Koon Yew Yin 31st Aug 2016
The hot rumour in town is that Prime Minister Najib may resign soon and that UMNO and BN will go into the next GE without him at the helm. This story seems to have appeared probably because of a n article by Dr. Lim Teck Ghee which appeared recently.
Titled, “Why Prime Minister Najib is on his way out”, the article has resulted in numerous comments and feedback from the public. Some commentators have agreed with Dr. Lim, who incidentally is a friend of mine, and his prediction that Najib will call it a day and leave office ahead of our 14th GE so as to give UMNO an advantage in the polls.
But others have disagreed with him. So strong is the public disapproval and disgust with what has happened in the 1MDB case as well as that unbelievably gigantic donation into the PM’s personal account that many Malaysians want to see Najib pay the price for these two scandals which is costing our taxpayers billions of ringgit. I am with other Malaysians who hope that the Prime Minister will not be able to get away scot-free or in the words of Dr. Lim, be able to engineer “the great escape” from these two scandals which have made headline news around the world for the wrong reasons.
One thing I must say about the piece is that Dr. Lim was trying to be a good social scientist and was not directly putting out his personal views on the Prime Minister’s integrity or leadership. Dr Lim has already written enough in the past on the misrule and abuse of power by UMNO and BN. Those of us who know him and those who are familiar with his writings know where he is coming from and what he is getting at in this most recent article.
But I agree his article opens up lots of questions. Not only about what Najib is going to do next or when he is planning to go. Also what UMNO’s supreme council leadership may be discussing quietly among themselves behind the back of the Prime Minister. As Dr. Lim says, UMNO and other BN leaders must be nervously looking at the 1MDB mess and wondering if this mother of all financial scandals may have a final eruption which will take Najib as well as UMNO/BN down with him.
To me, and many thinking people in this country, it is simple.
This is that both Najib and UMNO/BN must go. We have given them a lifetime of being in office and provided them with positions, power, privilege and perks. And what have we got in return? This is a question which every Malaysian must ask himself and herself.
What we have got from UMNO/BN is a rotten deal. Let me enumerate some of the details of this rotten deal that have come with this lifetime of BN rule.
Piratization, Cowgate, bailouts galore, brain drain, millions of foreign migrants, a sub-standard education system, GST, unaffordable housing, unemployed and unemployable graduates, super-cronies, grand corruption engaged in by Tan Sris, sick man Proton and APs – the list of abuses and cases of bad governance can fill up several books.
In 2012 when my book on “Road Map for Achieving Vision 20120” was published, it was revealed to readers that various mega projects such as the commission for Scorpene submarine purchase, Eurocopter deal, the National Palace project, etc had cost the taxpayer more than RM20 billion while the cost of bailing out GLCs, starting with Bank Bumiputra in 1970 and ending with the bailing out of Proton and MAS in 2006, had cost us close to RM70 billion.
I am sure that Dr Mahathir and Muhyiddin of the new party, Pribumi, realize this too as they were part of the rotten structure of UMNO/BN. But understandably they do not want to talk about or revisit this past record of structural rot and defect in UMNO/BN today.
What is important though is that these two key Malay leaders have now openly admitted that the problem of greed and corruption, abuse of power, and cronyism is embedded in UMNO and cannot be rooted out or defeated from within.
Only with the rejection of UMNO/BN – and not just the departure of Najib – can Malaysians hope to have a brighter future. Only with a change in government – after giving UMNO/BN a lifetime of opportunities – can Malaysia avoid falling into the list of failed states which we are rapidly plunging towards.
Three New Malay Parties
It is principally our Malay fellow citizens who must realize that they have been taken for a ride and betrayed by UMNO. There are now three new Malay parties with leaders of worth and integrity – PKR, Amanah and Pribumi – that can replace UMNO.
Let’s work together to get rid of Najib and UMNO/BN once and for all.