This motion to re-allot the 2009 Budget among the various Ministries is the direct result of the Cabinet reshuffle by the new Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak on 10th April 2009 – a week after he replaced Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Najib should be enjoying his first two-and-a-half months as the new Prime Minister but there is no air of expectation, hope or euphoria in the country that is normally associated with the advent of a new national leader – the political honeymoon of the First Hundred Days!
In fact, nobody can really disagree when I say that Najib’s first 74 days as Prime Minister is the most uninspiring when compared with the past Five Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah! Is this a sign of the final fulfillment of the most famous political prophecy in the country, RAHMAN, indicating the end of the line of Umno Prime Ministers in Malaysia as well as the end not only of Umno hegemony but Umno rule in Malaysia?
That we will know in the next general election, whether 2012 or 2011!
That there is no national mood of expectation, hope or euphoria; no political honeymoon and no First Hundred Days on Najib’s takeover as the sixth Prime Minister is not because of lack of trying by Najib.
In fact, Najib has tried very hard and this is why he has coined a new slogan to match the slogans of previous Prime Ministers, like “Clean, Efficient and Trustworthy” of Mahathir and “Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang” of Abdullah. Najib’s slogan is “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now”.
But Najib’s slogan has failed to take the country by storm, which was why Najib suffered a double “no confidence vote” four days after becoming Prime Minister on April 7, 2009 in the impressive Pakatan Rakyat victories in the Bukit Gantang parliamentary and Bukit Selambau state assembly (Kedah) by-elections – which was a second political tsunami in Malaysian electoral politics in 13 months.
[Speech by DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Ipoh Timor Lim Kit Siang on Tuesday, 23rd June 2009 in Parliament on the Finance Minister’s motion to reallot 2009 Budget among the various Ministries following the 10th April 2009 Cabinet reshuffle.]