Neither new policy initiative nor legislative programe for the new year

As the third annual policy speech of the Abdullah premiership, the Royal Address is a disappointment as it offered neither new policy initiatives nor any legislative programme for the delivery of the Prime Minister’s pledges of an efficient, clean, incorruptible, accountable, transparent, just, democratic and progressive administration which is overdue by 40 months.

Last week, I had publicly urged the Prime Minister to come personally to Parliament on Question Time yesterday to answer the question asking him “to give a progress report on his reform pledges in the past 40 months, highlighting the reasons for the failures/shortfalls and how he could assure Malaysians disappointed that he had failed to ‘walk the talk’ on his reform agenda”.

This is because of the widespread and deep disappointments among Malaysians at the failure of the Prime Minister to live up to the high hopes of Malaysians to “walk the talk” to honour the pledges of reform agenda he had made when coming into office.

This question was “personal to holder” and could only be answered by the Prime Minister himself, as it concerns the pledges he had made when he became Prime Minister and during the 2004 general election for which he won an unprecedented 91% parliamentary majority. It could not be delegated to another Cabinet Minister, whether the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Nazri Aziz or even the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

But this was not to be. Although Abdullah urged Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club (BNBBC) members on Monday to perform “something extraordinary” to bring back the glory days of parliamentarians in line with the country’s 50th anniversary celebrations this year, no return of such “glory days” is conceivable firstly, when the Barisan Nasional has a suffocating 91% parliamentary majority and secondly, the Prime Minister stays away from Parliament even on questions directed at him personally.

I believe that the four previous Prime Ministers, from Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein Onn and Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad would not have stayed away from Parliament and delegated away the answer to such a “personal to holder” question.

The Prime Minister’s absence is most telling — for it is as good as an admission that he has very little to show to Parliament and the nation about honouring his reform pledges and agenda in the past 40 months — or he would not have allowed any other Minister to answer the question.

When the Prime Minister absents himself from Parliament on such a specific question, it is an indication that no satisfactory answer is forthcoming. But the answer by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Nazri Aziz, is even more disappointing in totally ignoring the specific reform pledges and agenda promised by Abdullah when he became Prime Minister and during the 2004 general election — as if they simply did not exist.

This was why I had protested during my supplementary question that Nazri could not just wish away Abdullah’s reform pledges and agenda as if they do not exist, likening Nazri’s attempt to do akin to that of a political David Copperfield — but which was misunderstood by Nazri and some media as referring to the Prime Minister.

Last week, the Prime Minister emerged from a meeting of the Barisan Nasional Supreme council and announced “Mission 2057” to ensure continued development in all aspects since independence and after Vision 2020 had been achieved. He said “Mission 2057” (Misi 2057) would become the development guideline for another 50 years.
It sounded a rather tall tale that the BN Supreme Council could meet to take the policy decision to formulate Mission 2057, when it is not only dubious that Vision 2020 could be achieved but very clear that Abdullah’s Mission 2004 is heading towards a big flop.

Before Abdullah trots out Mission 2057 about Malaysia in another half-a-century, he should deliver Mission 2004 which he had promised in the 2004 general election to lead an efficient, clean, incorruptible, accountable, transparent, just, democratic and progressive administration which is prepared to hear the truth from the people.

I had hoped that three areas would be top priority in the government’ policy initiatives and legislation programme for the coming year if Abdullah is to redeem his failures in the past 40 months to “walk the talk” of reform agenda and to retain credibility and even legitimacy for his unprecedented 91% parliamentary majority in the March 2004 general election.

Firstly, on the anti-corruption.front.

When he became the fifth Prime Minister in November 2003, Abdullah pledged to make anti-corruption the top agenda and proclaimed “zero tolerance for corruption”.

To mark the first three months of his premiership, Abdullah reiterated in an interview with senior editors of major newspapers his priority commitment to change the mindset of Malaysians to match the country’s first-class infrastructure with a first-class mentality, including the eradication of public and private sector corruption.

On his first 100 days as Prime Minister, Abdullah declared in his address to the Cambridge Foundation on 10th February 2004: “My first 100 days was my statement of intent. Now we get to work and walk the talk.”

However, after the unprecedented 91% parliamentary majority victory in the March 2004 general election, Abdullah had forgotten his declaration of “zero tolerance for corruption” or his pledge to make the fight against corruption as the top priority of his administration, as his “statement of intent” of his first 100 days remained mere “statement of intent” for the next 1,136 days till today without any “walk the talk” whatsoever.

[Speech (8) on Royal Address debate in Parliament 21.3.07]