General elections After electoral Reform

DAP Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur Chairman Dr Tan Seng Giaw reiterates that the BN Government must be fair and just in dealing with electoral reform such as setting up the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) with fair representations and holding general elections after PSC has completed fair recommendations.



On 25.9.2011, Dr Tan spoke at the DAP FT KL Convention.



Malaysians are keeping an eye on when the Prime Minister YAB Najib will announce the date of the general elections. Pakatan Rakyat (PR) including DAP must be fully prepared for the coming elections.



Our electoral system is full of irregularities such as phantom voters. Bersih 2.0 calls for clean and fair elections, receiving widespread reactions. BN Government has acted high-handedly on Bersih 2.0 and those who demand clean elections. Now Najib wants to form PSC during the parliamentary session which begins on October 3, 2011. He speaks of electoral reform.



PSC should be based on fairness and justice, starting from representations in the committee and the electoral reform. The Government has indicated that it will take six months to complete its work. General elections should only be announced after PSC has submitted fair recommendations which are accepted by the Election Commission.




DAP KL Federal Territory Chairman Dr Tan Seng Giaw believes that there must be political commitment and action to adopt effective economic measures in order to alleviate the effects of the world economic downturn.





Dr Tan Spoke at the DAP KL FT convention on 25.9.2011.





Global economy is entering a dangerous phase, Enrozone is in crisis and the US economy is not good. These have implications on other countries including Malaysia.





YAB Najib says he wants to increase investment and local demand as well as keeping prices of goods down. We need political commitment and action as well as integrity to do these. We hope that with improved investment, more jobs will be created.





For example, recently communications companies intended to ask 13 million users of prepaid hand phones to pay 6% service tax. This will be a factor in the rise of the cost of living. The Government negotiated with communications companies. Hitherto, this is not implemented. What will happen next?



The authorities must have integrity and professionalism in managing huge public funds such as the Employees' Provident Fund with assets of US$98.8 billion ( nearly RM300 bil). Prevent all forms of irregularities.

We must create a culture to nurture and keep talents in the country.





Most governments definitely say that they like to keep talented people and professionals. This is what people expect to hear. What is a talent? What does it mean to nurture and keep talents?



The nurturing and keeping of talents is very complex. This includes the system of education and administration. Selection and promotion of talents are not just based on the examination results, but also on other aspects such as special characteristics, the protection of controversies and young people.





We talk about brain drain in Malaysia. The Prime Minisrer YAB Datuk Seri Najib prattles about keeping talents; he hopes one day Malaysians will win the Nobel Prize. On 22.9.2011, Minister in the PM's Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed repeated the statement that there are over 1 million Malaysian professionals overseas, 57% of them remaining in Singapore.



Those countries that manage to atract more inflow than outflow of talents have definite incentives including salaries and low taxes. Nurturing and keeping talents is a culture. Malaysia desperately needs one.





Even in government departments and universities such as the top university in this country, University of Malaya, really good people face difficulties. Cronyism still exists. Clever people tend to have controversies and departmental heads usually avoid controversies to protect themselves. These must be solved rationally.





DAP National Deputy Chairman and MP for Kepong





Tan Seng Giaw