The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, has done himself a great disservice and dishonor in canvassing a ludicrous and half-baked political theory about two scenarios if Pakatan Harapan wins in 14GE when in the last 48 hours, he had been strenuously avoiding the one subject all Malaysians were waiting to hear from him.
I describe Najib’s “two scenarios if Pakatan Harapan wins” as ludicrous and half-baked because both these scenarios will not eventuate.
In his blog yesterday, Najib fantasized that Pakatan Harapan (PH) parties will likely fight among themselves over who becomes prime minister should they win the 14th general election – first, that PH chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will not relinquish the post to Anwar; and second, should Mahathir hand over power to Anwar, the country would face the dire situation of having a husband-and-wife team leading the country as prime minister and deputy prime minister, describing this “the most critical level of nepotism” practised by Pakatan Harapan.
I have had a lot of differences with Mahathir in the past, but I believe he is a man of his word and honour.
I believe Mahathir will relinquish the post of Prime Minister if Pakatan Harapan wins the 14GE so that Anwar can become the country’s eighth Prime Minister; and that when Anwar becomes Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail will gratefully retreat from the front-line of politics and will not become Deputy Prime Minister at the same time that Anwar is Prime Minister.
What will happen in the 14GE to be held in 80 days by mid-May is that the Pakatan Harapan can achieve a near political miracle of defeating Najib and the UMNO/BN coalition despite the great odds stacked against it, primarily through undemocratic practices of constituency gerrymandering, voter manipulation, and the traditional 3Ms of media (fake news), machinery and money; but the two “scenarios” fantasized by Najib will not happen.
Instead, the Pakatan Harapan Federal government will hit the ground running, with Mahathir as the seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia immediately implementing institutional reforms in the first 100 days, and paving the way for Anwar to become the eighth Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Malaysians however were not waiting for Najib’s ludicrous and half-baked political theory about two scenarios if Pakatan Harapan wins in 14GE, but his response, particularly policy response, to the full-blown integrity crisis facing Malaysia since the worldwide release of Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2017 in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Under the TI CPI 2017, Malaysia has plunged to the lowest TI CPI ranking in 23 years, with countries like China and Indonesia poised to overtake Malaysia in the TI corruption perception index within 15 years.
What is Najib’s reaction as Prime Minister to this integrity crisis of Malaysia and what are his policy responses?
So far, there is only monumental silence from the Prime Minister, who has time for “instant” introduction of quinoa, which the Incas planted 3,000 years, with the revelation at a live session on the 2018 Budget at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia on Thursday that he does not eat rice, but eat quinoa, and his fantasy yesterday about the “two scenarios” if Pakatan Harapan wins the 14GE.
This is not good enough.
I call on Najib to let Malaysians know his response, in particular policy response unless Najib is not at all bothered by the TI CPI 2017 which plunged Malaysia into a full-blown integrity crisis. Or is Najib in deep slumber or even comatose about Malaysia’s integrity crisis?
There are a few things Najib can and should do.
Firstly, sack the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department responsible for integrity, Datuk Paul Low, for it appears that the longer Low continues as Cabinet Minister in charge of integrity, the more corrupt Malaysia becomes.
Secondly, sack the Chief Commissioner of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Tan Sri Dzulkifli Ahmad who must take full responsibility for Malaysia’s worst TI CPI in the past 23 years.
The President of Transparency International Malaysia, Datuk Akhar Satar has warned that Malaysia is on the “downward trend” in the TI CPI, which means that Malaysia is heading for worse TI CPI in coming years, unless the government treats the TI CPI 2017 as a “wake-up call”. Has Najib “woken” up?
Thirdly, dismiss the 20-odd members of the five bodies which monitor the MACC – the Anti-Corruption Advisory Board, the Special Committee on Corruption, the Complaints Committee, the Operations Review Panel, and the Corruption Consultation and Prevention Panel – for they must also be held responsible for the deplorable TI CPI 2017 results for Malaysia.
Fourthly, Najib should announce a new policy plan to prevent Malaysia from continuing to plunge in the TI CPI in the coming years, and in particular, from continuing to lag behind other countries to the extent that China and Indonesia, countries far behind Malaysia when the first TI CPI was announced in 1995, could overtake Malaysia in less than 15 years.
Fifthly, an international act programme to purge and cleanse Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.
Sixthly, to demonstrate a new political will to fight corruption and abuses of power, establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB scandal, which is chiefly responsible for Malaysia becoming a global kleptocracy.
Or must Malaysians wait for Najib, UMNO and Barisan Nasional to lose the 14th GE before a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the 1MDB kleptocratic scandal would be formed?
(Media Statement in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, February 24, 2018)