12 theSun | WEDNESDAY APRIL 8 2009

speak up!

thesun says

All must strive for a free and informed media

IT IS clear from his speech at the
Press Awards Night on Monday
that new Prime Minister Datuk
Seri Najib Razak wants the media
to work with him and all the other
people of the country in build-
ing a new, people-oriented One
Malaysia. It is to be assumed that
because he wants to “strengthen
the fabric of our democracy” laws
that constrain free speech would
be reviewed.
When his predecessor, Tun
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, pro-
claimed a new era of openness
and transparency, he was praised
and congratulated for heralding
something which people had
been yearning for a long time. But
what Abdullah did not do was to
institutionalise what he was grant-
ing to the people and leaving all
the laws that constrain openness
unchanged.
The media were, therefore,
very wary of the openness that he
declared because the laws con-
tinued to hang over them like the
sword of Damocles. After all, he
himself said that the “the rotan is
still on the wall” as a deterrence
against recalcitrancy.
In his first address to the nation
just a few hours after being sworn
in as the sixth prime minister,
Najib talked about the need to
reach out to “all parts of Malaysia
– to all our diverse communities”.
Everyone knows that to be able to
do that he must have an effective
media to be a conduit as well as a
forum where debates and conver-
sations take place about the future
of the nation.
For the traditional media to
be effective, they must be able
to reach out to all people of the
various communities, regardless
of their age and across all parts
of the country. To be effective
the traditional media’s mass base
must be much larger – even larger
than what it used to be before the
advent of the new media – and for
that to happen they must be popu-
lar and credible. This they can be
only when constraining laws are
amended.
Najib did not say so in his speech
but from what he said about need-
ing a media “that is empowered to
responsibly report what they see,
without fear of consequence, and
to hold governments and public
officials accountable for the results
they achieve or do not achieve” we
can assume that the days of some of
the laws or their clauses remaining
in the statute books are numbered.
What is further needed is a Free-
dom of Information Act which will
make accessible to the public and
the media government information
which is now not readily available
because of the Official Secrets Act.
With these institutional changes
and some changes and retraining
the media undertake, the media
are ready to play their part in the
One Malaysia project.

letters
letters@thesundaily.com

Leaders need not slave at the desk

I REFER to “DAP: Nizar will continue as
MB if he wins in next national polls” (April
2). It is unfortunate that DAP chairman,
Ngeh Koo Ham, evaluates efficiency and
job performance in terms of how many
hours a person spends at the office.
Ngeh states that “He (Mohd Nizar
Jamaluddin) reported to work at 8am
and worked until midnight.” This adds
up to 14 hours of work a day, assuming
that the former MB took an hour’s lunch
break and two tea breaks of 30 minutes
each. However, if he forfeited his lunch
and tea breaks, then his work schedule
would have extended to 16 hours a day.
But being an MB is a job very much
like any other, and it should come with a
job description that specifies the working
hours. By law, employees are supposed to
work eight hours a day. In reality, though
many employees, especially those in
higher positions such as managers and
directors, work longer hours.
I ask myself, is this huge amount of
overtime necessary? And why give a
person a job description with the stated
working hours only to tacitly override
them? If companies could have saved on
overtime, maybe they would fare better
during the slowdown.
Managers, directors, and leaders
work an enormous amount of overtime
daily when they should be the first
to complete their work in the time
available and set a good example to their
employees.
The job of the leader is to identify
and solve problems. An effective leader
is one who can choose the right people
to perform the task and then delegate
the job to them. This process of selection
doesn’t require the whole day.
A leader is not only concerned with
the duty list in his contract of work, he
also needs time for himself, his family,
and his friends.
Being in a position of authority where
definite decisions are made, a manager,
director, or leader must keep himself
informed, read up on current affairs, talk
to people, and be observant.
Additionally, a manager or leader
must take good care of his body and
mind. Physical appearance is important
these days, and although it is true that
we must not judge a book by its cover,
in reality people will think that if a leader
looks good he also is good.
There is also a limit to which the mind
can perform at its best, and therefore
proper rest and relaxation at the end
of each working day are important. A
leader must make time to review events
to avoid future mistakes.
If the manager or leader spends 14
hours a day in the office sifting through
paper work, answering phone calls, or
attending meetings, he does not have
the time to keep himself updated.
A good manager or leader is someone
who can complete his work successfully
within the normal working hours.
MAB
Ipoh

Be sensible over foreign workers

WITH the global recession starting to
take its toll on Malaysia, and causing
the inevitable loss of jobs, attention is
now focused on jobs undertaken by
foreign workers which can be done by
Malaysians. However, we should not get
emotional over the issue but look at it
with an objective and pragmatic eye.
We have about two million foreign
workers in the country. We must acknow-
ledge the contributions of these migrant
workers. Just because the economy has
turned sour, we should not make them
the scapegoats. These migrant workers
have contributed tremendously to the
economic development and prosperity
of the country.
The government often seems to be
changing the rules on the employment
foreign workers. To double the levy from
RM1,800 to RM3,600 is impractical, and is
bound to be detrimental to the economy.
It will make Malaysia less competitive in
the long-run as companies will factor in
this levy to the cost of production and
pass them on to consumers.
Some of these legal foreign workers
will be reluctant to return home and
prefer to work illegally. Many of these
workers had to pay the equivalent of
RM10,000 to agents in their countries to
work in Malaysia.
Let us be realistic: Migrant workers
take on jobs which Malaysians shun, and
even with the downturn our workers are
reluctant take over these menial tasks.
The sluggish economy should not be
an excuse to increase the levy on the
foreign workers. The current quandary is
only a temporary phenomenon. The two
stimulus packages will help to sustain
economic growth.
Already there is talk of an early
recovery, if not after the middle of the
year, then most optimistically next year.
We should be prisoners of hope and not
soothsayers of doom.
Very often I have asked vagrants who
approach me for money to seek employ-
ment in restaurants, but the standard
response is a dumbfounded silence. The
truth is that Malaysians these days are
unwilling to work in restaurants and
plantations.
Many Singaporeans have swallowed
their pride in face of the severe recession
and are doing jobs they once spurned.
Even some of its engineers are now
working as bus drivers. It’s time Malay-
sian followed suit and eat humble pie.
James Gonzales
Kuala Lumpur

Smooth transition augurs well for recovery

THE Federation of Malaysian Manu-
facturers (FMM) is pleased that the
planned transition of power from Tun
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to Datuk Seri
Najib Razak was carried out without any
hindrances.
The smooth handover of the prime
ministership signals the acceptance of
all towards our new leader and this most
certainly will augur well for the future of
Malaysia.
Especially so in these trying times, our
country needs to organise concerted ef-
forts to plot and execute Malaysia’s road
to recovery from the global economic
turmoil. Under current scenarios, we
should not waste time on other counter-
productive issues and work as one to
find solutions.
Under the able leadership of
Abdullah, many policies have been
designed and put into place to promote
the quick recovery of our economy. With
Najib’s stewardship in executing these
policies, as well as implementing other
relevant strategies, the FMM is optimistic
that Malaysia will be able to revitalise
itself faster than anticipated.
With the economy in doldrums, some
may say that this is possibly the worst
time for entry by the new prime minister.
However the FMM is of the opinion that
an effective leader can take charge
anytime, regardless of the conditions
of the environment. With all his years
of experience and with his soon-to-be
announced team of cabinet ministers,
we are confident that the new prime
minister will help us find our way out
onto the correct path.
The FMM takes this opportunity to
congratulate the new prime minister and
his incoming cabinet ministers and looks
forward to continue playing its role as
the bridge between the government and
the manufacturing sector of Malaysia.
FMM would also like to thank Abdullah
for his contribution to the nation.
Federation of Malaysian
Manufacturers

Citizen Nades is on leave and will be back next week.