Broken Promises: When Will Politicians Learn?

Broken Promises: When Will Politicians Learn?

If I had a ringgit for every broken promise a politician made, I wouldn’t need EPF withdrawals — I’d be sipping coconut water on my private island while watching parliament on livestream for entertainment. But alas, here we are, still being serenaded by leaders who treat manifestos like tissue paper: useful during campaigns, flushed away right after.

Politicians promise us the moon, the stars, and occasionally a free laptop for every student. Then, once elected, they downgrade those celestial bodies into “pending studies,” “technical difficulties,” and everyone’s favorite line: “We never said when it would happen.” Ah yes, the fine print of political promises: everything is deliverable in some distant galaxy, just not in your lifetime.

Remember the pledges of cheaper petrol? Housing for all? Transparent governance? Well, the petrol got pricier, houses got smaller but costlier, and transparency now means you can clearly see through the excuses. Somewhere between the campaign trail and the comfy leather chairs of parliament, those promises evaporate faster than a government website during heavy traffic.

But let’s not be too harsh on our dear politicians. After all, making promises is hard work. You have to keep a straight face while declaring, “We will fight corruption!” even though your cousin’s brother-in-law just got awarded a suspiciously large government contract. You have to act shocked — shocked! — when caught breaking your own manifesto, as though the rakyat simply misunderstood your creative interpretation of honesty.

Here’s the cruel irony: we, the rakyat, are complicit too. We listen, we nod, we hope. We fall for the same lines every election cycle like lovesick fools reunited with a toxic ex. “This time, he’s changed,” we whisper to ourselves, only to wake up six months later with the same heartbreak and another bill shoved under the door. Politicians keep lying because, quite frankly, we keep buying.

And social media doesn’t help. Politicians now announce “big reforms” with glossy infographics, hashtags, and TikTok dances. Theatrics over substance. A five-second reel of a minister planting a tree gets more traction than the fact that entire forests are being signed away for development. It’s promises by PowerPoint, governance by GIF.

But let’s ask the million-ringgit question: when will politicians learn? Probably never. Because the system rewards promises, not performance. You don’t get elected for saying, “Look guys, it’ll be tough, slow, and boring to fix this mess.” No, you get elected for declaring, “We’ll fix everything in 100 days!” Cue applause, balloons, and free T-shirts. Results? That’s Act Two, and by then most voters have left the theatre.

So perhaps it’s time we flipped the script. Instead of swooning at campaign poetry, we should demand receipts: timelines, penalties for failure, actual consequences for unfulfilled pledges. Imagine a world where a politician loses their seat if 70% of their manifesto isn’t delivered. Ah, but that would shrink parliament faster than a cold shower.

Until then, we’ll keep hearing the same chorus of promises, the same theatre of hope, and the same excuses dressed up as explanations. Politicians may never learn, but maybe — just maybe — we the rakyat can. Because broken promises only have power if we continue to believe in them.