Editor,
I wrote the other day that Voice of the People Party (VPP) is a ray of hope; I read an article in the Indian Express the other day where it called the VPP a breath of fresh air. The Congress and other regional parties in the State have failed us big time. Congress has been the party that has ruled the State for the longest time but their rule has not left development imprints in the State.
What makes the VPP stand out from the crowd is that for the first time in Meghalaya, we have a party which has a large presence of intellectuals. There was hue and cry a few weeks ago when a candidate from the UDP said that this time around we need a Khasi Chief Minister; my view is that the next Chief Minister should be the best man for the job. “The best man for the job” should always be the rule of thumb when it comes to governance.
I saw a video about an intellectual from Singapore highlighting the reasons which enabled Singapore to transform from a third world country to a first world country. The acronym MPH which stands for Meritocracy, Pragmatism and Honesty are the three main factors that transformed Singapore according to the intellectual.
Some might say that these factors might not necessarily be applicable to Meghalaya; well Meritocracy, Pragmatism and Honesty are universal truths of good governance and they will work in every country in the world. Meritocracy basically means the best man for the job, pragmatism means imbibing the best values from a set of values and principles; in case of politics it means imbibing the best values of Capitalism and Socialism; the Nordic countries epitomises pragmatism when it comes to good governance and I don’t need to say anything about Honesty; Honesty can definitely speak for itself.
Someone mentioned the list of candidates who stand out from the rest in this election yesterday in these columns; well he forgot to mention Professor A J Syngkon, the VPP candidate from Umsning. Professor A J Syngkon is a Commerce Professor from NEHU and he also has a PhD in Economics; who’s better at handling the economic affairs of the State than him.
Meghalaya right now desperately needs a man who has a grasp of Economics and someone who can handle the economy. The previous Chief Minister who has an MBA degree also held the post of Finance Minister in the last government. The previous government appointed a large number of consultants; I would just like to say that a government is not a corporation and corporatisation of governance poses a threat to the economic stability of our State.
Meghalaya desperately needs change. I remember when I got my first job my father told me that I should give him my salary and he will manage it for me. I was fresh out of college, so I guess he thought I was too young to handle my own economic affairs. Likewise 50 years ago, when a national party said that it would handle our economic affairs, it makes sense.
Now 50 years hence, if a national party comes and says that we should let it manage and run the affairs of the State since you have failed to run your State, then the people of the State should really feel ashamed. It’s like a father telling his married son that he should let him run his family since he is highly in debt and the only way out is to let him run his family; I definitely will not want to be in such a situation. If I’m in such a situation, I will definitely curse the day I was born!
Gary Marbaniang
Via email
