Najib keeps ‘em guessing

The PM has delayed the polls for far too long. That is the reason why BN dishes out goodies to the civil servants and the pensioners yet again this year.

COMMENT

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has termed the guessing of the general election date as a favourite national past-time. However, the poor and those who are struggling to make ends meet are not amused.

The nation’s general election is a serious matter and the prime minister should not have made a mockery of it by labelling it as a “national past-time” as the polls decide a nation’s future and is certainly not a laughing matter.

When the federal budget was being presented last year lavishing the civil servants and pensioners with bountiful goodies, many people thought that the 13th general election would be held in March this year. But now it is almost coming to year-end and so far Parliament has yet to be dissolved.

Be that as it may, it is still possible for the polls to be held this year, although legally the current term only ends in March 2013.

The current Parliament session lasts till Dec 1 which is a Thursday. Technically, Najib can still dissolve Parliament on Dec 1 itself and the Election Commission (EC) can then meet on Dec 2 to fix the nomination day on Dec 10 (Saturday) and polling date on Dec 18 (Sunday). All Najib needs is 18 days to call for an election and this Dec 1 is the final call for this year.

Najib may call for polls at the very last minute in order to make it seem as if he is only going to call for polls next year. Should Pakatan Rakyat be complacent, he would have gained the element of surprise. Therefore in order not to be caught, the opposition must be alert at all times and get its preparations going into top gear.

The tactic of leaving things till the very last minute is a commonly employed ancient Chinese military strategy called “putting on false appearances to deceive the enemy”. It is advantageous for Najib to use this strategy as he knows that Pakatan is hampered by the lack of funds and resources and thus needs time to raise funds.

There are some who opined that he will not hold the polls this year due to the annual floods in Kelantan and Terengganu. Floods will not pose a problem for BN because they will use, or rather misuse government machincery (4WDs and boats) to ferry voters to the polling centres. This was what happened in the flooded Tenang by-election in Johor in January this year. Likewise, in the 10th Sarawak state slection in April this year, BN used boats to ferry people to the polling centres. No, floods definitely is not a problem for BN.

A person who wants to win elections at all costs will resort to all sorts of methods to win. He or she will not bother if the methods employed are unethical, unprofessional or even downright dirty gutter politics. His or her aim is to topple the enemy by hook or by crook and therefore the end justifies the means.

Not confident of winning

However, the problem with BN is that Najib is not confident of winning. If he was confident, he would have called for polls in November 2010 when PKR was having its party elections. Instead, he chose to dither and was hesitant.

In April, it was also a good time as the Sarawak state polls were being held but he was again indecisive. In July there was the Bersih rally. Now if he had held the polls earlier this year, say, March or together with the Sarawak polls in April, there would not have been a Bersih rally. At that time, too, PKR was just getting its house in order after its party elections. DAP and PAS, too, were just getting into gear. Although one can never be 100% prepared, all the Pakatan component parties are now ready for the general election.

Najib has delayed the polls for far too long. That is the reason why BN dishes out goodies to the civil servants and the pensioners yet again this year. The public’s interest in the polls have also waned. Guessing the election date has become a dull and boring game as people now focus on struggling to cope with the ever-rising cost of living.

With the world economic crisis looming near, Najib cannot afford to wait any longer because incumbent governments always fare badly at the polls when the world economy takes a downturn. He must hold the polls this year and it is only due to his own fault that he has lost the date.

Perhaps, due to his lack of confidence he may require foreign, albeit low-skilled help from certain quarters to win the election and he wants to make sure that he has put in sufficient measures in order to be able to obtain this help.

To sum up, Najib has left it too late and yet he is still dithering. Is this the type of leader which the Malaysian public wants to lead the nation forward?

History has shown that empires and nations have crumbled when the leaders are inept, incompetent, tyrannical or downright evil. In modern times, an indecisive, flip-flop leader will cause investors to shy away. It is a blessing that Malaysia has no natural disasters. Otherwise, there will be great hardship for the people due to the government’s indecisiveness and penchant for political games. A case in point is the education system. Enough said!

It is time for the people to wake up and vote wisely for a better future for one and all.

Selena Tay believes in Pakatan Rakyat’s policies. She is also a DAP member.