The new comfort zone. Part 1. Tales by an unknown blogger. No 78

1. The old comfort zone in which umno excels consist of 2 main elements -

2.

• Play the race game
• Play the zero sum game .

3. The way forward, for parties like UMNO, pas, bersatu the people at the lunatic fringe shouting maniacally, people with brains where the wires are short fused, are to play up racial strife and hostilities and strife.

4. That's why people like mad cow akmal is at the forefront finding 1001 excuses to flare up racial strive. Maybe with the blessings of the java boss, he quarrels with the non malays. Mind you, that, not only offends the Nons but law abiding malays too. Quarrelling with different races is 2nd nature to UMNO. Yet there are still some pockets of people rooting in for UMNO. God have mercy on them!

5. Then, there's the zero sum game they play. One race can only prosper at the expense of another race. The Chinaman got richer and the malayman got poorer. Chinaman becomes the object of derision.

6. The 'games' of the old comfort zone are played by the antiquated minded political parties. UMNO,pas and bersatu will become increasingly irrelevant.

7. They will become so as people's political awareness becomes higher and sophisticated. Simplistic and populist narratives will be disputed

8. Well tuan, Elvis has left the building. We are no longer willing to play the games of the old comfort zone. The games of the new comfort zone will never be understood by the antiquated parties mentioned. Nor can it be understood by their lackeys on social media.

9. First we need a pragmatic leader and leadership for the country. A leader and leadership that focusses on results rather than one that marvel at theories. I know the PM knows about all that jazz about pragmatism, but I will say about it anyway.

10. Among other things, pragmatic leadership focuses on practicality and adaptability, is results oriented, decides on the basis of data, focuses on efficiency, takes ownership of problems and not blaming others, has great communication skills to explain its decision, balances short and long term goals and so on

11. I am not going to explain the above in greater details. Except I need to say something on the seemingly contagious CYA( cover your ass) syndrome. People are fond of saying, oh this has been done before by the previous admin,when they were in power apa bikin?

12. True! But now you are power, what are you going to do? Haven't you heard of the saying, 2 wrongs don't make a right?

13. First, we must WANT a pragmatic government giving us results, practical and realistic. A plural society with diverse ethnicity, religion , culture and language needs a pragmatic government .

14. Not for us parties selling us master race ideology and religious utopianism.

15. Then we need a good government. How do get one? A good government needs good people.

16. Good qualifications help. We want leaders who are knowledgeable, understand concepts, do not require repeated explanations.

17. Now more than ever, we need honest leaders who don't succumb easily to the edifying effects of power .

18. We need leaders who can retain their composure. Not easily ruffled, calm and collected. Not break under pressure and respond maniacally to the slightest of provocation.

19. Shell ( the oil company) has a way of identifying leaders. Lee kuan yew was said to follow it's method

20. It goes by the acronym HAIR. Helicopter view , analytical, imagination and realistic.

21. H is the ability to see the big picture rather than being restrained by parochial views. When Anwar decides to go ahead of building a mosque on a trespassed land but allow Hindus build a temple on another site, this is an example of a helicopter view.

22. The bigger picture is the importance to preserve social cohesion rather than cave in to demands of religious bigots

23. Preserving social cohesion is in the interest of the nation. It overrides group interest .

24. Decisions to be made must be data and facts driven. Decisions based on spontaneous gut reactions must be avoided. These are foundations of analysis.

25. By imagination, we don't mean mental frolics or cartoon like fantasies. It means being able to foresee the consequences of ones actions. Then you can be accountable to them .

25 (b). Being able to foresee the course of actions and able to foresee their consequences, must be referenced to realities. Are the course of actions and their consequences, can they be realistically implemented. For example, can affirmative policies be dismantled now given overzealous Malay protection of the policies?

26. These are features of a good government which are cornerstone of the new comfort zone . obviously old comfort zone parties dare not face them. As a result, by natural developments, they will become irrelevant. Say goodbye to them