The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday that Germany’s 1-0 win over Argentina to become the 2014 World Cup champions was based on “individual brilliance and commitment to teamwork” – a lesson which he commended civil servants to learn from the German footballers.
In his speech at the Treasury’s staff excellence awards ceremony, Najib said that if the concept of “individual brilliance and commitment to teamwork” is extended to the government level – “if we do not work in own silos but function across boundaries” – then “our performance will also reach a higher level”.
Najib should place the subject “Malaysia – Another Germany or Brazil” on the Cabinet agenda tomorrow and issue a Cabinet paper after the meeting on areas where Malaysia is another Germany and the fields Malaysia is becoming another Brazil.
Najib’s two most well-known initiatives on becoming the sixth Prime Minister in April 2009 were his 1Malaysia policy to create a Malaysian nation where every Malaysian regards himself or herself as Malaysian first and race, religion or region second; and his Global Movement of Moderates to galvanise moderates to take a stand against extremists all over the world.
But in both his initiatives in the past five years, nobody could see any “individual brilliance” even by Najib himself, although he had made several well-crafted and sweet-sounding speeches on both subjects, let alone “extraordinary teamwork” in pursuit of both objectives.
In fact, Malaysians have cause to wonder whether Najib has not himself given up the ghost on both his two signature initiatives, as he could not show that both the 1Malaysia Policy and the Global Movement of Moderates have the support of his teams, whether the Cabinet or the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council.
This is because his Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had right from the very beginning rejected Najib’s 1Malaysia Policy when he proclaimed that he was “Malay first, Malaysian second”.
Did Najib ever present his 1Malaysia Policy for official endorsement by the Cabinet and the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council?
Nobody believes that Najib could do this with Muhyiddin’s open declaration of being “Malay first, Malaysian second”, and this is why Najib has never been able to state when the Cabinet and the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council had respectively given their official endorsement to the 1Malaysia Policy.
The same applies to Najib’s Global Movement of Moderates, which had never been able to shake off its “lame duck” tag from the very first day – which is now even more poignant and pertinent as the country had never seen so much racial and religious polarisastion as a result incessant and unchecked stoking and incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension by a small group of extremist NGOs and individuals.
On both these signature initiatives by Najib, there had never been ““individual brilliance” nor “commitment to teamwork” by the Cabinet or the BN leadership.
What are the areas whether in economic, educational, human rights or good governance where Malaysia is “shooting for the stars” showing that Malaysia could be like Germany to reach the pinnacle of human endeavour and the fields where Malaysia, like Brazil in the 2014 World Cup, is sliding down the abyss of disaster and infamy?
Is Najib and his Cabinet capable of producing such a report card of the state of the nation 57 years after Merdeka and 51 years after Malaysia for Malaysians to take stock as to where Malaysia is heading?
If not, can anybody say that Najib and Malaysians are capable of learning from the lessons of Germany’s victory on Sunday to become the 2014 World Cup champions?
#1 by Bigjoe on Tuesday, 15 July 2014 - 4:32 pm
Najib talk the talk..somewhat.. but its clear, and long expected, he can’t walk the walk.. He is capable of making speeches that is relevant and in tune mostly but the sloganing are pretty lame often and clearly detached from reality even if its advertising. He may think he is a good copywriter but he would not last in a real job in an advertising company..
But the problem is when it gets tough, he simply resort to more lame sloganing – bad advertising he is already proven he is no good at it – just because he got an advertising budget to spend and an captive audience he can broadcast to.
#2 by good coolie on Tuesday, 15 July 2014 - 6:54 pm
What if Argentina had won by 1-0 ? Well, our PM would have given the same piece of advice to our civil servants, with colours reversed!
Anyway, the tirade against Brazil takes the cake. Poor Brazil: “sudah jatuh ditimpa tangga”!
#3 by cinaindiamelayubersatu on Tuesday, 15 July 2014 - 9:43 pm
Cakap tak serupa bikin. Najib, kalau kau hebat layakkan Malaysia boleh ke piala dunia. Kalau tak tolong diam.
I think Spain will win. They are a formidable side… Najib
#4 by Noble House on Wednesday, 16 July 2014 - 3:57 am
Najib’s speech, as always, comes with the usual fanfare and full of the rhetoric. He should be saying if there is this intention to use the stick instead of more carrots with those deadwood in his XXXL cabinet and the bloated civil service.
The reality is that “individual brilliance and commitment to teamwork” has always been the case with “What is in it for me and who gets the credit?”.
#5 by waterfrontcoolie on Wednesday, 16 July 2014 - 6:24 am
As they say, talking is cheap and Malaysia is at its very best in this respect! The leadership almost believes that just by pronouncement we will be there? No! they don’t; they don’t even care for every PM just wants to blinker the Majority through any kind of slogans so long they UM can spin and keep them frighten of their own shadows which are created based on race and religion. Ha! to become a Germany just by announcement? This just reflects the kind and quality of thinking prevailing in this nation! He would be better informed of how the Germans behaved and planned their society by reading the book -“The Germans”. In fact, I met a retired senior executive who never had any good perception of China in his working life. When he asked me what I know about China, I told him that they were trying to imitate the Germans who seem equally weary of their approach!
Recently, he had been helping a friend to source for trade relationship from the lesser known and smaller SMEs in the secondary cities. He was shocked when he described the China version of doing business in manufacturing! Every ’employee’ within the set-up is practically a sub-contractor who is paid by his ‘contribution’ based on what he has produced! No work no pay! No contract, no income for everyone ! If your ‘product’ is rejected, you bear the cost, including the material cost! Nobody owes you and you owe nobody! Everyone in the company, if you can call it as one; is a specialist as far as the production of that particular item is concerned! It certainly looks like no one is going to replace that country as the workshop of the world for the foreseeable future! Yes, we will keep on sloganeering all the way until we have to print billion ringgit notes for a loaf of bread just like Zimbabwe, Malaysian product of the past 35 years. Poor Mugabe, he should have sought Lau Lee instead of Lau Beh as his mentor!
#6 by undertaker888 on Wednesday, 16 July 2014 - 8:07 am
Germany doesn’t have NEP for the majority. Germany prosecutes corrupt individuals no matter who they are.
You boleh ikut kah?
#7 by Justice Ipsofacto on Wednesday, 16 July 2014 - 9:03 am
“W” That’s jib’s tongue.
In case you ppl are wondering. It is forked.
This idiot thinks he is in a primary school – attending the moral class and giving all the morally correct answers.