Four days ago, a Barisan Nasional leader issued a statement about “Disgusting, bankrupt Rasputins”, but it is obvious that this Barisan Nasional leader did not know what he was talking about.
But thanks to him, I thought of “Rasputin” in connection with the Federal Territories Minister, Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor’s shocking proposal to make Penang a federal territory – which is not only undemocratic, unconstitutional but downright unMalaysian!
Tengku Adnan has not been his usual self since he made the startling proposal to extinguish Penang as one of the 13 states in Malaysia by making Penang a federal territory – which would mean no Penang state elections, no Penang State Assembly, no Penang State Executive Council and no Penang Chief Minister!
Adnan created “shock and awe” not only by making such a preposterous proposal, but in the stubborn and persistent manner he had been pushing for the idea in the past few days, as if his whole political career depended on its adoption and implementation.
Tengku Adnan made the proposal to make Penang a federal territory in an interview in conjunction with Federal Territories Day on Feb. 1. When Adnan’s proposal encountered opposition and derision, he not only did not back off, but fortified his proposal by declaring the idea to make Penang a federal territory is to help the Malays, repeating the canard that the DAP-led Penang state government does not care about the Malays.
When Adnan came under further criticism for his misconceived views coloured by a most racialist mindset, the Federal Territories tried to salvage the situation and postured as a Malaysian leader by claiming that turning Penang into a federal territory can help make home ownership affordable to Penangites.
Quite remarkable political acrobatics for Adnan of “kapchai ban and no-ban” infamy, as Adnan is not known for agility or nimbleness. But now, he could perform political gymnastics in a matter of hours – giving Malaysians the right to ask who is the “master-mind” of the proposal to extinguish Penang as a state by making Penang a federal territory.
Was the “master-mind” of Adnan’s proposal to make Penang a federal territory the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak himself or the “Rasputin” in the UMNO/Barisan Nasional regime who had been at the centre of so many UMNO/BN intrigues and conspiracies against Opposition parties and leaders, apart from his role as Najib’s Goebbels to perfect the Nazi “Big Lies” propaganda doctrine to “tell a big lie, keep repeating it and eventually people will believe it”.
Adnan has now found himself impaled on the stakes of two “Big Lies” – firstly, the idea of Penang as a federal territory was to help the neglected Malays when UMNO is losing Malay voter-support in Penang as shown in the 13th General Election results; and secondly, the change in matter of hours, claiming that Penangites could be able to own houses when the DAP-led Pakatan state government in Penang had built four times more affordable houses than the Barisan Nasional government did when it was in power in Penang and furthermore, when the BN itself had failed to provide affordable housing in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.
This piece today is not to examine how undemocratic, unconstitutional or even how downright unMalaysian is Adnan’s proposal to make Penang a federal territory, but to shout loud and clear that only a “mastermind” ala-Rasputin has the power and wherewithal to get a Cabinet Minister to articulate such a ridiculous idea and to mobilise political support from various political quarters in UMNO/BN for such an outrageous proposal. When launching the World Inter-faith Harmony Week on Saturday, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that Malaysia will become a failed state if does not uphold the principles of unity and harmony.
Using the analogy of growing a tree, Najib said that “seeds of unity” planted by the country’s forefathers through the Federal Constitution 60 years ago must be nurtured and taking care of.
I hope that Najib would accept and attend the Save Malaysia Roundtable at Bandar Utama, Damansara tomorrow for the Roundtable would be an excellent forum for him to explain how the extinguishment of Penang as a state by making it a federal territory is not an act of sacrilege in destroying the bedrock principles agreed by our forefathers in the Federal Constitution to ensure unity, harmony, integrity and success of the Malaysian nation.
Najib should not miss the opportunity of the Save Malaysia Roundtable tomorrow to let the nation and the world know how he as Prime Minister is contributing to the national effort to save Malaysia from global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state.