Najib's 'nambikei' crashes with Sri Lanka trip

A vexed business leader believes that Najib Abdul Razak suffers from post-election amnesia where he forgets that he is the prime minister for all Malaysians.

Johor Indian Business Association (Jiba) president P Sivakumar's diagnosis is based on Najib's decision to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting in Sri Lanka.

Also coming under fire was MIC president G Palanivel, who Sivakumar suggested should resign over this matter.

"The Tamils make up 70 percent of the Indian community in Malaysia, and yet the prime minister did not pay heed to the urgings to boycott the meeting in Sri Lanka.

"Tamil people have been massacred in Sri Lanka... it is an act of genocide. Najib should have been more sensitive to and respectful of the feelings of the Tamil community.

"But for our prime minister, who repeatedly called on the Indian community to have nambikei (trust) in him prior to the polls, economics took precedence," Sivakumar told Malaysiakini.

He pointed out that the issue in Sri Lanka was not merely a concern for Tamils, but for all Malaysians who respected human rights.

He reminded Najib that giving out hampers and handouts during election season did not make a leader.

"The true mark of a leader is one who listens to the people," Sivakumar added.

However, he said, the Indian community too deserved this snub for supporting BN in the last general election.

"This is what you get for blind support. Hopefully, the community has learned a lesson and will show their frustration in the next general election," he added.

As for Palanivel, Sivakumar said the MIC president must state his stand now that the prime minister had refused to listen to him.

"If I was the MIC president, I would resign. You (Palanivel) said you would raise the matter in the cabinet, what happened to that?

"So what are you going to do now? This is a disrespect to the Indian community, and nambikei has gone down the drain," he added.

'Najib has betrayed our trust'
Also taking Najib and MIC to task was Malaysian Indian Progressive Association (Mipas) secretary-general S Barathidasan.

"Najib asked the Indian community to have nambikei in him, but he has betrayed our trust. So many memoranda were sent and protests held, but he ignored them.

"The Indian community should punish him and BN in the next election," he said.

Barathidasan (right) said if the government could take a strong stand with regard to the plight of Muslims in southern Thailand, Palestine and Myanmar, why not for the Tamils in Sri Lanka?

"As a Muslim leader, are you supposed to only defend Muslims? Aren’t the Tamils in Sri Lanka humans as well? Furthermore, there are thousands of Tamil Muslims in Sri Lanka who also suffered," he added.

As for MIC, Barathidasan stopped short of condemning the BN component party as irrelevant.

"What is the point of claiming to be  the representative of the Indian community when it is the NGOs that have to fight and do all the work?" he asked.

Najib, who is leading the Malaysian delegation for CHOGM, will be engaged in a packed programme.

He and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, will also attend a state banquet hosted by Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa.