‘Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t’ is an old adage often quoted by those who prefer to cling to the status quo on the basis that any change involves risk and the risk of changing for the worse is reason enough not to try a new path.

In the context of Malaysia, there are some who are comfortable with BN’s rule and are unwilling to give a chance to Anwar Ibrahim and the Pakatan Rakyat coalition to fulfill their promises of better governance and a better future for the country.

There is something to be said for the stability and relative economic wellbeing that the BN government has provided so far. Why change something which has worked for the past 50 years? There are also some who do not care about social justice or a civil society as long as they can go about their normal business.

This argument may have some merit if the status quo can be maintained for the next 50 years and beyond. But it cannot. Even if all you care about is a plate of rice on your table, that plate of rice is going to get more and more expensive as inflation jacks its price up, depreciating real income reduces your purchasing power to buy it.

A country is like a big corporation. The profitability of the corporation is a function of how well it is managed. If the management steals money from the company, awards contracts based on kickbacks and personal relationships instead of best price and performance, squanders funds on useless expenditures which do not benefit the company and promotes staff based on reasons other than merit, the company is going to suffer and will eventually fail, throwing the economic wellbeing of the staff into doubt.

On the national scale, endemic corruption is robbing the country of its resources and levies a ‘corruption tax’ on the public in the form of higher tax, higher prices of public utilities and poor quality of public facilities. (Take the MRR2 flyover in Kepong as an example). An international research firm has estimated that a massive RM10 billion a year is lost to corruption in Malaysia.

On the economic front, racial policies which limit economic opportunities to a large segment of the population are robbing the country’s competitiveness in the world market. Such anti-competitive policies have also resulted in a sharp reduction of foreign direct investment to Malaysia.

In education, racial policies are again responsible for declining academic standards and churning out unemployable graduates. Our best and brightest students who are denied scholarships and academic opportunities by virtue of race, leave to study overseas and most refuse to return to face the racial inequality of our society. They represent a precious brain drain which robs the nation of the best of our human capital.

The rule of law is breaking down with public institutions meant to protect the rights of citizens subverted to serve and protect the ruling party. If the whole criminal justice system from the police to the judiciary can be abused to convict an innocent man of false charges, no Malaysian is safe from unfair prosecution.

Economic decline goes hand in hand with the breakdown of social justice as all countries with authoritarian regimes can attest.

The effect of all this economic and social mismanagement is a depreciated currency, high inflation, high unemployment, high taxes and widespread poverty while an elite group gets super-rich. As the country’s economy declines and discontent rises, oppressive methods will be used by the ruling party to maintain its hold on power.

Unfortunately, for those who are willing to accept ‘the devil they know’ in the hope of maintaining the status quo, Malaysia will not remain where it is in an increasingly competitive world.

Instead of gearing up to face the challenge of globalisation, the government is concerned with ugly political conspiracy and racial politics to maintain its hold on power and we are sliding down a slippery slope to a failed state like Zimbabwe. Perhaps we will reach there in time to greet 2020.

Amid all this gloom, who can save Malaysia?

It goes without saying that Umno which is the backbone of the ruling party cannot change its ways with patronage (an euphemism for corruption) as its core philosophy and creating and exploiting racial polarisation as its means of maintaining power.

The leader who can lead Malaysia out of its present predicament must be visionary enough to plot a path for the country, strong enough to weed out corruption and have enough charisma among the Malays to change long-standing racial policies which hold back the country from achieving its full potential. There is no Malaysian leader which fits the bill except Anwar Ibrahim.

Perhaps it was destiny that Anwar was kicked out of Umno and rose again as the leader of a new party dedicated to social justice and multi-racialism. Within Umno, he would never be able to effect widespread change even as president of the party and prime minister of the country, bearing in mind how deeply Umno is steeped in corruption and racism.

A leader like Anwar with strength, passion, vision and charisma only comes once in a lifetime. Natural leaders like him are born, not trained or groomed.

We are blessed to have such a leader as the nation faces an uncertain future in a changing world and stands on the cusp of tumultuous change. It is no more possible to find a replacement for Anwar than it is possible to find a replacement for Martin Luther King.

Let us not allow a university drop-out to steal this leader away from us. It would be akin to stealing the future of the country.