winnable candidates; high quality government and high standards of governance

These talks about looking for winnable candidates is fast becoming into a self-righteous smug- as though mentioning it somehow distinguish the speakers from the rest and therefore, solves the actual and real problem- the search for winnable candidates is designed for what purpose?

It is first of all necessary to frame the question right- the search for winnable candidates is for what purpose- the answer that springs to mind, seems to be, search for winnable candidates is to create a winnable political party that can make this government a winnable government and therefore a winnable country. Just what are winnable candidates?

It can only mean one thing. It’s a search for leadership material which is committed to a plan into making this government into a good government with good governance. Surely this must be the foundation of a leadership committed to transforming the country. Barely what?- 2 years into his premiership, already the PM is hailed as the father of Transformation? What has been transformed other that a copious amount of announcements that don’t seem to subside, we haven’t seen transformation yet in the fundamentals- the leadership material for example.

The transformation must begin with the search for leadership material to achieve a quality of government with equally high standard of governance. It must never be the search of winnable candidates as in the artful party operative who can work the crowd into ecstasy or emotional convulsions. We have these duds running around by the dozen- those who prey upon ethnic insecurities and emotions and those who prey open the religiosity of the masses. These are never nor can ever be winnable candidates.

The search for winnable candidates must be part of the overall strategy- positioning of leadership committed to a plan to make a high quality government with high quality governance. Hence it must necessarily involve first, the search for the ablest and most dedicated and committed to the cause of the country.

I am gratified to hear one of the latest statements by the PM who says, We want WHOEVER rules this country to be elected according to the true wishes of the people,” he told a large crowd gathered for a buka puasa function at Pangsapuri Seri Perantau, an 11-block row of low-cost flats built by the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS).

The MCA announces also its plan to look for winnable candidates- although that announcement by the MCA president sounds like saying out loud of plans to phase out recalcitrant rivals in the party? As early as last year, the UMNO president spoke of the same desire to filed winnable candidates. If he goes to the UMNO ground, every incumbent ketua bahagian and sitting office bearers say, their areas are winnable provided it is they who stand as candidates.

Unless you come out with clear guidelines what the criteria of winnable candidates, the phrase just becomes an excuse for so many things by so many people not to work on the most important thing in our politics- finding the ablest and most dedicated to make this government, any government a high quality one with high quality governance.