A social movement as a third force

My readers will know that all these while, i have been advocating a third force in between the 2 big coalitions , pushing for change and acting as a watchdog. I have not been able to convince the leadership, and I have indeed failed in this.

Now,  a group of us in the civil society may want to form a social movement as a third force for national reform. I will post my friend as well as well known political analyst Khoo Kay Peng’s article on this:

The Case for a Third Force

I understand the concern of a three corner fight which might dilute the chance of Pakatan in the next general election.

However, the possibility of establishing a third force is not to side with the other two forces (BN or Pakatan). We are not contesting in the next general election, not yet. But we must not discount this option in the future if the politicians continue to ignore us for pure power crave and self gratification.

 

When politicians from both sides collide, do they stop to listen to the people? Did BN listen to the people or are they still taking the ‘we-know-best’ attitude?

Did Pakatan listen to the people and embark on the reforms we wanted or the newly minted coalition is too focused on its ambition to capture Putrajaya and forget those who stood by the roadside watching, supporting and cheering their stride towards national power?

This third force role and responsibility is to ensure that the politicians and policy makers listen to us, the stakeholders. This country cannot be allowed to go on the way it is being run now.

We need to change. We cannot allow politicians to dictate all terms. Politicians cannot be fully entrusted to implement change or reform because any political power left on its own will not proactively surrender its power and influence through people centred reform.

Reforms in other societies were successful because of individuals who sacrificed their own freedom to mobilize the people through their messages and sacrifice e.g. Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Dalai Lama and others.

 

Not any political party. Political party fights to retain and capture power and not to hand it to the people to decide and chart their own future.

As a way forward, we need to push the regime to implement a structure and all necessary processes to limit power and to ensure there is a proper check-and-balance mechanism. Only with the existence of a proper structure that we can stop power abuse and political arrogance.

 

It is unacceptable for any citizens or minority communities to suffer social abuse, negligence and economic deprivation in their own country. Alas, this is exactly what happened in Malaysia e.g. the Penans, Ibans, Kadazans, Orang Asli, the poor and powerless of all races.

These abuses must stop now if we do not want this country to go down the drain.

It is still not too late. Please sign up to join a Third Force for National Reform Facebook. We should unite to ensure that our voices are LOUD enough to be heard by the feuding politicians.