‘Anti-national’: Right word, wrong coalition

By Kee Thuan Chye

What Prime Minister Najib Razak said at the opening of the BN convention last Sunday reflects a mind of the lowest common denominator. It is not the kind of mind one expects of a prime minister.

He stooped really low in taking swipes at the two-family dominance of the DAP (Lim Kit Siang’s and Karpal Singh’s) and “nepotism” in PKR, forgetting that he too is the son of a former prime minister, and that Dr Mahathir Mohamad also has a son who is a deputy minister with ambitions of becoming bigger.

Instead of taking on the opposition on ideological grounds and maintaining prime ministerial decorum and dignity, he resorted to name-calling. He called Pakatan Rakyat “anti-national” and “very dangerous”. He said their activities were “despicable”. Some media organisations reported it as “evil”.

These are cheap words that anyone can utter. If by “anti-national” and “despicable”, he means that Pakatan has been “bad-mouthing” Malaysia abroad, as he says it has, it would not have been about the country but the government, which deserves to be bad-mouthed anyway. And the government deserves that for all the ills it has committed over the last three or four decades, and for leading Malaysia to the economic, social and moral morass it is in today.

Let us get one thing clear – the country and the government are separate entities. Governments come and go, the country is eternal (unless it is destroyed or fragmented). We owe our allegiance to the country, not to the government. Therefore, saying bad things about a bad government is not being anti-national.

Most important of all, voting against a bad government is not being anti-national. A bad government does not deserve loyalty. Disloyalty to the government is not disloyalty to the country; in fact, voting out a bad government is being loyal to the country.

Anti-national activities

Ironically, Najib’s description of Pakatan sounded as if he was talking about BN.

After all, what could be more “dangerous” and “anti-national” than corruption, of which BN has been deep into, reportedly making billions from negotiated contracts and cronyism?

And who are the anti-nationals if not those who seek to divide the people with periodic declarations that are racist, or that question the integrity of certain races or their patriotism?

If evidence is required, here is a list of only a few BN people (there are no doubt countless more) who have been guilty of expressing such anti-national sentiments and even got away with it – Ahmad Ismail, Noh Omar, Nasir Safar, Hishammuddin Hussein, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

If you want more, attend an Umno general assembly and you won’t be disappointed.

What could be more “dangerous” and “anti-national” than messing with the minds of the young from the moment they enter primary school, indoctrinating them with racially and religiously divisive messages, and reinforcing this by subjecting some of them to Biro Tatanegara (BTN) courses before they go overseas for further education?

What about doing the same with the civil servants?

What about suppressing the mass media, and using it to spin the news in BN’s favour? And using it to disseminate racial hatred and to propagate racial supremacy?

What about taking our education system to the pits, lowering the standards by lowering the passing mark, not only at SPM but in universities? Ask any university lecturer if the marks are not tampered with and they’ll have plenty of stories to tell you.

What about making use of the police and other law enforcement agencies to make life hard for the opposition? Or instituting judicial persecution when it suits the government’s purpose?

A dream merchant

When Najib said at the convention, “BN is a responsible coalition… The people can trust us to do not only what is right but what is in their best interests”, he must have been either speaking tongue-in-cheek or spinning through his teeth.

That’s what Najib is good at, really. He is at best a dream merchant. If he weren’t prime minister, he might have been a salesman.

He has been trying to sell us 1Malaysia, the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) without providing us a tangible product. At least for now, they are merely dreams. And for all that he promises, they might not be fulfilled.

Now he’s talking about the Political Transformation Programme (PTP) pula. And by that, he means the “historic changes” BN has recently made by creating four different types of membership. Puhlease! Who cares about that? It only serves BN’s interest, not the rakyat’s. Call that political transformation?

Political transformation should, among other things, involve having a large percentage of the Malaysian population choose the country’s prime minister rather than 146,500 Umno delegates. Najib himself is PM not even because of this relatively small number of people. He was simply handed the position by his predecessor.

As for BN undergoing political transformation itself, the best way to make it do so is to vote it out of government so that it will know what it’s like to be in the opposition – deprived of corruption opportunities, deprived of power, deprived of the temptation to be arrogant.

With the PTP, Najib is just trying to fool us again. If he wants to talk about political transformation, he should repeal the ISA, the PPPA, the OSA, the UUCA, and restore the independence of the judiciary. And that’s just for starters.

Without institutional reform, the government cannot regain credibility. In fact, the government has lost so much credibility that even charging Dr Mohd Khir Toyo with fraud – apparently timed to occur right after the BN convention – is seen by the public as an election ploy. This was the same public reaction when Dr Ling Liong Sik was charged a few months before.

Khir Toyo had been in the news for a long time over his multi-million-ringgit home, the MACC had been urged again and again to investigate him, but it is only now that the moment has become opportune to haul in the man that the people love to hate. Yet even so, the people are not convinced.

After what they’ve seen of other somewhat similar cases, how could they not be cynical about it? Let’s see if the verdict will come before the next general election. Even if the maximum Khir Toyo can get is two years’ jail and a fine.

Never-ending price hikes

But election ploy aside, the fact that a prominent Umno man is being charged with corruption speaks ill for the party, especially in these times when the cost of living is rising as prices of essential goods go up and up.

Last month, there was an increase in the price of petrol which Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said would probably be the last for the year. But only a few days ago, it was raised again. And the story was buried on page 16 of The Star with, to add insult to injury, a positive heading!

The people should feel incensed that they are paying more for their daily needs while there are politicians in the ruling coalition, including one who was once a menteri besar, alleged to be corrupt.

Not to mention the money spent on wasteful projects and on making the government look good, like the RM36 million spent on McKinsey & Co. And the hiring of the undeserving S Samy Vellu as an envoy with ministerial status.

It doesn’t add up. Why are we paying to upkeep BN’s image and line the pockets of its leaders? Are they the nationalists who uphold the people’s interests?

So, the next time Najib wants to use a word like “anti-national”, he might want to be sure he knows its true meaning and apply it to the right people. Otherwise, he might appear like a two-bit spinmeister. And that’s not becoming for a prime minister – especially one who’s not been duly elected.

18 Replies to “‘Anti-national’: Right word, wrong coalition”

  1. Rakyat malaysians.. Lets Not be FOOLed by BN Umno pre-election Free money kosong promises and Lies””

    Rakyat >>>What is the real motive of Najib 1-Malaysia crap …>>the answer is simple >>To divide and weaken society rather than strengthen and bring it together..
    and Umnoist ideology is always focus to assist their own race and propagate Islam Falsehood religion..
    why are these religion pursuits so blinded >>>the answer is simple as the Koran wrote it >> their endless Sins and deceitful obssessions and deeds daily…why so??
    RM ..Lets all decide absolutely at the Ballot boxes >>VOTE PR into PutraJaya as our next Kerajaan .
    Cheers

  2. the toyo guy will be found not guilty after the election and will get to keep his palace.

    the najib guy can spin and spin. he will be the only one going dizzy after the spinning stop. it’s a sequence. spin-dizzy-fall. after that dizziness, he will fall. let’s watch how he fall and have a good laugh.

  3. MK Toyo is one more selected to be arrested
    Ignoring the dozen or so that were reported
    Lock them up esp all the big fish
    Good riddance to bad rubbish
    Otherwise the Toyo case is just wayang outright
    A ploy to put the BN in a favourable light
    May the people not be fooled anymore
    Come GE13 BN must be shown the door

  4. ///If evidence is required, here is a list of only a few BN people (there are no doubt countless more) who have been guilty of expressing such anti-national sentiments and even got away with it – Ahmad Ismail, Noh Omar, Nasir Safar, Hishammuddin Hussein, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.///–KTC

    That little list includes two vice presidents of UMNO, which is two-third of the second liners. He should also include Muhyiddin Yasin, and not forgetting Najib himself when he said in 1987 what he wished to do with his keris and Chinese blood.

    These racists cannot be sincere when they have to say diversity is strength. Perhaps they meant diversity in their hold of foreign currencies.

    Hishamuddin said that MCA Chua should not have said what he uttered at the BN conference in the presence of Najib. How come Hishamuddin said something against Chua when Najib keep silence listening to the same speech? Was Hishamuddin speaking the mind of Najib? If so Chua Soi Lek should think about taking MCA out of BN (He can’t, otherwise the charge of unnatural sex might catch up on him; that is why he should not have run for the President of MCA ) If not is Hishamuddin going against Najib? UMNO president is all powerful because he not only has the post and wealth to offer, he has the photos. UMNO has the other 11 parties besides MCA to play around. These mosquitos’ parties serve the interest of the party leaders. They are irrelevant in racial politics but they give UMNO the legitimacy to rule as emperor-party. Come next election, if the people cannot eliminate UMNO party candidates, they should finish off the candidates of the mosquitos’ parties.

  5. How to get rid of corruption if your father, your aunty, your uncle and your whole jin jeng gang of family and relatives are corrupted in the civil service or even in the private service ? They will kick you out of the family.

  6. Challenging a bad government doesn’t mean ”evil” When you impregnate your lover, have her shot dead despite her pleadings for mercy and blowing up her body into pieces with C4, that is the actual meaning of ‘EVIL’

  7. You babi.
    You cina kui.
    You Cina kui cina kui cina kui.
    You Babi You Babi You Babi.

    That was an exchange I got caught in decades ago as a kid of 10.

    But jib, you are now too old for this sort of engagement with your opponents. And names calling is so so totally low for a prime minister. Let muhideen do it for you. Or maybe some mca or gerakan suckers. They would do it with a smile.

  8. here is another EVIL. he should thank his lucky stars to be alive and to defend his evilness, unlike teoh beng hock…

    ///SHAH ALAM: Former Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo says he has done nothing wrong and believes he will be cleared of any wrongdoing soon.///

  9. The real betrayal of Najib program is that its really Mahathirism part II and the real problem is that I suspect that even HE does not know it is.

    His real program is essentially mega-projects with better managers. That is really is it. He is hoping to better implement mega projects that is less wasteful and corrupted. The operative word being ‘hope’.

    The problem is the challenges faced going out for us – higher energy cost, lower subsidies, less job creation – it just is beyond almost anyone he knows and available to him.

    All it will create is a class of managers that is better off than the rest of us. Most of us are either spectators are make clear we are outsiders. If you are not a ‘star’ of the party, you are not part of it even if you get invited – you are just invited to watch.

  10. What Najib said about his political opponents is without a doubt highly offensive and the self-justifying rhetoric gave the impression that Najib is now pushed to the corner, his fingers clawed at the air. This is not surprising though, considering the excess baggage he has to carry to stay on top, imagine if he fall. If we examine the words Najib used to attack PR, ‘evil’, ‘anti-national’, ‘despicable’ and ‘very dangerous’, if those words mean anything at all, it’s like sabre-rattling, hinting at grave repercussions, if continue to be challenged by his opponents from within and without, that’s what you expect when you put a mad man on top. The question is not whether Najib will invokes emergency laws if BN lose GE13, the answer is yes. The question is what are going to do about it, or what can you do to prevent it?

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