YOURSAY | ‘Depicting failure as reform insults public intelligence.’
'Honesty is part of reform' - Tian Chua urges PKR to own up to unrealistic promises
Knucklehead2: Tian Chua’s spin that “admitting unrealistic promises is reform” is nothing but political gymnastics. Reform means delivering concrete change, not rebranding failure as honesty.
If promises were unrealistic, why were they sold to the rakyat in the first place? Calling broken pledges “part of reform” is just a convenient excuse to shield Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim from accountability.
It’s also telling that Chua, who was expelled for contesting as an independent, suddenly resurfaces to defend the PM’s shortcomings.
By diluting responsibility across ministers and middle-ranking leaders, he’s deflecting blame from Anwar while polishing his loyalty badge.
This isn’t principle - it’s “bodek” (apple-polishing) politics, angling for a ticket back into PKR and maybe a seat for the 16th general election.
Malaysians don’t need recycled rhetoric about “creative ways” or “honest mistakes.” They need delivery on the cost of living, education, and governance.
Dressing up failure as reform insults the public’s intelligence. Chua isn’t redefining reform - he’s redefining spin as virtue, and the timing makes it clear: this is about his comeback, not the rakyat.
Apanama is back: Chua, there is no shortage of silly spins under Pakatan Harapan. Your boss, Anwar, was in administration before as deputy prime minister and finance minister before he was sacked.
Do not tell me that he had forgotten his experience and apologised.
Based on your logic, you all can make millions of promises without thinking and later apologise when you can’t fulfil them. That is a wonderful tactic to take people for a ride.
Your boss is supposed to know upfront which promises are realistic and which are unrealistic before drawing up any manifesto. Not like promises such as “Hari ini kita menang, besok minyak turun.” (Today we win, tomorrow petrol prices will be reduced)
Before making a promise, you people are supposed to be aware of what will be fulfilled. Are you telling me that Anwar will be apologising for the full term for failing to fulfil the promise and will ask for a second term?
Who knows, he may even keep apologising for the second term.
Being a PM is a heavy responsibility, and it involves a person’s credibility. Did you watch Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s National Day Rally speech yesterday?
Look at how he prepared Singapore to navigate out of uncertainty due to geopolitical issues, while back here we are still grappling daily with race and religion issues.
Do not try to cover up Anwar’s incompetence, weaknesses, and cluelessness in running the country. He does not know how to run the country and is sending his apple-polishers to come up with various spins and twists to justify his speeches, interviews and actions.
Chua, the buck always stops with the PM. If he did not push, other ministers would keep quiet.
Constitutional supremacy: Chua, your period is over, sir. Your claim that PKR had made unrealistic promises and should own up, meaning they should not carry them out as it was a mistake, is wrong. It was not a mistake.
People demand promised reforms, including:
Separation of the attorney-general and public prosecutor positions and removing them from being under the PM. They should be answerable to Parliament and not the PM.
Judicial Appointments Commission appointments should be independent of the PM, and the PM should not have any say in their appointments.
The judiciary should be independent of the executive.
The above promises were made. The rakyat wants them to be carried out. These are not unrealistic but really need to be carried out.
Vijay47: Chua, are you so beholden to PKR leadership that you would not hesitate to humiliate yourself through subservient attempts to defend the party in lost causes?
Admission of failure is a reflection of success? For heaven’s sake, man, who writes your lines? It cannot be PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, since his forte is being obnoxious. Then you add arrogance to the soup.
You now demand that you should be reinstated into PKR and not asked to submit a fresh application for membership. Why? Why do normal rules in any organisation not apply to you?
You stabbed your party in the back by standing as an independent against its candidate. You may have regarded yourself as a shoo-in in that election. But what happened? You lost big-time, and if I am not mistaken, your deposit too.
So much for the popularity of turncoats.
GanMu: Promises made are not meant to be broken if you want to be a credible person. It is very easy to apologise for your incompetence and reluctance to bring about the reforms.
The buck simply stops with your leader, who happens to be the PM. He decides on all matters at cabinet level. Ministers can bring up lots of issues but he finally decides and, more often than not, it is “will decide in the future”, “follow the due process” or maintain absolute silence.
Clear examples are the “corporate mafia” scandal and MPs’ allowances. We are still waiting for the chief secretary to the government to release the investigation report by the AG on ex-MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki and the results of the probe since March.
Please tell him silence is not an option. So please stop explaining for your boss and show your gratitude since he has been kind enough to readmit you as a member of PKR.
Lizard: Chua had a good point about the promised reforms Harapan had made to the voters, but failed to remember that a good political leader is like a good horse or a lazy, bad donkey.
A good horse does not need reminder after reminder to drink water, while a donkey needs the owner to pull the bad donkey towards the pond to drink the water.
In other words, if the Harapan government is good, like a good horse, the promised reforms would already have come, been completed, and gone.
Yes, being honest is another way to reform, as many political leaders we know are not honest even with themselves. How can we expect them to be honest with their voters?
BlueShark1548: On the abolition of the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) 1971, it is all talk by Anwar. His Umno higher education minister has indicated it will be substituted with some other legislation.
Students are right to be sceptical about Anwar’s talk. There is no political will, and there is too much dilly-dallying, which is why reforms never took place.
Make sure DAP and PKR are held accountable at GE16. Reduce DAP’s number of MPs and reforms can take root with a new coalition where Bersatu is a component and, hopefully, with a Sarawak PM who honours MA63 and puts Petronas back in its place.
As for Chua, it is better you stay on the sidelines and contribute with fair criticism of the government.
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