LETTER | I'm writing in response to the letter entitled Not the end of the world if Harapan doesn't name PM candidate.

The author posed a question: What is the prime objective of Harapan? And has answered it, quite confidently, that winning an election is a means to an end, and the end itself is reform.

The author also prefers Anwar Ibrahim, the former deputy prime minister and the former leader of opposition in comparison to Dr Mahathir Mohammad as his preferred prime minister from Pakatan Harapan.

I do not write on a basis of political preference. When we talk about reform, it is not a piece of cake and it shall not be viewed as such.

The logic behind the letter was, if Harapan won the election, reform will take its course, economic conditions for everyday Malaysians will change for the better and all of these will happen when Harapan has its plan laid down for the electorate to scrutinise and further improvise, even in the absence of a Harapan prime minister, post-election.

As an undergraduate in a Malaysian public university, from a middle-class neighbourhood with extended families and as a middle-income bumiputera having to survive the precariousness of the future, not via government subsidies but through hard work and perseverance, I think about the rakyat when these power-crazy politicians and their paid ma cai spurt out the word 'reform' solely for their own political gain.

In the end, what will the average Malaysians gain from that?

In the next few months, Malaysians, young and old, rich or poor, middle-income or low-income in the kampung, or in our urban housing areas, will be bombarded with many trigger words to incite hatred or sympathy for or against a politician or a political party.

But before we endure such a deceitful and confusing period, let us ask ourselves this one important question - are our politicians serious enough in improving the current state of the society or are they contesting to maintain the status quo?

These politicians, in my opinion, belong to a certain ruling class. They come from the same political family, were educated abroad and befriended those from the same socio-economic class as them.

They are members of the same political party since the first day of their involvement in politics, they were inculcated with the same party values or party ideas and probably backed up financially by the same capitalist lord whenever they want to run for a seat.

In reflecting the above, Abdullah Munshi, the father of modern Malay literature, noticed that the ruling class (when contemplating upon the feudal social life of 19th century Malaya) was not interested in reforming their society because this might go against their interests and therefore their main concern was to maintain the status quo since the situation worked for their benefit.

When we talk about reform, we always forget that the definition of reform is to make changes to something and to improve its condition, and by improving, to make something better from its previous state.

In my opinion, an important ingredient in achieving thorough reform is true knowledge and education. We can't have a thorough reform when politicians are unable to distinguish between truths and lies.

We can't have politicians contesting for the benefits of his or her other ruling class friends but using the language of the majority to give false hopes to the average and disenfranchised Malaysians of purported incoming glory days.

In reality, they have not known and equipped themselves when in power with knowledge on what 'justice' should be. We can't afford politicians who treat and view leadership as a right instead of a God-given responsibility to be executed fairly and justly.

My advice to my fellow Malaysians for the next coming months is to be careful and wise in telling apart true 'reformers' from those who have hijacked the term for worldly and materialistic gain.

Choose someone who works for you, someone whom you know and are familiar with. Someone who will honestly and sincerely fight for your livelihood and continuity.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.