The Merdeka Centre poll that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has for the first time lost the approval of the majority of Malay voters must have tilted his decision not to seek a confidence motion when Parliament reconvenes on Monday.
Members of Parliament were only informed yesterday about the order of business for the 25-day budget Parliament beginning on Monday, which is most unusual as Members of Parliament would normally have been given the order of business a week before the start of a new parliamentary meeting.
This is the first time in my years in Parliament since 1969 that Parliament failed to give about a week’s notice of the parliamentary business to be transacted in a new meeting of Parliament – and this could be because Najib was agonising over whether to seek a confidence motion at the beginning of the parliamentary meeting on Monday instead of allowing the issue of whether there would be a no-confidence motion in him as Prime Minister whether moved by Pakatan Harapan or even by a MP from UMNO/BN hanging over Parliament for the next two months.
However, the latest Merdeka centre poll has changed the whole picture.
According to the latest Merdeka Centre survey, only 31 per cent of Malay voters is satisfied with the government – the first time approval for the government among Malays has fallen below 50 percent since Merdeka Centre began recording the data in February 2012. The fall among Malay voters had been drastic as it had stood at 52 percent this January.
The government’s overall approval rating also plummeted to 23 percent, the worst since the polls started in 2012.
The latest Merdeka Centre poll should serve as a reminder that Najib should stop dilly-dallying about giving a full and satisfactory accounting to Parliament on the 1MDB scandal as the first item of government business in Parliament, especially as international news report about Najib’s involvement in the 1MDB scandal is becoming a regular feature. Such international reports do not rain, it pour.
International reports like Reuters and Wall Street Journal have just reported about FBI reviewing Goldman Sachs’ business relationship with Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund as part of a broader, wide-ranging investigation into 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Malaysians, including Members of Parliament, are tired to reading about 1MDB developments in the international media, as thet are nothing to be proud about but events for Malaysians to feel thoroughly ashamed.
Will Najib present a White Paper on the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal in Parliament on Monday?