Why do our ministers keep saying the silliest things?

COMMENT: It is a shame Malaysians are not in the circus business. We seem to have numerous individuals with so much talent.

In Malaysia, we have top executives who perform disappearing acts when the heat is on, and leaders who double as human cannonballs and fly out of the country a bit too frequently. Then there are puppet masters who make full use of their human puppets for their own benefit, of course.

Above all, we seem to be in no short supply of clowns, who walk among us without their costumes, make up or any measurable talent, except to entertain the masses with their comments.

Take for example the statements from two full ministers in Parliament recently.

In a Free Malaysia Today report, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rohani Abdul Karim called on Malaysians to have more babies as the trend of couples marrying late and having just one or two children would lead to us becoming a nation full of elderly people.

“The ministry is urging couples not to focus too much on quality of life, but to appreciate that having more children would benefit the country in the long-term,” she told Parliament during question time.

Rohani said the government was doing its part by more than doubling paternity leave to seven days while increasing maternity leave to 90 days and allowing flexible working hours so women could better juggle the demands of working life and being mothers.

She said the government was doing all it could to encourage, not force couples to have at least three to four children instead of smaller families.

Meanwhile, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan Kassim urged for positivity over 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and the Goods and Services Tax so as to lower stress levels.

“Think positive about GST…1MDB. If you think positive then there will be lower stress levels.”

Shahidan said that those talking about the issues will be stressed and those listening would also be stressed.

What gems of wisdom. Malaysians are so lucky to have such leaders.

Firstly, how can Rohani even ask the people “not to focus too much on quality of life”? What kind of advice is this?

Every government in the world aims to improve the quality of life of its people. The government’s efforts and investments in infrastructure is designed for this very purpose.

Does Rohani really understand why parents are having fewer children nowadays?

With our stagnant salary levels and higher cost of living it is obvious why people are opting for less.

Rohani’s ministry has implemented some noble initiatives such as increasing maternity and paternity leave as well as allowing flexible working hours.

But at the end of the day, it all comes down to affordability.

Younger people these days can barely afford to buy homes, let alone think of having several children.

And what about the quality of life for the children? Surely the quality of their life is more important.

Any right-thinking parent would rather have one child and give them the best than have three or four but cannot pay for their medical bills, education and more.

It is not the duty of the people to have more children to benefit the country.

If the government realises there is a need for this, it should focus on pushing for fairer wages, reducing the cost of living and injecting more money into infrastructure projects that help make it easier for people to make ends meet.

The government could reduce tariffs on imported cars which greatly inflate the prices of cars, focus more on affordable housing, stop wastages, cut down on having so many ministries, review the GST to reduce the burden on the lower income group for instance.

Help the masses rather than spending money on private jets and protecting the interests of telecommunication giants that make billions in profits.

Once people can afford more children, birth rates are more likely to increase again.

At the moment, people are struggling to keep afloat that having more than one or two children are out of the question.

As for Shahidan, asking people to think positively about the GST and 1MDB is a silly statement.

People are worried because they are experiencing an increase in the cost of living following GST’s implementation. Positivity is not going to help them pay the extra costs they incur.

It’s possible that Shahidan might not be too familiar with the 1MDB issue to remain positive about it.

Even the likes of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Muhyiddin Yassin and a host of other Umno leaders have spoken up against 1MDB.

This is not some issue exaggerated for political mileage.

As a leader, Shahidan should be echoing the calls of his peers for action to be taken against those behind 1MDB, not asking people to be positive about it. He must understand the anxiety and anger of the issue.

The problem with our leaders is that they are so out of touch with what is happening on the ground that they are often too quick to open their mouths without thinking.

When will this madness end?