Bankrupt Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M)

Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Oct 22, 2012

The election chest is empty, chaos threatens BN, the overseas bolt-holes paid for with taxpayers’ money look increasingly inviting to corrupt politicians and Malaysians no longer feel that the government is on their side.

(With apologies to the composer of the popular children’s song below)

There’s a hole in the budget, dear Rosmah, dear Rosmah,
There’s a hole in the budget, dear Rosmah, a hole.
Then mend it, dear Najib, dear Najib, dear Najib,
Then mend it, dear Najib, dear Najib, mend it.

With what shall I mend it, dear Rosmah, dear Rosmah?
With what shall I mend it, dear Rosmah, with what?
With an AES, dear Najib, dear Najib, dear Najib,
With an AES, dear Najib, dear Najib, with an AES.

There’s a hole in my budget, dear Rosmah, dear Rosmah,
There’s a hole in my budget, dear Rosmah, a hole.
Use your head, then! dear Najib, dear Najib, dear Najib,
Use your head, then! dear Najib, dear Najib, use your head!

With former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad taking potshots at him from the fringes and many in his own coalition undermining him, isn’t it time someone put Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak out of his misery?

Few in his party consider him a capable leader and it does appear as if Najib is the only one who believes that he is up to the job. Either this prime minister has hidden talents, or we are blind to his abilities.

The date for GE13 has yet to be announced but the one-sided pre-election campaign has dragged on interminably. Najib has been busy criss-crossing the country whipping-up support for BN. He is in his element, with all spin and no substance to his rhetoric.

The rakyat may be weary of listening to Najib’s praise for BN’s development programme, track record and experience. They may tire of the opposition being bashed by BN. They might even switch off when both ruling and opposition members have a go at each other; but come GE13, they know which box to mark their ‘cross’.

Najib’s ploy to exhaust the rakyat with electioneering may actually backfire. He is already seen as indecisive and a man who fears facing up to his problems.

The rakyat are aware that opposition MPs are not perfect. They are impressed with the track record of the opposition-led states of Selangor and Penang, and they empathise with the Kelantan people who are deprived of development, by Putrajaya.

At least one man Najib can count on

Najib must have heard from his intelligence unit that BN is in deep trouble, but there is at least one man Najib can count on. This person is hoping for continuity, at least where his own position is concerned; but things are not looking too good for him either. He is Perak Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir and he has come up with a cringeworthy slogan which should appeal to the self-indulgent Najib.

Last Thursday, Zambry was on hand to fete Najib at a ‘Promises Fulfilled’ event held in Lumut, where the PM unveiled the ‘Negeri Aman Jaya 1Malaysia Bersatu’ or ‘NAJ1B’ concept.

Zambry said that NAJ1B combined the ‘None Missed, None Marginalised’ slogan, under which he claimed all Perakians were able to reap the benefits of a BN administration.

Cynics merely mocked the latest obeisance of the Perak MB and said that one typographical error at the end of the acronym would lend a different meaning to the soundbite, whilst others wondered if the ‘N’ in NAJ1B stood for Najib’s narcissistic tendencies.

The more we hear Najib speak, the quicker we want him out of office. He may describe himself as virtuous and a champion of the people, but he does appear to be out of touch with the rakyat.

When invited to speak at MCA’s 59th Annual General Meeting (AGM), Najib and the MCA leaders said nothing meaningful. Their rhetoric was limited to attacks on neighbouring countries and the opposition.

Najib then insulted the intelligence of the Malays when he said: “If they (the DAP) are really multiracial, I dare them to contest in a Malay-majority constituency… The Malays have had enough of DAP, all rubbish.”

If the Election Commission (EC) would do its job properly and election boundaries were properly apportioned and gerrymandering was disallowed, perhaps Najib would like to test his “Malays are fed-up” theory.

Instead of a DAP candidate contesting in a new and fairly demarcated Malay majority constituency, how about pitting an Umno candidate there?

Najib might be shocked to learn that even Malays would not vote for the Umno candidate.

Malays are disappointed with Umno, and tired of being fed lies when Umno leaders justify corruption, money laundering, abuses of power and injustices. They are sick of the corrupt judiciary and police force, the shambolic EC and an inept civil service.

Like bit players in a bedroom farce

As far as many Malaysians are concerned, the MCA, like the MIC, are like bit players in a bedroom farce.

MCA president Chua Soi Lek appeared to encourage attacks on the opposition and responded to criticism of these with: “….. election is very near. And a good leadership should always be sensible and sensitive about its environment.

“While the AGM is always a platform for policy, laying out policies, we feel that this is not the time to talk about policy because the general election could be two, three months away.”

Earlier, the MCA Wanita vice-chairperson Heng Seai Kie accused PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz, of condoning the rape of non-Muslim women who did not adopt the Islamic dress attire.

This time, Malays from various political persuasions believe that Heng and MCA have overstepped the boundary.

Did we hear Heng speak out in support of the Penan child rape victims? On the day she made her statement, did she realise that it was the sixth anniversary of the murder of a Mongolian model by Malaysian policemen, allegedly on the orders of a very senior Umno politician? Did she condemn the protection afforded to a cabinet minister who had allegedly raped his maid?

With Heng’s insult, rumours about a reconciliation between Umno and PAS, to unify the Malays, were scorched. The Chinese have abandoned MCA, just as the Malays have abandoned Umno.

If the MIC really wants to prevent gangsters from infiltrating Indian youth, why not channel the monthly payment of RM30,000 made to S Samy Vellu into an holistic scheme to help the Indian youth. Businessmen from India are quite capable of generating business links in Malaysia without a special envoy.

Almost every day, there is a manifestation of the corruption that festers within the BN government: Whimsical election hand-outs, money laundering, money smuggling, illicit outflows and overpriced government tenders. The Automated Enforcement System (AES) aka speed trap, hides a discrepancy of RM407 million between the actual purchase price and that which was tabled in parliament.

At the end of the day, ‘BR1M’ might as well stand for ‘Bankrupt Rakyat 1Malaysia’. Najib’s ‘1Malaysia’ is bankrupt of ideas, as well as being fiscally and morally bankrupt.

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a non-conformist traditionalist from Perak, a bucket chemist and an armchair eco-warrior. In ‘real-speak’, this translates into that she comes from Ipoh, values change but respects culture, is a petroleum chemist and also an environmental pollution-control scientist.