Jeswan Kaur | January 6, 2011
The 13th general election will be on its way soon. The question to ask is: should victory change hands to Barisan Nasional instead? If looking at the course of events thus far as an indication, truthfully “No”. When all BN does is sweep its misdemeanours under the rug, there is little hope the country will be in good hands.
When it was Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s short stint as prime minister, under his lame “Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang” he did something so despicable that it is hard to show this “Mr Nice Guy” any respect – he hid the fact that a senior minister in his Cabinet had committed a crime, that of raping his domestic helper. Abdullah’s excuse for hiding this crime was that he did not want ties between Malaysia and Indonesia to turn sour. But Pak Lah conveniently forgot that ties between these two countries had become acerbic after the many reports of Malaysian employers physically and sexually abusing their Indonesian domestic helpers.
How could Abdullah forget the pain Indonesia felt when in May 2004 news broke out of how an Indonesian domestic helper Nirmala Bonat was brutally abused by her Malaysian employer for five long months? This case prompted Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to take a personal interest in ensuring justice took its course.
That was Abdullah, who with his so-called transparency claim, had no qualm hiding a perpetrator, one who is still roaming about freely because the law has yet to muster the gall to nab him.
By hiding a crime, Abdullah had proved his unworthiness to lead a nation. While former Israeli president Moshe Katsav on Dec 30, 2010 was been convicted of two accounts of rape, sexual harassment and indecent acts, the scenario is the reverse back in Malaysia where ministers accused of sexual harassments are let off the hook and ironically further “rewarded”, as was the case with former Cabinet minister Jamaluddin Jarjis who in April 2008 was accused of sexually harassing an employee of a restaurant in a five-star hotel.Not only did Jamaluddin escape any punishment, he was shamelessly exported to the United States as Malaysia’s ambassador there.
Certainly Abdulah’s disrespect for women brings much shame unlike the stand taken by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who, when commenting on Katsav’s conviction, said: “The court today delivered two clear messages, one being that everyone is equal in the eyes of the law and the second, the right of every woman to be in control of her own body.”
What will it take for Malaysia’s power-crazy politicians to mend their ways and act more respectful in going about their work?
Promises with an agenda
Post-the 12th general election, Prime Minister Najib Razak has, short of the moon and the sun, promised the people just about everything he can think of. The truth, however, is that all the promises are nothing but gimmicks to win the two-thirds majority in the coming general election.
Pumping money from the nation’s coffers to set up shopping spots is not what the rakyat need. What the people need is for Najib to turun padang or go to the ground regularly to improve all that needs to be improved. The truth is Kuala Lumpur is a filthy city, with rubbish strewn just about everywhere. What is City Hall doing about this?
What is annoying is that City Hall has the cheek to put up signages requesting that the public love and keep the city of Kuala Lumpur clean. But how will the public do that when there are no rubbish bins in place? In places where a rubbish bin is provided, its mouth is choked with all the rubbish which City Hall fails to collect promptly. One area which desperately needs a clean-up is Lebuh Ampang and the areas nearby the Bar Council and the Masjid Jamek LRT station.
It is puzzling what really is the truth behind the Najib tagline “People First Performance Now” because as far as the people are concerned, they have yet to be treated with respect where providing the basic infrastructure goes. Take, for instance, the toilets at all the LRT stations. Previously, patrons of the LRT had to pay 20 sen each time they needed to use the toilets but recently the payment was waived. But abolishing the pay-to-pee system came with a price – the patrons have been stripped of the very basic items a toilet should make available, such as tissues and hand sanitisers.
Not just that, some of the toilets at these stations are in dire need of repair. And do not insult train users by refusing to switch on the fans at train stations in Masjid Jamek, leaving the patrons bathing in their own sweat. Why disrespect the rakyat to this extent? Are these not the very people whose votes BN desperately needs to stay ahead of the opposition?
If taking the people for granted is the federal government’s way of counting support come the next general election, BN might not be lucky yet again.
BN, stop coning the people
With the 13th general election due, Najib and his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin are wasting no time in condeming their arch rival, the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. No doubt Pakatan has a lot to work on but it, however, can make a difference provided its leaders get their heads and acts in order. To censure a rival to the point of sounding downright petty and tacky is so very BN.
When BN accused Pakatan of money politics, the former was arrogant in adopting the “holier than thou” attitude when campaigning in the by-elections. The truth as we all know it is that BN and money politics are synonymous. A resident of Hulu Selangor recently disclosed to me how the supporters of BN candidate P Kamalanathan went house-to-house offering RM100 to each voter in the family in lieu of their vote in the Hulu Selangor by-election in April 2010. How is it that this bit of news did not reach the shores of the mainstream media?
Not surprisingly, Kamalanathan did win the Hulu Selangor parliamentary seat, defeating rival Zaid Ibrahim who was then contesting under PKR banner. That was then and according to the resident, Kamalanathan was never again a “familiar” face with the people.
While Pak Lah was an utter disappointment as the country’s fifth prime minister, he has now brought shame to the nation by sheltering an alleged rapist and in the process, making a mockery of the country’s law and order system. How dare Abdullah allow a man who has committed a crime to escape punishment? Will Najib make sure the alleged minister-rapist receives due “attention” from the law or will he too play politics and save the minister concerned who is also a senior member in Umno?
Be it Najib or Anwar Ibrahim, the rakyat have no personal interest in either of them. All the people ask is that the chosen leader remains focused in raising the quality of their lives, by giving them respectable infrastructure and not dishing out scraps. As we stand today, Malaysia has become home to “third-class” mentalities, with people having no respect and compassion for one another. They shove and push one another at train stations and pretend to close an eye when they have to vacate their seats to accommodate a disabled or senior citizen on board the same train.
Likewise, “hello” and “thank you” have become words too difficult to utter. And Najib is preparing the “runaway” to achieve fame and glory which is but all for himself. One example is the 100-storey Vision Tower or Menara Wawasan which Najib struggled to justify its creation.
Politics is about doing good
The country is now besieged with so-called leaders trying to outdo one another in terms of achieving personal glory. When former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was applauded for conceiving the landmark sky-scrapper, the 88-storey Petronas Twin Towers, a fusion of offices and shopping mall, the current prime minister Najib has set his sight on doing better, making sure he receives all the glory for his Menara Wawasan idea and steals all the thunder and lightning from Mahathir.
With such childish display of leadership, there is little wonder that Malaysia has to work really really hard to get rid of the “third-class” mentality embedded amongst its people. What will it take for Najib to realise the real job of a prime minister?
Being a prime minister is not about bragging when help is provided to survivors of floods like in the case of Kedah. It is only noble to help when we can and bragging only reveals the pretension behind such assistance. I am sure Islam does not condone its followers to brag over help rendered, so why did Umno keep blowing its own horn each time it went into a village to offer help during the floods?
Really, it is getting tiring to watch the desperate acts of BN in wanting to wrestle back the majority in the coming general election. Can help not be provided sincerely, with no drum rolls?
Najib, learn to embrace IMalaysia
More recently, the “confused” aides of Najib took it upon themselves to instruct the Catholic church officials to remove crucifixes and sing no hymns in the presence of Najib when on Dec 26 he turned up for a tea party organised by the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur. The aides also directed the church officials not to quote from scriptures or utter any Christian prayer in Najib’s presence. It seems these nonsensical directives were not known to Najib, but then as the mind behind the 1Malaysia concept, why has Najib not tendered an apology to his host? Did it really scare Najib to attend the tea-invite, worried that his fellow Umno honchos might grill him for being less “Islamic” should he listen to the Catholic hymns?
If Najib refuses to apologise, it becomes evident that he has yet to embrace 1Malaysia as a way of life. If he cannot practise what he preaches, then it is best the 1Malaysia propaganda be extinguished.
If 1Malaysia is about unconditional acceptance by Malaysians of one another in spite of colour and creed, this then has all along been there as far as the Indians and Chinese are concerned – they have learnt to accept and tolerate each time their Muslim brethrens utter words like “insyallah” (God willing) or “alhamdullilah” (Praise be to God). There is no cry that Muslims should not utter such words in the presence of the Indians and Chinese but Najib’s addle brained aides found it fit to instruct the Catholic church officials to remove the crucifixes and say no prayer or verses from the scripture – what then should the Indians and Chinese make of this? Obviously Najib’s aides had cut it too fat here.
To hoodwink the people by all ways and means is not the name of the game. Does BN have what it takes to win an election, both the by-election and the general election without buying votes using money or hankering about, crying foul over any move its rival makes?
There is a saying that “charity begins at home”. In Najib’s case, that has yet to happen and as the people have come to realise, as the days pass by, the frenzy towards campaigning for the next general election will become greater. The question to bear in mind: is slandering and character assassination THE way to win votes or is hard work and commitment to improving the people’s welfare THE only way to earn votes? Are our votes so cheap that at the sight of money we readily agree to compromise on the best candidate for the job?
If BN is sincere in wanting to serve the people, then it should stop bragging and just concentrate on the task at hand. Belittling your rivals is not going to win you anything, nor votes and certainly not respect from the people.
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