— Lucius Goon
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 12, 2011
SEPT 12 — Sorry but I don’t buy this attempt to blame the slide in the prime minister’s rating to his mishandling of Bersih 2.0 rally.
What happened on July 9 and the twisting and turning of words after that by the PM (I offered the stadium and no I didn’t and yes I did) is just symptomatic of an administration which lost its direction and a leader who is afraid of his own shadow.
Long before Bersih happened, the country was in a drift towards worsening race ties, upsurge in the power of the right wing and flip-flops in policy reforms. Sad to say but Najib has become Abdullah Ahmad Badawi: good with slogans and rhetoric but very elastic with implementation.
Abdullah had Islam Hadhari and Najib has 1 Malaysia but under the umbrella of those two “concepts” is the same rubbish which has been stinking up Malaysia since the Mahathir administration: corruption by politicians, worsening race relations, abuse of powers, widening gap between the haves and have-nots, talent drain, inflated privatisation contracts, cronyism and nepotism and a complete hijacking of the Bumiputera agenda by Umno politicians and the decaying state of institutions.
But in Najib’s case, the problem of grabbing seems more acute because Umno politicians, concerned that their time on the gravy train is ending, are becoming more avaricious.
And if we believe even a fraction of what is being said about those related to the PM, then it is easy to understand why there is such cynicism among urban Malaysians about the administration.
Of course, not all ills can be laid at Najib’s door. He inherited a Cabinet which can best be described as unqualified to chart out policies for a multiracial Malaysia. Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi has urged all Malays to unite under the Umno/BN banner for the coming polls.
I am willing to support Zahid on two conditions: that he will be transparent and allow public scrutiny of all defence deals.
Secondly, that he and other ministers explain to an audit committee of eminent Malaysians their wealth. For example, how are they able to send their children to swanky boarding schools in the UK on a minister’s salary?
In my opinion, Najib’s rating dip, according to a survey by Merdeka Center, was not the result of the Bersih rally. It was the result of a growing segment of Malaysians growing disenchanted with weak leadership, flip-flops and realisation that many of us ordinary Malaysians are better qualified and more principled than the people leading us.