LETTER | On April 11, a minister made a speech in Rantau telling members of one community to only vote their own.

He thought that since he delivered the speech in his vernacular tongue, he could escape public scrutiny. Malaysians found his speech offensive, which may have led to the government to lose the Rantau seat.

He had since tried to justify his statements, saying that it was misunderstood. He warned legal action against those who criticised him.

Minister, you have the right to make your statements, and we Malaysians have the right to interpret it, based on what you actually said. You cannot control and dictate our thoughts. This is Malaysia Baru.

Pakatan Harapan leaders, please stop sabotaging the current government. Each day, your actions and words continue to erode the confidence and support of the rakyat.

Mistakes after mistakes are being made, and instead of accepting your flaws and taking responsibility, you make confusing statements to justify values that do not belong in Malaysia Baru.

Malaysians are tired of making excuses for you. You have been the government for 11 months now. That is 18.3 percent of your tenure period. Yet there is really nothing to show for it.

You continue to play the old tune of communal politics. We don’t understand why you still harp on racial sentiments, since Malaysians had clearly rejected racial politics in GE14. Your insistence on playing the race card had proven disastrous in Cameron Highlands. Yet you did not learn anything.

We have fought long and hard for freedom of speech in this country. Don’t stifle it now.

The deputy education minister’s statements on the academicians who advised the sultans threaten the freedom of intellectual discourse. We should not jump to conclusions based on an executive summary.

The full paper should be scrutinised. If it is without merit, ignore it. If it has merits, consider it. Or even better, debate it with evidence, point by point. Public censure of these academicians is not worthy of Malaysia Baru.

If those with dubious degrees can be appointed senators and lead ministries, and given space to voice their opinions in Parliament and media, why can’t these academicians, who had invested their time to train and obtain legitimate credentials, be allowed their voices too? We Malaysians are also interested in what they have to say.

If you want freedom of speech, you must defend it for everyone. Not pretend to want it, yet deny it when it is inconvenient. How can we claim to be progressive when intellectuals are silenced?

Leaders in the government, we would like to remind you that when you took your oaths of office, you also took oaths of secrecy.

Part of that oath of secrecy is that you must not let slip any information that may jeopardise the security of the nation. The foreign minister’s statement on an alleged deep state is unacceptable.

If there is indeed a deep state, deal with it, silently. You should not be discussing it in public, exposing this information to be picked up by foreign intelligence, who may use it to threaten the security of our nation. What you did, foreign minister, was highly irresponsible.

Perhaps it is time the current government be wiser about the company they keep. Personalities who are divisive and cause problems to the coalition must not be allowed to lead ministries.

Identify your members who are a liability and gradually discard them. If you insist on retaining problematic politicians, Malaysians will definitely judge you.

We want you to succeed. You really need to buck up and act like a government. You cannot behave like an opposition anymore. If you insist on this mediocre trajectory, we can’t help you anymore.

As citizens, our duty is to elect the best government for Malaysia. If you are not the best, we can’t keep you.

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