Slide began before Bersih


Lucius Goon
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 12, 2011

SEPT 12 — Sorry but I don’t buy this attempt to blame the slide in the prime minister’s rating to his mishandling of Bersih 2.0 rally.

What happened on July 9 and the twisting and turning of words after that by the PM (I offered the stadium and no I didn’t and yes I did) is just symptomatic of an administration which lost its direction and a leader who is afraid of his own shadow.

Long before Bersih happened, the country was in a drift towards worsening race ties, upsurge in the power of the right wing and flip-flops in policy reforms. Sad to say but Najib has become Abdullah Ahmad Badawi: good with slogans and rhetoric but very elastic with implementation.

Abdullah had Islam Hadhari and Najib has 1 Malaysia but under the umbrella of those two “concepts” is the same rubbish which has been stinking up Malaysia since the Mahathir administration: corruption by politicians, worsening race relations, abuse of powers, widening gap between the haves and have-nots, talent drain, inflated privatisation contracts, cronyism and nepotism and a complete hijacking of the Bumiputera agenda by Umno politicians and the decaying state of institutions.

But in Najib’s case, the problem of grabbing seems more acute because Umno politicians, concerned that their time on the gravy train is ending, are becoming more avaricious.

And if we believe even a fraction of what is being said about those related to the PM, then it is easy to understand why there is such cynicism among urban Malaysians about the administration.

Of course, not all ills can be laid at Najib’s door. He inherited a Cabinet which can best be described as unqualified to chart out policies for a multiracial Malaysia. Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi has urged all Malays to unite under the Umno/BN banner for the coming polls.

I am willing to support Zahid on two conditions: that he will be transparent and allow public scrutiny of all defence deals.

Secondly, that he and other ministers explain to an audit committee of eminent Malaysians their wealth. For example, how are they able to send their children to swanky boarding schools in the UK on a minister’s salary?

In my opinion, Najib’s rating dip, according to a survey by Merdeka Center, was not the result of the Bersih rally. It was the result of a growing segment of Malaysians growing disenchanted with weak leadership, flip-flops and realisation that many of us ordinary Malaysians are better qualified and more principled than the people leading us.

  1. #1 by yhsiew on Monday, 12 September 2011 - 6:30 pm

    ///In my opinion, Najib’s rating dip, according to a survey by Merdeka Center, was not the result of the Bersih rally. It was the result of a growing segment of Malaysians growing disenchanted with weak leadership, flip-flops and realisation that many of us ordinary Malaysians are better qualified and more principled than the people leading us.///

    Thanks to the new media and to certain extent, Wikileaks, which have allowed the rakyat to peep into BN government’s shrouded administration and black-box operation. The stunning revelations received through such means enable the rakyat to appraise the integrity, reliability and true performance of the BN government.

  2. #2 by tak tahan on Monday, 12 September 2011 - 9:59 pm

    But why are there still some if not large portion of the ketuanan group still supporting the incompetent and non-practical government?Better wake up my dear fellow brothers and sisters and don’t play play otherwise we shall need the International Tongkat(IMF) to bail us out.Save Malaysia now and don’t regret later.UmnoPutras are only good for enriching themselves and nothing else matters to them.Change the tenant of Putrajaya in this coming GE13 as this is the supposed to be the best chance we go for reform and change of better future.

  3. #3 by boh-liao on Tuesday, 13 September 2011 - 9:25 am

    NR, a dumb dumb lah, even MMK admitted it, like when he said he was shocked NR ordered d censoring of an article by The Economist on d July 9 Bersih rally
    So dumb n stupid 1, Y do it when ppl can “read it online on the Internet (anyway),” MMK said – ya lor, at least MMK smarter than NR on this Internet thingy

    MMK also said this abt d current goment administration: “Things have changed now, it is different…but (somehow) the mindset is still old-fashioned.”
    Ha, ha, ha – now he admitted d bunch of workers in Putrajaya r good 4 nothing

  4. #4 by Bigjoe on Tuesday, 13 September 2011 - 10:21 am

    Wrong. The slide in Najib’s popularity is a large part Bersih. Arguing that the causality was before is arguing that people are smart. They are not. People are not idiots but they are not smart. That the the large part of the population has not figured out that the future is better for them by kicking out UMNO/BN now and immediately is absolute positive prove people are not smart.

  5. #5 by rockdaboat on Wednesday, 14 September 2011 - 12:10 am

    Our so-called leaders in government are really kia-su.

    If the survey results are in favour of the PM, they will surely accept it without any complaint.

    When the world ranking of University Malaya drops, our leaders will start to question the ranking criteria. However, when the ranking improves, they are overjoyed and no body has any complaint.

    Ha ha ha, this is the quality of the so-called leader in our government.

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