The People’s Manifesto matters: political parties’ manifestos dance to a different drummer. – Narendra Modi, Indian Prime Minister
The misunderstood Madani Manifesto
Madani’s six core pillars – sustainability, prosperity, innovation, respect, confidence and compassion – even the anglicised version – requires practical application as a People’s Manifesto in our democracy.
Voters uncomfortably feign acknowledgment of a political manifesto. But, in the dynamics of realpolitik, the people only matter as collateral damage – innocent but condemned victims of blinded social justice.
Reliable English Language dictionaries were consulted for near accuracy of the meanings and definitions of these six core pillars:
Sustainability: the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level. It also encompasses the idea that goods and services should be produced in ways that do not use resources that cannot be replaced and that do not damage the environment.
Prosperity: the state of being successful and having a lot of money. This definition spells capitalism which is the unequal distribution of wealth. The proof and evidence are overwhelming.
Innovation: a new idea or method. Unfortunately, recycling outdated ideas and methods, or aping the West, has stifled any semblance of innovation since 1957.
Respect: admiration felt or shown for someone or something that you believe has good ideas or qualities. If the present troublemakers believe in respect, they will be peacemakers.
Confidence: a feeling or belief that one can have faith in or rely on someone or something. But faith and belief without tangible proof and evidence is problematical.
Compassion: sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others. This alone can solve all prevailing socioeconomic ills.
Why aren’t these pillars included in the Federal Constitution? It’s easier to make a constitutional provision than making six core laws with the Madani government’s two-thirds majority in Parliament.
No is for career pessimists. Now is for proactive optimists. Madani government should not adopt a neutral stance.
These six core pillars are supposed to have foundational values for the betterment and advancement of the people and the nation. GE-16 will be the litmus test.
Surprisingly, the six pillars refer to and reflect unexamined human values. Divinity seems to be out of the Manifesto’s equation. Socrates claimed that an unexamined life is not worth living. Reason and purpose collide with inhuman consequences.
The art and science of governance requires a simple solution to what the rakyat want. The six enunciated and enumerated elements do not appear to satisfy the peoples’ aims, goals, and objectives as tangible results.
Madani’s Report Card appears dismally unsatisfactory. The government is unable to contain and control racism especially when laces and traces of religious fervour is amply sprinkled over any ongoing controversy.
Judge Henry B. Brown of the United States Supreme Court remarked that “legislation is powerless to eradicate racism,” in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896). Government seems powerless in overturning the status quo.
Parliament is the repository of the people’s trust. It’s Parliament’s sworn duty and function to keep the rakyat directly informed through regular town hall meetings. The media has taken on this duty and function.
MPs must comply with their Oaths of Office. It is not a documentary pledge without pith, meaning or substance. The supreme law of the land makes this a mandatory requirement for thought, word and action.
The Parliamentary Services Act 1963 (PSA) was a piece of legislation providing for the Parliament of Malaysia to conduct its own administration, staffing and financing without Executive control or oversight.
The PSA was reportedly repealed in 1992 and is expected to be unrepealed anytime now. In Kerajaan Malaysia v. Tay Chai Huat [2012] 3 MLJ 149, the Federal Court issued a scathing attack on constantly changing judicial decisions and laws.
Like the PSA, a notable constitutional amendment is urgently required for implementation that will entrench a permanently independent judiciary without Executive control, oversight and overreach.
Sustainability: what rate or level are we maintaining for the good of the people and the nation? Who monitors this imperative? Are the people consulted and engaged – not just as labour – to achieve this ideal?
Prosperity: are the people generally prosperous whether they be in the public or private sector? Can unequal distribution of wealth (capitalism) and the equal distribution of poverty (socialism) co-exist?
Innovation: what notable new idea or method is currently in practice that advances evident betterment for the people and the nation? Rediscoveries of ancient knowledge is not innovation.
Respect: how many good ideas from the voters were acknowledged by the government as helpful and useful? Were they rewarded? Respect has taken on a different trajectory.
Confidence: faith in God must mean freedom of religion, but not freedom from religion? Why is the Madani Manifesto silent on this point?
Compassion: the penultimate People’s Manifesto screaming for action so that government is not caught in a sleep-walking stupor.
“There is no more dangerous menace to civilsation than a government of incompetent, corrupt, or vile men. The worst evils which mankind ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments,” warned Ludwig von Mises.
Paraphrasing Oscar Wilde, we should not be forced into blindness to find a black cat in a dark unlit room. The Madani Manifesto must reflect hallowed principles, not hollow rhetoric.
We deserve better than to face bitter uncertainty and confusion post-GE16. We are forced to face troubling times while race and religion stay unreservedly vitriolic, unabated and unstoppable.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of Sarawak Tribune.
