THERE is a lot of rhetoric out there, some claiming that Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the reason for the electoral seismic shock that took the nation by surprise.

Others say the stage was set by PKR’s de facto leader, Anwar Ibrahim. Still others say it was because of the people’s hatred of disgraced former prime minister Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor.

These were only factors in the birth pangs that saw a new nation born on May 9. Therefore, allow me to remind all Malaysians to stay focused and not be taken by arguments of who contributed more significantly to the political earthquake.

Having heard all these different views, I can only say that Malaysians voted for change. Saddled with all kinds of loans and buffeted by escalating costs of living from all corners, Malaysians had given up hope on Barisan Nasional after 61 years in power.

Malaysians want change. Change at every level.

The Royal Malaysian Police

The police, for example, have seen their profession lose the Malaysian public’s respect. Corruption, abuse of power, political interference, death in custody, and of late, the arrest of lawyer and activist Siti Kasim have marred the good image of the police force.

The morale of the police is low, and they want to see a total revamp in the police force, which they can only hope that the Pakatan Harapan government is able to deliver.

In revamping the police force, the senior ones will have to give their places away to the up-and-coming younger batch of police officers. Because of their hierarchy, you cannot expect to see a total renovation of the police force if the top brass is not removed and a new batch of middle-ranking officers promoted.

The nation had enough of former inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar. Why is there still no investigation based on the allegations against him and those who corroborated with Najib?

Politicians’ Mindsets

Malaysians were also generally fed up with the arrogant mindsets of BN politicians. Therefore, we expect to see change in the mindsets of the people now in the corridors of power.

Ministers are appointed to “serve” the people. In fact, the word “minister” means “one who serves”. The minister is a public servant paid with taxpayers’ money. And the prime minister is the servant of all.

It is only with this kind of servanthood mentality that we can uphold each other and move forward as a nation. The culture of crabs trying to crawl out of the basket has to be a thing of the past.

Therefore, we should not be surprised that even Anwar received a lot of brickbats when he ticked off Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng for exposing the financial scandals in the country. As rakyat, we expect the government of the day to tell us where we are as a nation, before we can move forward.

If Anwar is receiving brickbats even from PH supporters, who is Rais Yatim then to reprimanded Lim for using a different language to communicate with the Chinese media? In new Malaysia, Rais’ attitude no longer has a place. Frankly, he would not make the mark as a good parliamentary Speaker if he continues with the old mindset.

We need and should be promoting a multilingual society that adds beauty to our social fabrics. I, for one, have a good command of the Malay language, and I could also read Jawi from young, and there is no stopping any Malay from winning first prize in a Mandarin speech competition. This is, after all, our strength as a nation.

No one is disputing that official press statements should be issued in the national language, but for clarity’s sake, as pointed out by Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil, one has to communicate in the language that the recipient is familiar with.

I am a Chinese, but illiterate where Mandarin is concerned, yet I strongly support Lim for issuing his press statements in Mandarin and English, apart from Bahasa Malaysia. If he can, I am sure Lim would also issue his press statements in Tamil.

If Rais had remained in Umno when he made those comments, he would have been given a tongue-lashing from many of us. It is only Khairy Jamaluddin, who has no better issues to harp on, who is trying to play on a non-issue.

Stay focused

I have only highlighted two areas of change that we expect to see the PH government to deliver. The task is so humongous that we do not expect Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his cabinet to perform miracles within just 100 days.

However, we expect a lot of the issues to be solved, those which require nothing but some political will and the minister to send out directives to his ministry. Within the first 100 days, the minister can issue several directives to his men to make sure that they deliver the results concurrently.

As pointed out by the prime minister, any underperforming Minister would have to be replaced eventually. Let this expectation of the people be the guiding principle in the new Malaysia.

* Stephen Ng reads The Malaysian Insight.

* 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.