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?