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By : Tunku Abdul Aziz, NEW STRAITS TIMES

MY article, "English Proficiency Will Empower Us", that appeared in the New Sunday Times of Feb 17 has brought forth an avalanche of support for English as the language of instruction in our country's system of education.

Although the response was not altogether unexpected, the degree of unanimity took me by surprise. There was not one dissenting voice.

I thank you all for taking the trouble to write in with your thoughtful, encouraging comments on an issue that has been on everyone's mind ever since the policy change to replace English with Bahasa Malaysia was put in train all those years ago.

A lot of water, I am reminded, has flowed under the bridge, but if only the government of the day had consulted and engaged parents and teachers as partners instead of treating them as dissidents before that fatal decision was made, it would have realised how one political miscalculation would have had the effect of turning our country upside down in educational terms, with far reaching implications for our competitiveness as a whole.

That single decision, motivated solely by political expediency, had robbed young Malaysians of their rights to the rich repository of knowledge that only the English language could effectively unlock.

Much remains to be done by the government to create a social and political climate of inclusiveness.

The argument used in the past that a victory even by a single vote at the polls legitimised everything was disingenuous because it was tantamount to depriving us of the right to be consulted on matters that affected us most directly and personally.

Effective democratic governance must be predicated on a healthy working partnership between the people and their elected representatives: it is a shared undertaking, though admittedly not a joint responsibility.

This is because the job of an elected government is to govern in a transparent and accountable manner. It must do so by putting the interests of the citizens at the centre of all of its actions, first and last.

As the country goes to the polls in the next few days to elect its representatives to both the state and national legislatures, I reflect, with gratitude, on the many blessings this country has enjoyed since independence.

There have been both trying and dangerous times that confronted us but, on balance, we have weathered the storms. We have been well served by each successive administration.

There is, for the new government that will be formed after the final results are announced, a great deal of unfinished business to attend to urgently.

The list is long and varied, ranging from the economy to national integration, with any number of social and political hot potatoes in between.

The new government must never forget that its legitimacy to govern stems, first and foremost, from the voters' faith and trust that it will do the right things by them. It must never take public trust for granted, and must reciprocate this by putting all of its actions under public scrutiny. Trust begets trust.

With many new faces in the Barisan Nasional line-up, and assuming that they believe in public duty in the public interest and are going to function as thinking ethical leaders instead of party storm troopers, we hope the Dewan Rakyat will regain its rightful place as the protector of the nation's moral and ethical values.

There are a number of critical areas of governance to be addressed on a non-political basis.

Corruption in the widest possible sense, and not just bribery, must be tackled with courage and imagination because it retards development. The Anti-Corruption Agency under the current leadership is doing a reasonable job, but it needs more power to act decisively.

I believe that the prime minister can leave an important and lasting legacy if he decides to concentrate on policies whether they be economic, social or political that will carry all the people of Malaysia with him.

Such policies must be underpinned by ethical values and high standards of public behaviour.

And they must be seen to be guided by a sense of justice for all. The government has a duty to put all of its actions that have public interest implications in the public domain.

High and often unrealistic expectations have been raised that must be met. The Barisan Nasional coalition will romp home, and govern this country yet again as it has done for half a century. Of that we have absolutely no doubt, and we hope that the trust it enjoys will not be misplaced. The government must remember what Abraham Lincoln once said, "What is morally wrong can never be politically right".

In our parliamentary system of government, the opposition parties too have an important role to play, and this they must do in order that the system of checks and balances, which is so vital to the proper functioning of our democracy, remains inviolate.

Remember, all of us have a stake in good ethical governance.

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