be chained together to tell paint a broad stroke – “the government is bad”, but the government’s story to uphold the opposite as true, needs to be streamlined, cohesive and to a large extent, from a unified front.

The new opposition seems to have adjusted to their role better, while the old opposition needs to adapt to an enemy that has regained most of their footing, and fast. – April 18, 2019.

* Emmanuel Joseph firmly believes that Klang is the best place on Earth, and that motivated people can do far more good than any leader with motive.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.