By Hussein Hamid

Thirty years from now when Historians write about the 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia – what will they write about The Most Honourable Najib Tun Razak? Will they write of your contributions in making Malaysia a land of equality and opportunity for its entire people or will they write of your part in hastening the demise of UMNO? Will history tell of your time as Prime Minister as being a time of revival and the getting of wisdom for UMNO or will it tell of how UMNO under your watch managed to sink deeper into the abyss of corruption, greed and deception started by Mahathir? What will the historians write?

First they will write of the forced resignation of Abdullah Badawi half way into his second term as Prime Minister. They will comment on the part that Mahathir played in the removal of the very man that he himself appointed as his Deputy earlier. There will be mention of Mahathir’s former two Deputies, Musa and Anwar that was removed by Mahathir and Mahathir’s relentless pursuit of Anwar through a Judiciary that did his biddings. Those who read what is written can make their own judgement of the circumstances that led to these events. Those with hindsight of past events will make their own judgement of Mahathir tenure as Prime Minister. But that is another story to tell.

There will also be mention that this same ex Prime Minister son went against the son in law of the previous Prime Minister for the UMNO youth leader’s post and lost. They will also write that despite Mahathir’s son losing, you Najib, took him into your cabinet – and left the elected youth leader out of the cabinet. If the historians are not kind to you there will be mention that in all probability the appointment of Mirzan into the cabinet was to pay back Mahathir for the work he did in removing the previous Prime Minister from office so that you could take over sooner.

Now into the period immediately before you took over as Prime Minister.

First they will write that in the weeks before you took over the role of Prime Minister you engineered a coup to bring back the State of Perak (then under Pakatan Rakyat) back into the fold of UMNO. You made a deal with three opposition MPs. One a lady who was refused a new car by her party and that she out of spite made a deal with your party to cross over to the other side. The other two were MPs awaiting trial for corruption. There was also another MP who was with UMNO and had crossed over to the opposition. Then you came into the picture and with your ‘persuasive skills’ managed to persuade this MP back into the fold of UMNO. And in so doing, you brought Perak back into UMNO but not before the forced removal of the Perak Speaker from the Dewan Chambers by Police. For those historian who chose to delve deeper into what really happened in Perak methinks that they too will not be kind to your memory. They will conclude that Perak was merely part and parcel of the rot that was to come with your assumption of the PM role.

They will write about your party putting a disbarred lawyer as your candidate at a by-election in Permatang Pasir.

They will also write about your decision to put Isa Samad, already convicted for money politics by the UMNO disciplinary committee as UMNO’s candidate in Bagan Pinang. There will be a comment that the chosen candidate was once an UMNO Vice-President, a Federal Minister and ex MB of Negri Sembilan. That he was suspended for 6 years and then reduced to 3. There will be questions asked as to why Isa who was once MB of that State and a Federal Minister would want to still contest at district level. Again if the historians are not kind there will be mention of the rich pickings to be had once Isa was back again as one of UMNO’s ‘preferred’ leaders.

About KD Inderapura. That as if heaven itself was making your reign difficult the Navy Vessel was destroyed by fire. And here again a mention might be made by these historians that the standards within the Armed Forces including the Navy had deteriorated as a result of the top brass in the Armed Forces playing politics to ensure that they stay on the good side of the power that be in Government that decided their promotions – among other things.

About Razak Baginda. That this man was your friend and possible business partner. They will question the RM500 million payment for services rendered for the purchase of the submarines from the French. Of the fact that eventually the French were adamant that it was not a commission but a bribe paid to secure the deal. And as an integral part of this Submarine deal they will mention the murder of Altantuya at the hands of UTK – that special unit of the PDRM trained to guard VIPS and “do the bidding of VIPS?” I am sure there will be historians who will chose to delve deeper into this events and they will eventually get to the bottom of what really happened. I have a feeling that your complicity in the whole matter will be proven beyond a doubt. But that will be for your grandchildren to know.

They will write about your meeting with Saiful and how you attempted to ‘manage’ the imprisonment of Anwar again under the same sodomy charges that he had been acquitted of before. There will be mention of Saiful and yourself invoking the name of Allah to advance your case in this matter.

They will write about the loss of Public confidence in PDRM and in particular MACC. They will write about the death of Teoh Beng Hock as being a defining moment in the history of MACC that finally led to it being consign to the same dustbin as the ACA.

There will be a special mention about the influence of Rosmah not only in your personal life but also in the affairs of state.

They will write of 1Malaysia and they will summarize it with this words. Like the Rukun Tetangga, Islam Hadhari…it was a failure and served as a façade to present non existence values without substance to the public – who were not in any way persuaded of their relevance.

All these factors they will summarise, contributed towards the fall of UMNO at the 13th General Elections.

What good can they write about your time as Prime Minister? Possibly they could mention the establishment of University Malaysia Pahang. That the campus in Pekan was finally opened after many years of delay and budget overruns.

That you loosened some Financial control to encouraged foreign investment in areas that would not affect the Malays economically.

That Malaysia did enter the pinnacle of Motor sports with the F1 Team Malaysia – at a cost of a few hundred millions a year – financed by Petronas and Proton and fronted by your cronies. That this venture did eventually result in Petronas coming out with a new engine oil additive that would give better engine performance for Proton cars – but that that same result could have been achieved for much much less by employing the right people in its R&D department – but with less glory.

This has already happened Najib and you are not even into your first year of the Prime Ministership. What is to come? I think history will not be kind to you. History will show you for what you really are. The man who could have saved UMNO but instead hastened its demise within your first term as its President.