By Professor Dato' Dr Ahmad Ibrahim

The nation has been through a lot these past few years.

It started with the devastating episode of the 1MDB scandal which rocked the nation to the core.

How could such a thing have been allowed to happen within a system which has always boasted of having all the checks and balances? Many could not believe what they were told at first. But it was enough to humiliate the then government, which saw an almost landslide win for the newly minted opposition.

The opposition also won because of the many tasty promises it made to the people in its manifesto. Reducing the toll rate was one. There was also the promise to bring down prices of essential goods which they blamed on the GST. So, the SST was brought back. And many other promises on PTPTN repayment, better professionalism in GLCs and other juicy offerings to please the rakyat.

The bait was taken. The vote was overwhelming for the opposition. A new government was sworn in. There was a kind of celebration all around the country. There was that general feeling that after 60 years, the government is now truly serious about nation-building. A nation which promises prosperity for all Malaysians regardless of their ethnic, religious and social backgrounds.

The positive feeling was further boosted with the launch of the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 meant to replace the earlier Vision 2020 which has failed to fully materialize.

Then as time went by, the people grew restless. The changes that were promised did not fully see the light of day. Even the SST reintroduced to replace GST did not bring down food prices. At the same time, SST brought less income to the government because as pointed out by many taxation experts, GST is a more efficient consumption tax. That is why literally all developed economies implement GST, or VAT as it is known in some countries, not SST.

After about a year in office, the people grew even more restless. Very few of the manifesto promises were fulfilled. Every time the excuse given was the high debt level left by the previous government. Apparently, with less money, there is very little room to maneuver.

At the same time, each of the component parties in the opposition was squabbling about positions. The split in the party was evident. The earlier arrangement for the transition of power was also not managed well. This created further splits.

Admittedly, there were a few positive developments in the government. The mechanism to prevent leakages in government financing through misappropriation and corruption was well tightened. The other good thing was that literally all GLCs had professionals as chairpersons, instead of politicians.

However, because of the continued squabbling, many saw a big split coming. But what eventually happened was even worse. Through some regrouping of political parties, somehow a new alliance emerged and took power from the elected government.

Despite the fact some people claim the new government came though the back door, all those familiar with the laws agree that it was all done within the Constitution. But not long after the newly minted government assumed office, the nation was hit with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic has dealt a severe blow not only on the nation's health system but also the economy. Add to that the fact that oil prices have plunged to historically low levels of under US$30 per barrel, it is a double whammy for the country, because oil is a major revenue contributor for the nation.

With all such threatening developments confronting the nation, I would think it has become even more urgent for us all to focus on nation-building.

What will the world look like after COVID-19? Will there be new economic sectors taking over the world? How do we prepare the necessary talents so that we as a nation can move forward and take a slice of the new economic pie?

Obviously, the private sector will continue to be the engine of growth. The GLCs also have their role to uplift the nation's economy. However, many are concerned about recent talk to bring back non-professionals to helm GLCs. Such a U-turn would certainly not augur well as we try to inject more professionalism in our GLCs which were badly hurt previously.

Many are now calling the government to rethink this decision if we are truly serious about giving priority to nation-building.

(Professor Dato' Dr Ahmad Ibrahim is Fellow Academy of Science.)