— Douglas Tan
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 02, 2011
AUG 2 — Over the past few months, we have all seen the steep decline of our Prime Minister. From calling on youth to “defend Putrajaya” as though the nation is expecting an invasion to being unable to back up his own 1 Malaysia policy when asked by a student at a recent Malaysian Student Leader’s Summit.
It truly seems that Najib is unable to do anything right at the moment. First he outright attacks the Opposition parties claiming that they would destroy this nation and that Barisan Nasional is the shining light to guide the nation forward. To ask the youth to help defend Putrajaya against the Opposition is nothing short of pretentious, as though UMNO/BN has the divine right to govern this country infinitum.
This was quickly followed by Bersih 2.0, where he exposed himself as a lame duck leader. Instead of assuming a non-partisan role and showing true leadership, he aligned himself more as Umno president than the Prime Minister of Malaysia by demonising the coalition as an “illegal organisation” and stooping so low to the extent of roping in mosque ceramah’s to spread their propaganda of the so-called “perhimpunan haram”.
His handling of Bersih 2.0 in itself was nothing short of despicable. If he truly recognised the event to be a national crisis, he himself should have been in Kuala Lumpur that day to defuse the situation.
Instead, he found himself in Terengganu, with his tail between his legs, smiling at the co-op event, as though he found the hyped-up illegal rally in Kuala Lumpur to be a mere inconvenience to his schedule.
In the lack of true leadership, he “tai-chied” all of the responsibility onto his cousin’s shoulders. Hishammudin didn’t fair much better, especially with his justification of the clampdown on civil liberties, to the extent that those who knew him declared him as sounding “mentally impaired”!.
As though this was not bad enough, the cover up of Tung Shin Hospital, the police violence and the subsequent spread of lies through the media had caused a self-inflicted international black eye. Ignoring all of this, he proceeded to meet the Queen of England in a stunning yellow dress, just in case he failed to get the message.
Although he had managed to establish ties with the Vatican, his subsequent comments to the Christian community did little to them to endear him, especially when he implied that Christians were intolerant, when that clearly is not the case.
His wife’s extravagance would distance him further from the grassroots as allegations that she purchased a US$24 million ring had sent shock waves through the community, especially at a time that the Rakyat are told to tighten our belts in the midst of reduced subsidies and rising prices. Compound this with the Scorpene scandal and the announcement of the intent to purchase billions of Ringgit worth of fighter planes we do not need hardly resonates with his motto of “Rakyat Didahulukan, Pencapaian Diutamakan” (People First, Performance Now).
The Teoh Beng Hock RCI report, the detention of the EO6 and finally his inability to back up his own 1 Malaysia concept as he does not want to be seen in conflict with his deputy, has earn him the title of “The Lamest Premier” by DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua. I am inclined to agree with Tony, as I doubt I have ever seen a less decisive head of state, who fails to get even his own cabinet to sing the same tune.
With impending polls ahead, Umno and Najib have good reason to sweat. The blantant inability to handle the affairs of the nation has stirred up the sentiments a generally politically-apathetic population.
As for all the hype with his Economic Transformation Plan and Pemandu, National Key Result Areas and what-not, all the Rakyat know is that the government is spending our hard earned money into the proverbial black hole. Our cost of living is on the rise, civil liberties are being trounced on, and corruption, deceit and lies are rampant in this government.
For those who have driven around Kuala Lumpur at night, you would be able to see the Umno building lit up by billions of LEDs proclaiming the achievements of the Umno-led government. One of them called Najib as “Bapa Transformasi”. As much as this may be a collosal joke to some, there may be a silver lining as he may inadvertently be responsible for the biggest transformation in the history of our beloved nation.
If Najib continues to delude himself that it is the minority that is vocal in their dissent, and that he has the support of a “silent majority”, he is in for a nasty shock come the next polls.