I HAD the opportunity on Monday to attend a high-tea reception with Malaysians living in Singapore and Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He touched on several issues ranging from asking Malaysians to come back and contribute to the country, the importance of education especially among the youth and ensuring disparity gap between the rich and the poor is manageable.
He even touched on the use of technology such as artificial intelligence in marketing and businesses.
Since the formation of the new government by Pakatan Harapan, the people have had high hopes and so do Malaysians who live in Singapore.
Being a Malay Malaysian living and working in Singapore for 15 years has taught me many lessons.
As much as I understand why our prime minister insists on bringing up the ridiculous price of raw water sold to Singapore at the meeting with his counterpart, I do feel that there are many other facets of national development in Singapore that the Pakatan Harapan government may have over-looked.
I hope the new government can review our strategies for national development such as urban planning, which is critical for the economy as it maximises land use, enhances connectivity, conserves natural resources and promotes sustainable development.
The famous saying by our 5th prime minister that Malaysia has “First Class Facilities but Third World Mentality” also needs to be addressed.
The government needs to allocate an adequate budget for integrated facilities management as part of the capital expenditure and promote a culture of preventive maintenance and impose penalties for failure to meet performance-based indicators.
The government also needs to refurbish our lethargic infrastructures such as airports, roadworks and rail works to convince investors as they arrive into our country that we can protect their investments as good as ours.
The prime minister has repeatedly emphasised the importance of “rule of law” in the new government.
As part of this initiative, I hope we can engage the best brains for our legal services and revisit archaic laws involving Federal Department of Town and Country Planning, Jabatan Bomba, Fire and Rescue Department, Department of Environment and countless others. We need to give more teeth to these departments to get the job done.
To ensure summonses are served effectively, the government must update the registry of citizens at the National Registration Department.
The government must make it mandatory for citizens and permanent residents to update their details.
Finally, I hope Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad can put in place a clear succession plan which includes firm directions in our foreign policy especially in relation with our closest neighbour Singapore which must be adhered to by his successors in the years to come.
Ezani Rais Shaiks Salim
Temasek
