1 more misleader 4 Malaysia
Dean JohnsPublished: May 13, 2009 6:02 AM | Updated: May 13, 2009 6:11 AM
Barisan Nasional bigwigs love to style themselves as ‘leaders’, but of course they’re actually misleaders.
They mouth sanctimonious slogans that are as false as they’re facile, and carrying on regardless with their programme of racism and rapacity in the hope that the rakyat doesn’t notice.
Barisan Nasional bigwigs love to style themselves as ‘leaders’, but of course they’re actually misleaders.
They mouth sanctimonious slogans that are as false as they’re facile, and carrying on regardless with their programme of racism and rapacity in the hope that the rakyat doesn’t notice.
Of course we could be forgiven for feeling that the rakyat really doesn’t notice, or at least doesn’t mind being so grossly misled.
The majority of Malaysians were apparently happy to accept Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Bersih, Cekap, Amanah slogan despite his 22 years of flagrantly flying in the face of such high-falutin’ sentiments.
And, for five years or so, the majority happily accepted Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s Cermerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang, while the state of the nation proclaimed a radically different reality.
And now Najib Abdul Razak is trying the same old trick, sloganeering away with ludicrously obvious lies enshrined in the line ‘1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now’.
‘1Malaysia’? When it’s so clearly a case, as ever it was, of Umno versus the rest under the pretense of pushing and protecting Malay interests? And when the forces of BN, led by Najib himself, are, as we speak, busily stirring-up division and discord in the state government of Perak?
Thank goodness not everyone’s buying ‘1Malaysia’, and that some are busy coining more realistic and credible versions like ‘1BlackMalaysia’.
But personally I’m not even prepared to live with the number 1. As far as I’m concerned, as long as all that’s good about Malaysia is so evidently dying under the rule of BN, ‘4Malaysia’ would be closer to the numerological reality.
Or, if you prefer, in recognition of the fact that BN and its cronies are still on their perennial mission to monopolise Malaysia’s wealth for themselves, perhaps it could be as accurately described as the coalition that ate Malaysia.
There’s no doubt that ‘8Malaysia’, in the positive sense, could have some appeal to the Chinese segment of a decidely disunited, or un-1Malaysia.
Najib and his spin-doctors have obviously thought of that, having come up with not 9, not 10 but but exactly 8 ‘values’ to which Malaysians are encouraged to aspire: excellence, perseverence, humility, acceptance, loyalty, meritocracy, education and integrity.
Value-free cabinet
Number 8 may well symbolise good fortune in Chinese culture, but I’ll be amazed if Najib has the good fortune to fool many sentient people with his cynical wish-list.
His own cabinet, let alone all the other elements of the Barisan regime, is so vividly defficient in these ‘values’, that the only one I can observe in action is its perseverence to resist any tendency towards any of the other seven.
Excellence? Excellence in what, exactly? In good, honest, transparent government? In legislating for a free, just society and equal opportunity for all Malaysians? Don’t make me laugh.
Humility? It’s painfully evident that BN misleaders are arrogant in the extreme, considering themselves above the laws that apply to other, ordinary Malaysians. And they enact and maintain special laws like the Internal Security Act, Emergency Ordinance, Official Secrets Act, Sedition Act, and Printing Presses and Publications Act to protect them in their position of supremacy.
Acceptance? I’ve seen no sign of acceptance of the will of the people as so clearly expressed in the 2008 general election. In fact, as recent events in Perak clearly demonstrate, BN is determined to reverse the tide of opposition against it by any means it can think of.
Loyalty? We’ve seen how Abdullah was shafted first by his predecessor Mahathir and finally by Umno, in favour of the very man who’s now advocating the very quality he pretended but failed to show.
Meritocracy? Really? Does Malaysia have its best and brightest running the nation? Or the civil service? Or, to segue into the next of Najib’s ‘values’, education?
Malaysia’s education system is so politicised and riddled with cronies, especially at the top, that it’s a national and international embarrassment. And there are statutes like the notorious Universities and University Colleges Act to ensure that the situation can’t change.
In final place on the list of Najib’s ‘values’, we have integrity. Appropriately enough, I suppose, as integrity or anything remotely resembling it is the last trait you’d expect to find in a BN politician. In fact I doubt that Najib even knows the meaning of the word.
Despite all the evidence for his government’s lack of integrity, however, he preaches on and on about its core principle, the truth.
According to Bernama, Malaysia’s integrity-free national news agency, he actually had the hide recently to exhort ‘leaders’ that “one of the best ways to win the trust and confidence of the people is to be truthful to them”.
He reportedly added that "Over a period, certainly you will be able to develop that faith and trust with the people. Above all, keep your word. If you promise, you must deliver. One of the things that can undermine this faith and loyalty is if you break your promise. If you promise something, you must stick to your promise and you must deliver your promise."
The only problem with this outstanding advice is that there’s no sign yet that Najib has the slightest intention of following it himself. On the contrary. While advocating ‘1Malaysia’, his actions in Perak have been spectacularly and deliberately divisive.
The ‘People First’ part of his slogan is given the lie by his government’s reluctance to properly investigate the latest wastage or theft of public money, the PKFZ scandal, and by its continuing co-option of the police as political enforcers rather than protectors of the populace.
All of which renders the ‘Performance Now’ part of the slogan entirely redundant. So Najib is shaping up nicely, not as the ‘leader’ he’d love to fancy himself to be, but as another, and hopefully the last, in Malaysia’s long line of misleaders.
They mouth sanctimonious slogans that are as false as they’re facile, and carrying on regardless with their programme of racism and rapacity in the hope that the rakyat doesn’t notice.
Of course we could be forgiven for feeling that the rakyat really doesn’t notice, or at least doesn’t mind being so grossly misled.
The majority of Malaysians were apparently happy to accept Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Bersih, Cekap, Amanah slogan despite his 22 years of flagrantly flying in the face of such high-falutin’ sentiments. And, for five years or so, the majority happily accepted Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s Cermerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang, while the state of the nation proclaimed a radically different reality.And now Najib Abdul Razak is trying the same old trick, sloganeering away with ludicrously obvious lies enshrined in the line ‘1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now’.
‘1Malaysia’? When it’s so clearly a case, as ever it was, of Umno versus the rest under the pretense of pushing and protecting Malay interests? And when the forces of BN, led by Najib himself, are, as we speak, busily stirring-up division and discord in the state government of Perak?
Thank goodness not everyone’s buying ‘1Malaysia’, and that some are busy coining more realistic and credible versions like ‘1BlackMalaysia’. But personally I’m not even prepared to live with the number 1. As far as I’m concerned, as long as all that’s good about Malaysia is so evidently dying under the rule of BN, ‘4Malaysia’ would be closer to the numerological reality.
Or, if you prefer, in recognition of the fact that BN and its cronies are still on their perennial mission to monopolise Malaysia’s wealth for themselves, perhaps it could be as accurately described as the coalition that ate Malaysia.
There’s no doubt that ‘8Malaysia’, in the positive sense, could have some appeal to the Chinese segment of a decidely disunited, or un-1Malaysia.
Najib and his spin-doctors have obviously thought of that, having come up with not 9, not 10 but but exactly 8 ‘values’ to which Malaysians are encouraged to aspire: excellence, perseverence, humility, acceptance, loyalty, meritocracy, education and integrity.
Value-free cabinet
Number 8 may well symbolise good fortune in Chinese culture, but I’ll be amazed if Najib has the good fortune to fool many sentient people with his cynical wish-list.
His own cabinet, let alone all the other elements of the Barisan regime, is so vividly defficient in these ‘values’, that the only one I can observe in action is its perseverence to resist any tendency towards any of the other seven.
Excellence? Excellence in what, exactly? In good, honest, transparent government? In legislating for a free, just society and equal opportunity for all Malaysians? Don’t make me laugh.
Humility? It’s painfully evident that BN misleaders are arrogant in the extreme, considering themselves above the laws that apply to other, ordinary Malaysians. And they enact and maintain special laws like the Internal Security Act, Emergency Ordinance, Official Secrets Act, Sedition Act, and Printing Presses and Publications Act to protect them in their position of supremacy.
Acceptance? I’ve seen no sign of acceptance of the will of the people as so clearly expressed in the 2008 general election. In fact, as recent events in Perak clearly demonstrate, BN is determined to reverse the tide of opposition against it by any means it can think of.Loyalty? We’ve seen how Abdullah was shafted first by his predecessor Mahathir and finally by Umno, in favour of the very man who’s now advocating the very quality he pretended but failed to show.
Meritocracy? Really? Does Malaysia have its best and brightest running the nation? Or the civil service? Or, to segue into the next of Najib’s ‘values’, education?
Malaysia’s education system is so politicised and riddled with cronies, especially at the top, that it’s a national and international embarrassment. And there are statutes like the notorious Universities and University Colleges Act to ensure that the situation can’t change.In final place on the list of Najib’s ‘values’, we have integrity. Appropriately enough, I suppose, as integrity or anything remotely resembling it is the last trait you’d expect to find in a BN politician. In fact I doubt that Najib even knows the meaning of the word.
Despite all the evidence for his government’s lack of integrity, however, he preaches on and on about its core principle, the truth.
According to Bernama, Malaysia’s integrity-free national news agency, he actually had the hide recently to exhort ‘leaders’ that “one of the best ways to win the trust and confidence of the people is to be truthful to them”.
He reportedly added that "Over a period, certainly you will be able to develop that faith and trust with the people. Above all, keep your word. If you promise, you must deliver. One of the things that can undermine this faith and loyalty is if you break your promise. If you promise something, you must stick to your promise and you must deliver your promise."The only problem with this outstanding advice is that there’s no sign yet that Najib has the slightest intention of following it himself. On the contrary. While advocating ‘1Malaysia’, his actions in Perak have been spectacularly and deliberately divisive.
The ‘People First’ part of his slogan is given the lie by his government’s reluctance to properly investigate the latest wastage or theft of public money, the PKFZ scandal, and by its continuing co-option of the police as political enforcers rather than protectors of the populace.
All of which renders the ‘Performance Now’ part of the slogan entirely redundant. So Najib is shaping up nicely, not as the ‘leader’ he’d love to fancy himself to be, but as another, and hopefully the last, in Malaysia’s long line of misleaders.
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