Political Expediency and the 90 Per Cent Rule, Part III

A New Day Will Come

KUALA LUMPUR: IF you detect a hint of despair in my earlier comments, relax, its just a momentary feeling, one of the things that gets to you when you are not so well. Now that I am feeling much better, its time to looktowards the future again, there is no need to mop around for a long time.

The current political situation, if handled correctly and righteously, will inevitably bring much needed changes to the country. Someone emailed me asking if there was a chance of a military coup in light of the heated political scene. Since I did not know the person, I simply deleted the email. But his question continue to bug me.

Indeed since the GE, there had been talk of a military coup in the country. But any such plans will not bring back the good old days. It may create a brief respite to the country without really solving many of the long-standing problems, not all of it could be attributed to Mahathirism. Even a popular uprising such as those in the Philippines and Indonesia, would not solved the issues as evidenced by current events in those two countries.

The only way to resolve the impasse is through an honest and judicious democratic process so all the rakyat can live together in peace and harmony. Once the political brew is resolved, its time for us to look into reforming the defence sector, a long and difficult process, Malaysian Defence readily admits

Anyway, so how do we begin cleaning up Malaysian defence? To me we need a time frame when the clean up need to start. For me, the answer is easy of course, before the start of Mahathirism before going “Back to the Future”.

Why 1981? Because, I believe we need to find and understand the methods and reasoning behind the decisions made before that year so as to serve as a guide for the renewal process. As I had mentioned various times in the past, much of what happened before 1981, seemed to be kosher and relevant.

After the fact-finding mission, we may then dissect the last 26-odd years, to find out what really happened and if any laws and regulations were breached. This is a not witch hunt, though some might disagree. For me its a necessity. How do you fix something without finding out the what went wrong in the first place?

With these objectives in hand, Malaysian Defence believes the sector may well be given another breath of life. We may not end up with the world’s best armed forces and defence industry, but we may, gain some pride and honour, again.

Next: The 90 Per Cent Rule

–Malaysian Defence