by Lucius Goon
The Malaysian Insider
Jul 31, 2011
JULY 31 — I have watched from afar how the prime minister and his administration have squirmed and twisted and justified their handling of Bersih 2.0 and shown their reluctance to discuss meaningful electoral reform.
Very little has surprised me about an administration that is bereft of principle and function on the basis of spin and half-truths. It is quite obvious that the government believed that it could kill off Bersih by tough action and threats of intimidation.
When this did not happen, Najib tried a different tack: that the government was reasonable but Bersih was bent on causing havoc on the streets. His administration also spread the word that if the electoral system was skewed, there is no way the Opposition could have snared five states.
Today, while speaking to student leaders, Najib added to the spin, saying that if the government really controlled the Election Commission, it could have easily won Kelantan in 2004 where a few seats were lost by a few votes.
I think we should end this lie now. In 2004, the PM was Abdullah Badawi, not the smartest man around and definitely a major disappointment but not a cheat. He would not have thought of stuffing the ballot box. In addition, the Umno guys did not know that Abdullah would lead BN to a strong win across the country.
Their showing in Kelantan was probably a surprise. But in all likelihood, Abdullah would have frowned on cheating.
In 2008, nobody, not BN, not Abdullah and certainly not Pakatan Rakyat, believed that the Malaysian public would punish the incumbents so severely.
Umno was caught unawares. Given that scenario, they did not feel the need to change the postal vote rules as they have done so recently. In addition, it is unlikely that as a God-fearing man, Abdullah would have agreed to wide-scale cheating.
But times have changed and the people at the top these days are facing much more pressure than Abdullah did: there is more racial strife; personal issues like the Scorpene deal which refuse to go away; a disillusioned non-Malay/Muslim electorate; a gaping budget deficit and a less gullible electorate.
More than anything else, there is also belief within Umno circles that this could be the end, and this fatalism is reflected by the grabbing and get rich mood currently prevalent among the BN elite and their cronies.
With this background, it is not surprising that Najib played hardball over the Bersih rally. Within Umno, they actually gave the Bersih people more power and credit than they deserved.
There is no way that Umno will agree to the transparency of electoral reform because the party leadership believes that control of the Election Commission is the last trump card it holds.
Coming back to Najib today. All this stout defence about offering Shah Alam Stadium is an afterthought. As the days roll along, the administration will embellish this story, aided and abetted by the lamestream media.
Depending on the audience, sometimes the justification for the government crackdown on Bersih will be to protect the majority against tyranny of the minority or that it is illegal to deal with an illegal organisation or something along those lines.
Temberanglah. Notice all talk of communism and a Christian takeover has suddenly disappeared.
A political party, which has integrity problems associated with corruption, poll-rigging and spinning out half-truths, will not survive for long.
If anything Najib administration is THE TEMBERANG ADMINISTRATION.. From the start, 1Malaysia, NEM, ETP, Blue Ocean, etc were ALL TEMBERANG. The simple matter of fact is that those who rose to leadership position under Mahathir dominance were trained, overly so, on the art of hypocrisy. The result is an entire generation or even more of leaders whose substance are dubious or highly flawed. Even when they do have some substance they hardly are the best and the very least Insufficient to meet the challenges and requirement of the times and Najib is like a screaming advertisement of the fact.
Its not Najib fault he is not of required substance, not all of it, – its simply his fate. The same is true up and down the leadership of UMNO/BN. And its simply our fate and our necessary wisdom to be required substance. After all there is no other choice.
the illegal BN including Najib should resign and refund all their remuneration to a Fund for the poor or FundPOOR.
Quick and install IGGG.
http://fresh-air-in-iggg.blogspot.com/
One University student asked Najib…why not have debates with Oppositions.
He said Internet is enough….both sides give their views with no restrictions.
He forgot…TVs and papers one sided news and that U student was talking about a debate at TV1.
Do that..kampong folks getting smarter and Najib will loose more votes.
His nonstop lying and twisting will do him up himself…no need anyone else.
Najis administration has to toe the line to reform electoral poll before the next GE.Keep the Bersih’s 8 demands in the continuous efforts for fair and clean election and not let it go to waste.PR has to work harder on rural arears.
While speaking to student leaders, Najib said BN is a faithful follower of democracy as demonstrated by 2004 election when BN did not “disturb” PAS in Kelantan although BN only lost by 1 seat.
Wait a minute, but the PM IN 2004 was Abullah, the God fearing man.
BUT Najib DID NOT MENTION THE DISGRACEFUL CHANGING OF PERAK STATE GOVERNMENT IN 2009 WHEN HE HIMSELF WAS THE PM.
all talk of communism and a Christian takeover has suddenly disappeared.
But new talk of a zionist and wahhabbi plot to topple bn!
What is Najib as PM? He can’t even kick a ball. Now he is in hospital.
Uncle Jib : “hey…honestly, in my whole life I had never lied to anybody.. pls believe me…u can believe because I am ur PM”