It’s the people’s money, not the BN’s!

By Daniel John

When the Chief Minister officiated the Umno Keningau delegates meeting on June 4, he made another swipe at the opposition with the same old rhetoric, saying that the opposition can only talk about development and poverty eradication but are not doing anything about them, “unlike we in the BN who are consistently fighting poverty.” He also said that “the opposition… only complain but are unable to bring out from poverty those who are poor.” But the first one to offer to build a house for Annie Marambal was PKR, not Umno!

I am very sorry to this but when I read this coming out of our top state executive, I felt like screaming and throwing up, because there is a whole lot of nonsense and insulting realities behind this statement. I can’t take it anymore, so I must say what need to be said and hopefully this ‘logic’ will be stopped once and for all when those BN leaders realize how stupid they sound when they say it. First of all, this kind of nonsensical logic has been around for decades now and it has been repeated so many times that it has become a cause for instant nausea – you just want to vomit! It is so stupid that we voters who have brains can only react with revulsion and contempt. When is it ever going to stop? All the BN leaders have the same old habit of saying again and again that the opposition can only talk big and make promises but it is the BN who can deliver. And the worse thing is that a lot of BN supporters also believe this sickening nonsense. They applaud loudly, and like their leaders, they think that the leaders of the opposition are a bunch of idiots.

But it will need only a little bit of reflection to realize how stupid this line of thinking is. To the Sabahans with enough brains, even small kids in primary schools, know that this is a real insult to their intelligence. Why? Firstly, it is the BN leaders who have been given a mandate by the people to run the state and to solve the problems of the state. It is the BN leaders who have been given the responsibility TO SPEND THE PEOPLE’S MONEY to improve their lot. Unfortunately, the BN has failed to do their assigned job. They failed even to solve the simple problem of poverty, and when the problem is pointed out they fly off the handle and start cursing at the opposition. But let us be reminded that the case of Annie Marambal’s suffering was revealed not by the opposition but by the girl guides and by the wife of the Prime Minister, no less! And when the opposition picked on the issue, leaders like Dr. Maximus Ongkili go into a rage as if the opposition leaders were a group of hook-tailed devils.

I felt it was a real amusement to see Maximus lose his temper and saying all sort of childish ranting at the opposition. And when he challenged the opposition to build houses for the poor it sounded so idiotic that I wondered if this Ph. D. holder still has his faculties in place. He was the one who accused Dr. Jeffrey of suffering from a the Ph. D. disease, or permanent head damage, but now he has to examine his own head for asking a dumb question like, “If we ask the opposition to build houses, can they build it?” The answer, my dear Dr., is very simple: “Yes, we can build them, even 10,000 houses! But why should we use our money? Test us by giving us the people’s money which you have in your hands and WE WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO DO YOUR JOB!” Can Max build houses for the people if he was in the opposition? He can’t even build house for Annie and her starving children even though he is in the seat of power! And he should go screaming to the Rosmah for embarrassing him as the MP for Marudu, and not scream at the opposition for doing their job, which is to keep the BN leaders on their toes. Max should know this because in the opposition for a long time.

By saying that the opposition cannot deliver, the BN leaders are showing that they are totally illiterate about our system of government. Have they forgotten that we practice democracy and those elected are responsible to deliver because they are the custodians of the state resources and revenues? They are supposed to administer the state and manage its resources in a world-class management expertise worthy of praise from Peter Drucker, worthy of an ISO certification – at least in an honest and transparent manner. They should not behave and talk as if those resources belong to their grandfathers because the resources and revenues belong to the people, largely from taxpayers. At the same the opposition functions as a check and balance for the government and to offer constructive criticisms. The opposition should be respected, not insulted because the opposition also commands support from a large portion of the population.

As proof that the government doesn’t know what it is doing, it is talking about the economy only in terms of infrastructural development (roads, suspension bridges, balairayas, housing, drains), while not enough emphasis is put on long-term strategic planning to strengthen the state’s economic fundamentals for a sustainable and accelerating economic growth. There is the more serious problems of the deteriorating state economy, the high unemployment, rural and urban poverty which is getting very much worse with the high inflation, mostly due to subsidy cuts. All those papers presented in seminars and those recommendations made by economic brains just end up gathering dust – because the government servants and leaders don’t understand them! And all they have in their heads in how to enrich themselves as fast as possible before they lose their positions of power. With this 10-percent-for-me mentality, they government cannot focus on long-term strategies. Is Umno still calling itself the people’s hero (juara rakyat) or is it now the people’s terror (kengerian rakyat)?

What I believe is that the BN leaders are indulging in nonsense because they have run out of ideas to convince the people they are running an efficient government. Normally nonsense logic is the sign of a failing government. Gaddafi claimed the Libyan people were united against the NATO ‘aggressors’ while he was shooting and killing his own people. The BN leaders will never admit their weaknesses and they would rather talk rubbish rather than try to correct their errors. So the same old baloney about the opposition being unable to deliver is repeated again and again, ad nauseum. But when the opposition took over Selangor and Penang, it was PROVEN that the opposition can deliver better than the government – Penang has attracted more FDIs than all the other 11 states combined! And the BN hates that so much it is using RTM and TV3 to try and shame Penang and Selangor over small and trivial matters.

The BN leaders have lost touch with the people so much that they have to talk garbage and promote garbage as political capital.  And that, by itself, is a tragedy waiting to unfold.

DANIEL JOHN JAMBUN