AND about time too. When PM Najib announced the dissolution of the 12th Parliament on Wednesday, he closed the chapter on a fractious five years at the national legislative (not that Parliaments past were civil). In the midst of mud-slinging, new laws were passed hurriedly without due public consultation, among others the DNA Identification Act, Public Assembly Act in place of Section 27 of the Police Act, SOSMA in place of the ISA, and Section 114A introduced in the Evidence Act.

Due to loans and the lack of cows, we saw the first male check in as Minister for Women, Family and Community Development a year ago.

We saw frogs. Plenty of them. They who had not the decency to seek guidance from their constituents before hopping. The rakyat elected them in, and from then on, the rakyat can go to hell; that's just saying it as it is.

All this tells us a lot.

Are we in the business of nation-building or merely electing politicians? You know what they say about politicians; we've had more than our share. Nation-building needs people with a spine and a heart. Statesmen and stateswomen.

By Jayanath Appudurai

WE are far from realizing the vision set forth in this historic document proclaimed by Parliament on the 31st August 1970.

OUR NATION, MALAYSIA, being dedicated:-

To achieving a greater unity of all her peoples;
To maintaining a democratic way of life;
To creating a just society in which the wealth of the nation shall be equitably shared;
To ensuring a liberal approach to her rich and diverse cultural traditions; and
To building a progressive society which shall be oriented to modern science and technology;

Forty three years have passed since the Rukunegara (and the NEP as the policy instrument) were presented as the way forward towards rebuilding the nation after the trauma of 1969. Whilst we can argue about the how we have fared in all of the above aspirations, our concern must necessarily be with the objective to create “a just society in which the wealth of the nation shall be equitably shared”. Let us examine the evidence using household income distribution.

The current population of 29 million can be divided into approximately 6.5 million households. Official data (DOSM,2012) reveal that the ‘Bottom 40%’ (2.6 million households) has an average monthly income RM 1,847 compared to RM 12,159 for the ‘Top 20%’ (1.3 million households). The Income Share of the ‘Bottom 40%’ is 14.8% compared to the 51.4% share of the ‘Top 20%’ households.  And the ‘Top10%’ of households has an income share of 32.3% compared to 1.9% for the ‘Bottom 10%’ households. This yawning income inequality gap is a recipe for disaster in any society!

Today, almost forty percent of our people are still trapped in the inter-generational cycle of poverty and inequality. Poor and Low Income households comprising almost 14 million Anak Bangsa Malaysia lack the capability to overcome the multi-dimensional disadvantages they face on a daily basis. Their upward mobility is severely constrained due to the inadequate asset base that includes low levels of education and skills, poor nutrition and health; and unwholesome living conditions.

A host of social ills associated with dysfunctional families from this stratum of our society is becoming evident. Increasing rates of substance abuse, delinquency and dropouts, child abuse, crime and mental illnesses, are clear indicators that something is amiss in our society.