AFTER a roller coaster ride of four years, tired and weary Malaysians voters will be heading for the polls before August. Voters morale is down and many fence sitters have still not made up their minds.

Some people want a change in government, and some hope the incumbent government will change. Optimists are feeling the lyrics in Sam Cooke’s song, “Its been a long time, a long time coming, but I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will”.

George Bernard Shaw once said, “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything”.

Barisan Nasional (BN) has governed Malaysia since the formation of Malaysia in 1963 without a break, making it the longest ruling political party in the world. This fact is part of the “Malaysia Boleh” psyche. We have to be the champion of something out of the norm, something that invites pun and sarcasm at the same time.

Since the 13^th general election, things have gone downhill for BN. The country has been dogged by the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandals, Hadi’s syariah law amendments RUU355, Felda’s corruption, complaints about raising costs, racial polarisation and uncontrolled religious baiting by zealous bigots, and many more.

In some cases, the rulers’ interventions have been required to calm the situation.

A lot of time and energy is wasted in investigating and debating some of these issues with no one being held accountable. We had the sham Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) investigation on 1MDB, Audit Reports on 1MDB made secret, and two Royal Commission of Inquiry’s (RCI), with no visible results.

One RCI was to investigate the issuance of dubious blue ICs to illegals in Sabah and the other was for the forex losses during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s time.

We are still stuck with 1MDB with no end in sight from the deep morass it has fallen into, and corruption in Felda seems to get worse by day. Who knows what else they will uncover.

People don’t want to change government for the sake of change like it’s some kind of fashion trend, but people demand change when they are tired of the daily shenanigans that is destroying the potential of the nation to become an advanced economy.

We appreciate the stability and progress the BN government has given us but at the same time we don’t like the widening divide brought on by the politics of the current regime.

Change is a difficult process. People tend to prefer transactional change and security over transformational change that could be sudden and disruptive. But change is inevitable, whether we like it or not. Some say we should throw caution to the wind and take a plunge.

Stuart Wells, in his book “Choosing the future”, has captured the dilemma eloquently. He said, “The future is not predetermined, we have choice; we do not have control.

Uncertainty is rampant. We know the future will not exactly replicate the past but we frequently act that way because this uncertainty seems insurmountable. In this case, the past becomes a prison rather than a teacher”.

Well’s observations is very true for a lot of us. Due to uncertainty, the past had become our prison rather than a teacher. Shackled to the past, only a few will have learnt their lessons not to make the same mistakes.

I’m sure you have heard the same rhetorical questions before – for example, why do you still vote for the same government when you still don’t have piped water, electricity or paved roads to your kampung?

Do we make the leap of faith to the opposition side? Do we keep a blind eye to the misdeeds of the current regime and pretend nothing has happened? Or do we forget, forgive, and move on?

For many of us, it’s a dilemma of choice. People have lost confidence with the current regime on matters like handling of the economy, eradication of corruption, and maintaining religious harmony. At the same time, on the opposing side, people are familiar with some of the big names and their past history. Both are cut from the same cloth. Can we blame people for being confused?

At least one side has apologised for the past misdeeds, which is a good thing. Despite criticism of insincerity, I am reminded by the phrase, one should not look a gift horse in the mouth. The apology is more than just an apology. It’s admitting a fact. How many Ministers in the current government are brave enough to admit their mistakes?

Many of current Ministers who are criticising the opposition front leader Dr Mahathir are ironically part of the past regime. They can’t distance from the past regime and say that it was Dr Mahathir’s decision or that he made me do it.

Cabinet decisions are collective decisions. Everything the ministers and lawmakers do is a matter of public record. If they disagreed with Dr Mahathir at that time, they should be brave enough to challenge him or to step down.

Muhyiddin Yassin and Shafie Apdal did what they had to do when they disagreed with the Prime Minister on the 1MDB issue and paid the price. Neither gentlemen are perfect but their willingness to stick their neck out for what they believe in is something to think about.

Like when it’s difficult for leopards to change its spot, the same goes for the current regime.

When you have been in power for a long time, you cannot see the wood from the trees.

Your focus becomes how to keep yourself in power by whatever means and not on what matters most to the people.

An example how change can be difficult is when Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan Kassim nonchalantly said the Felda land issue in Jalan Semarak will not impact votes in the next general election. A lot of us cringe when hearing such a bewildering statement from a regime spokesman. Here is another scandal involving billions and his statement is just like a walk in the park.

How many times have we expected to hear – we are so sorry for what has happened, we will investigate, make sure that the guilty is punished, and ensure that this will not happen again. I guess it’s too much to ask from mere mortals like us.

No one can deny the BN government has served us well over the years and has bought us steady economic progress. But after a while it has lost its way. It has become immune to scandals within its ranks and has become more detached from the grievances of the man on the street.

You know when you are bankrupt of ideas when your component party members play the bogeyman game. MCA president Liow Tiong Lai said that Lim Kit Siang’s ascension as prime minister or the government’s top leader if the opposition wins the next general election will only lead to a divided nation.

Instead of discussing important issues facing the nation you try to frighten the people with the possibility of an impossibility.

In East Malaysia people are talking about a trust deficit with the current government. On Malaysia Day 2017, prime minister Najib Razak in his speech promised East Malaysians he would restore the rights that were taken away from Sabah and Sarawak, and has called for a committee to study the matter.

At a closing of a Sarawak party congress last December, Najib surprised everyone by saying his promise is now conditional and will only happen if the people vote for BN. The question is, if East Malaysians continue to vote for BN, will the promise be kept seeing that there has not been much progress in achieving any of the devolution of powers being negotiated currently.

The goods, or part of the goods, have yet to be delivered.

Voting is about making difficult choices, you may dislike the leaders and not the party, or you hate the party and not the leaders. Whichever side we choose as the next government, we know both sides will be helmed by the people who are familiar to us and have run governments before. Both sides have track records, good and bad.

Like everyone else living on this planet, all we want is a fair and clean government and justice for all. Will 2018 be a year of change? It’s your choice. – January 17, 2017.

* Joe Samad has wide experience working for international companies and government GLC. He is interested in new technology applications in a shared economy and issues affecting the nation,  sharing his worldview across various media platforms.

* 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.