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Your first 100 days in office have produced some commendable initiatives. You have shown us that considerable effort is being undertaken to address the rakyat’s growing discontent.

I would like to share with you my modest views on some of your initiatives, which have a direct impact on my family and myself, as a wife, mother and female citizen of Malaysia.

1Malaysia sounds grand, but I believe the rakyat are sceptical. History has taught us that racial integration is harder to achieve than it sounds. Thankfully, Malaysians love peace enough to keep racial tensions at bay but the undercurrents remain formidable.

I also think that by presenting 1Malaysia as being based on “acceptance rather than tolerance” sends out confusing signals to the public. 1Malaysia should propagate unconditional integration. The 1Malaysia website looks promising, however, but I hope it will always be up-to-date. Malaysian government websites tend to fall asleep once the novelty wears off.

The relaxation of Bumiputera equity-holding requirements and the introduction of national scholarships are bold and laudable steps in the right direction. Now is the time to ensure that none are more equal than others – refocus the New Economic Policy towards helping ALL Malaysians, irrespective of race or religion. To move forward as a united Malaysia, we cannot do it by having different rules for different members of society.

If I may, there are a few more issues which I hope Datuk Seri can consider with immediate urgency, as they are no less pressing than the issues currently being addressed by your administration.


Quality education, period.

Datuk Seri once held the Education portfolio, and so you would be acutely aware of the problems besetting our national education system. Each time a new minister takes office, new initiatives are introduced, but which ultimately do little to improve the overall quality of our education. Sadly, we even seem to be regressing with each passing year.

Uphold the tenets of the Penyata Razak. Let Bahasa Melayu be the medium of instruction in schools, but concurrently, take radical and concrete steps towards improving the standard of English.

Start with the teachers; ensure that they are well-versed in both Bahasa Melayu and English. The reality is that PPSMI is getting us nowhere and in the end, it is our children who suffer.


Peace of mind for working mothers.

Don’t neglect the social issues. For example, please look into incorporating day-care centres for all the ministries and large organisations in Malaysia. What is the loss of some commercial space within an office building, when the organisation gains the peace of mind of its female staff by have their young children nearby? A woman can do wonders when her mind is at ease, especially when it concerns the safety and well-being of her children. It’s high time Malaysia realises that.


Ease our traffic woes

Truthfully, I don’t know what can be done to improve our increasingly impossible situation. Unreliable and inadequate public transport faces-off with too many vehicles choking our roads. But Datuk Seri would have the brilliant thinkers and planners at your disposal to alleviate this problem before it gets any worse. Malaysians are spending far too much time on the road, to the detriment of their personal lives and families.


Make Malaysia safe again

The sheer rampancy of rapes, snatch thefts, robberies and murders is enough to keep Malaysians at home, under lock and key (even that’s no guarantee of safety), depriving us of the opportunity to live a well-rounded life, enjoying our surroundings and environment. Please, make Malaysia safe again.