(Media Conference Statement at the DAP Ipoh Timur Election Ops Centre, Ipoh on Wednesday, 27th Feb. 2008 at 12 noon)
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday that it was crucial for the Barisan Nasional to retain its two-thirds majority in Parliament as a prerequisite of strong government.
He said: “In this era of globalization, they would only invest in our capital market if they had confidence.
“If we have a weak government which can collapse at any time, they would just go and invest in other countries which have a stronger and more stable government.”
This is the political myth which had led Malaysia up the “garden path” for half a century and why Malaysia had failed to fulfill the potential to be a great competitive global nation, contributing our assets and resources to make other nations like Singapore more successful and pulling ahead us while we continue to fall behind one nation after another.
Is Najib seriously suggesting that if Barisan Nasional (BN) loses two-thirds parliamentary majority in the 8th March polls, the Barisan Nasional cannot govern and there will be anarchy and chaos in Malaysia?
Clearly Najib is not very good in maths. If BN is to lose its two-thirds parliamentary majority, it must lose at least 75 out of a total of 222 parliamentary seats, i.e. leaving the BN still with a solid phalanx of 147 MPs. This will give the BN a huge majority of 72 seats which will be the envy of all governments in first-world developed nations.
I challenge Najib to state and justify why the BN with a 72-seat parliamentary majority cannot govern effectively and will be a “weak government which can collapse any time”?
Is the Barisan Nasional coalition government so fragile and unstable that even with a 72-seat majority in Parliament, it could collapse any time?
Do we now have a new meaning of “Malaysia Boleh”, which was invented by the previous Prime Minister Tun Mahathir , under the Abdullah premiership?
Is Najib serious when he said that if Barisan Nasional loses its parliamentary two-thirds majority, Malaysia will lose out in the era of globalization as investors will shy away from Malaysia and will not invest in Malaysia?
Leaving aside Asia, I challenge Najib to name the first-world developed nations in the West whose ranks Malaysia hopes to join under Vision 2020 which are uncompetitive and unable to attract foreign investors because they do not have two-third parliamentary majorities for the ruling government or coalition. I would like to know which fully-developed nation in the First World has a two-third parliamentary majority for the ruling government or coalition!
Najib is indulging in the irresponsible politics of fear and scare in the 12th general election campaign.
In fact, it is the removal of the BN two-thirds parliamentary majority and end of Umno political hegemony which are the prerequisites for Malaysia to achieve BN 2004 manifesto of “excellence, glory and distinction” and Vision 2020 objective of an united, dynamic, progressive fully developed nation.
If Malaysia is to become truly competitive and to become a first-world developed nation by 2020, we must now develop the mindset, mentality and culture of a first-world developed nation and not wait until 2020 to remove the two-third parliamentary majority – for then we will have to wait for another 30 years until 2050!