AUG 2 — Over the past few months, we have all seen the steep decline
of our Prime Minister. From calling on youth to “defend Putrajaya” as
though the nation is expecting an invasion to being unable to back up
his own 1 Malaysia policy when asked by a student at a recent Malaysian
Student Leader’s Summit.
It truly seems that Najib is unable to do anything right at the
moment. First he outright attacks the Opposition parties claiming that
they would destroy this nation and that Barisan Nasional is the shining
light to guide the nation forward. To ask the youth to help defend
Putrajaya against the Opposition is nothing short of pretentious, as
though UMNO/BN has the divine right to govern this country infinitum.
This was quickly followed by Bersih 2.0, where he exposed himself as a
lame duck leader. Instead of assuming a non-partisan role and showing
true leadership, he aligned himself more as Umno president than the
Prime Minister of Malaysia by demonising the coalition as an “illegal
organisation” and stooping so low to the extent of roping in mosque
ceramah’s to spread their propaganda of the so-called “perhimpunan
haram”.
His handling of Bersih 2.0 in itself was nothing short of despicable.
If he truly recognised the event to be a national crisis, he himself
should have been in Kuala Lumpur that day to defuse the situation.
Instead, he found himself in Terengganu, with his tail between his
legs, smiling at the co-op event, as though he found the hyped-up
illegal rally in Kuala Lumpur to be a mere inconvenience to his
schedule.
In the lack of true leadership, he “tai-chied” all of the
responsibility onto his cousin’s shoulders.
Hishammudin didn’t fair much
better, especially with his justification of the clampdown on civil
liberties, to the extent that those who knew him declared him as
sounding “mentally impaired”!.
As though this was not bad enough, the cover up of Tung Shin
Hospital, the police violence and the subsequent spread of lies through
the media had caused a self-inflicted international black eye. Ignoring
all of this, he proceeded to meet the Queen of England in a stunning
yellow dress, just in case he failed to get the message.
Although he had managed to establish ties with the Vatican, his
subsequent comments to the Christian community did little to them to
endear him, especially when he implied that Christians were intolerant,
when that clearly is not the case.
His wife’s extravagance would distance him further from the
grassroots as allegations that she purchased a US$24 million ring had
sent shock waves through the community, especially at a time that the
Rakyat are told to tighten our belts in the midst of reduced subsidies
and rising prices. Compound this with the Scorpene scandal and the
announcement of the intent to purchase billions of Ringgit worth of
fighter planes we do not need hardly resonates with his motto of “Rakyat
Didahulukan, Pencapaian Diutamakan” (People First, Performance Now).
The Teoh Beng Hock RCI report, the detention of the EO6 and finally
his inability to back up his own 1 Malaysia concept as he does not want
to be seen in conflict with his deputy, has earn him the title of “The
Lamest Premier” by DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua. I am
inclined to agree with Tony, as I doubt I have ever seen a less decisive
head of state, who fails to get even his own cabinet to sing the same
tune.
With impending polls ahead, Umno and Najib have good reason to sweat.
The blantant inability to handle the affairs of the nation has stirred
up the sentiments a generally politically-apathetic population.
As for all the hype with his Economic Transformation Plan and
Pemandu, National Key Result Areas and what-not, all the Rakyat know is
that the government is spending our hard earned money into the
proverbial black hole. Our cost of living is on the rise, civil
liberties are being trounced on, and corruption, deceit and lies are
rampant in this government.
For those who have driven around Kuala Lumpur at night, you would be
able to see the Umno building lit up by billions of LEDs proclaiming the
achievements of the Umno-led government. One of them called Najib as
“Bapa Transformasi”. As much as this may be a collosal joke to some,
there may be a silver lining as he may inadvertently be responsible for
the biggest transformation in the history of our beloved nation.
If Najib continues to delude himself that it is the minority that is
vocal in their dissent, and that he has the support of a “silent
majority”, he is in for a nasty shock come the next polls.
* Douglas Tan reads The Malaysian Insider.
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