What Najib is likely to tell Umno delegates at next-month's meeting

Prime Minister Najib Razak would have wished that the snow had not yet thawed on the ground so that the dirt and mud would still be nicely covered under the pure white blanket, and the scene is beautiful as far as the eyes can see. Unfortunately for him, it doesn't snow in Malaysia and the present scenes are deplorable and disgustingly ugly.

Najib will find it an impossible task to paint over these scenes especially the recent ones which are still freshly exposed and those that are difficult to forget. He may have to digress a lot from his prepared speech because he knows that it is a whole load of bull, unless he does not have any conscience at all.

Since he has just been back from performing the Hajj, he would prefer to be addressed as Datuk Seri Haji Mohd Najib, at least from now until the next general election. Had not Chegubard pre-empted the move that the media will air continuously the clip and show photos of Najib performing the Hajj and inside the Kaabah, the UMNO propagandists would surely have shown them.

Thus it would be most appropriate to begin his speech by quoting from the holy verses, choosing the appropriate ones to fit the occasion. Najib will then remind those in the assembly that they have a great responsibility to shoulder for the Malays and the entire nation, not that anybody would pay any heed to it.

Najib would also criticize, reprimand, praise them and above all give them the assurance that he is still the only person capable of bringing about changes for the betterment of UMNO and the country, and the only leader that they must give their full and unwavering support to, thus there should not be any changes in the present leadership hierarchy. He will be quick and try to be forceful on that.

The speech will then be focused on convincing the entire nation especially the voters (since it will be a live telecast) to convince them to give him and UMNO/BN the trust to bring Malaysia back to its glory.

He will then start the air-brushing.

The struggle for independence will again be touched to remind us that UMNO is the one who struggled for independence with some help from the Chinese, Indians and other ethnic communities. He will rebuke PAS deputy president Mat Sabu on the role of Mat Indera and the communists. Despite all the inter-religious and inter-racial spats which are little short of upheavals, he wants us to be united, but without any suggestion how it could be achieved since Malaysia is in dire straits and at various cross-roads in religion, economy, education and politics.

Najib will also touch on the various developments under the previous prime ministers and he will somehow reiterate the need to maintain similar economic policies that will benefit the Malays without jeopardizing the other races. Yes, this is to assure the Malays that their “special privilege” will never be sacrificed.

He will touch on the rights of every citizen, groups, and minorities and will look into their demands and grievances. He will also use this opportunity to explain about the launch and institutionalizing of “the Global Movement of the Moderates” in Kuala Lumpur at the inaugural International Conference on the Global Movement of the Moderates (CGMM) his only probable and trivial legacy, from Jan 17 to 19. He would wish that this will help to divert the attention of most of the rakyat away from their domestic problems.

In his mind, he would also wish that he could start a war in a foreign country just like the US president has done to smother burning domestic problems, after all he has just met Obama in Hawaii. He will again mention that democracy in Malaysia has matured because the UMNO-BN government allowed dissent and he has already announced the repeal of the ISA and formed the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to improve the election system.

But this CGMM will have no effect to smother the BERSIH 2.0 event, infact there is already BERSIH 3.0 in the making. He will not be able to wipe away our memories on the murder of Altantuya, death of Kugan in police custody, trigger-happy police killing of Amirulrasyid, Teoh Beng Hock and Ahmad Sarbaini death-falls while under the nose of the MACC and the continuous political persecution of Anwar Ibrahim to mention a few. We know that whatever recommendation by the PSC, just like the commission for the PDRM, will never be implemented.

He will go on to explain the status and achievements of the GTP,NKRA, ETP and 1Malaysia, although he knows that these policies have achieved nothing except ridicule and controversies. He will put all the blame on the world’s economy, the financial problems he inherited from the previous prime ministers and the opposition who scared the investors away. Thus he will ask the rakyat to give him more time to convert all the policies into reality that will provide higher income and minimum wages without even having the need of any legislature.

However, the national debt is at RM407 billion and the government overspending of RM3.73 billion as reported by the Auditor General, complete with the details on the Gemas, Shahrizat-linked NFC debacle amounting to RM250 million and ending with some “cows staying in a condominium” won't be able to be whitewashed by Naib. The Tourism Ministry overpaying RM270 million for advertisement and expensive display rack, buying of expensive night vision binoculars by the Marine Department and so on won’t be able to be painted white by Najib.

He will mention that the government will take all steps necessary to take those involved to task and improve the management and procurement procedures but he won’t mention any serious involvement of the MACC as this would be disastrous for UMNO-BN.

Since he has nothing much to say, and cautious not to dwell too much on the prepared speech, he will also make a few announcements on the coming year-end bonus for the “hard-working” civil servants and to maintain the subsidies on the selective goods and services, and no belt-tightening yet.

He will of course wish everybody a happy general assembly. But whether they will be able to find happiness given the mountain of unresolved issues will remain a mystery.

Malaysia Chronicle