Najib's fairy tale of reforms and transformation: Do the Malays really buy it?

It is becoming very frequent now as Malaysia heads into the last lap before the people are called upon to make a crucial landmark vote. Over and over again, we hear Prime Minister Najib Razak literally 'begging' the people to give him and his UMNO party another chance to rule the country.

Yes, it is crucial indeed for Najib and UMNO to stay in power or the boil that they have been growing and allowing to fester through the decades will finally explode and all their shameful wrongdoings against the people will be exposed. They will be forced to take responsibility for their misdeeds - at last.

Since assuming office in 2009, Najib Razak has not garnered the mandate of the people. He is merely the president of the biggest party in Barisan Nasional, and by virtue of that, assumed the role of prime minister until a clear mandate is delivered at a general election. And this is why, to Najib the coming GE-13 is crucial and all important. It grants him the right to say that the people of Malaysia want him to lead the country as prime minister.

“We have to cross the bridge of the general election, it is very important to be re-elected for us to deliver real transformation, we need to get support from the people,” he said in a speech at an international forum organized by UMNO earlier this week.

Does not have the discipline to bear the pain of reforms

Yes, the prime minister is playing peace-maker now and turning to the people to gain much needed support. Yet, be warned, when UMNO reforms; Malaysia will deform. The transformation promised by Najib Razak, as president of UMNO, will only come about if and only if UMNO benefits from it. And the way UMNO - known for its greed and corruption - benefits from it, Malaysia will suffer for it!

The much-heralded reforms Najib announced during Malaysia Day are merely illusions. The ISA has yet to abolished and we have a repressive Peaceful Assembly Bill heading towards approval in Parliament. Overall, 2011 has been a year where the very fabric of Malaysian society has been torn apart by none other than UMNO and its sister organizations such as Perkasa.

In July we had the demonising of civil society at its worse. But even so, the July 9 Bersih rally for free and fair elections triumphed, a fantastic victory of light over darkness. We also had the fabled conspiracy to install a Christian prime minister, and along with this was the story that Communism was being resurrected by some of the Bersih marchers seeking critically-needed reforms.

Obstacle to change, not catalyst

It is clear UMNO is not the catalyst for reforms in Malaysia but UMNO is the greatest obstacle for reforms. Reforms did not come about because of Najib Razak. Instead, the reforms he and his establishment are now trumpeting were knee-jerk reactions to growing demands from the people of Malaysia. Reforms come from the people and it is due to their strength that real change will eventually come about in Malaysia. Not from the likes of UMNO nor the fabled promises of Najib.

UMNO will never be capable of reforms as long as it holds the post of prime minister because true reforms in Malaysia would mean UMNO losing out on a host of goodies. It will mean the liberalization of Malaysia’s economy where only open tenders based on meritocracy and best pricing will qualify. It would also mean a free media to report matters as they are and not what UMNO perceives them to be. Freedom of expression and collaborative effort with the people as opposed to “we know best” government, would also be the order of the day.

To claim that only via UMNO, will transformation come is the complete opposite of the truth. But Najib is either oblivious or sees nothing wrong in lying through his teeth.

For example, UMNO has yet to explain, conclusively, the nature of the NFC scandal that involves its Wanita Chief. Although Shahrizat Jalil has fallen back on calling her detractors names and diverting attention away from the issue, the public remains convinced something is afoot while the entire UMNO elite is scrambling to cover up the scandal. The use of public money meant to be a catalyst to launch a self-sustaining meat industry in Malaysia has instead been used to buy luxury condos, land in Putrajaya, high-end cars and to fund lavish trips overseas.

Surprised? But this is UMNO, whose leaders are experts at spending public money without compunction, whilst being unable to add income to the nation’s coffers. And to further add salt to the injury, UMNO seems bent on protecting the likes of Shahrizat and those like her, including Najib himself, whose profligacy is just as famed.

A dearth of talent

The ineffectual UMNO Youth have been authorized to support their embattled Wanita Chief, which clearly shows UMNO is never ever shy about covering up their own misdeeds and scandals. On the other hand, they are hell-bent on demonizing the Chinese, Christians and anyone they so choose. The opposition has borne the brunt of their claims that the Malays stand to lose out if Pakatan wins the next general election. Yet, what has UMNO really done for the Malays, except to siphon out huge, gargantuan sums for themselves? After 54 years of affirmative action and 40 years of the New Economic Policy, Malays sadly still form the bulk of the poor in the country.

The blatant use of profanity in the UMNO Youth speeches points to to the very thing UMNO cannot do. And this is to transform their mindsets to meet the current scenario in Malaysia. Whilst the public expects intellectual discourse and presentation of nation-building policies, we are served up with rhetoric that is akin to a cheer-leading chant spiced up with vocabulary that would make a brothel-keeper blush. By verbally attacking the opposition, UMNO has contradicted their own words. Both Najib and Muhyiddin have advised their party members to be civilized in their speeches. Yet, neither men followed their own advice. No wonder, the others did not then.

For transformation to be evident under UMNO, UMNO itself must transform and be attractive to every citizen in Malaysia. Instead, the transformation UMNO has brought upon itself has been more decremental to Malaysia than good. The leadership line-up has a problem with confidence in themselves and their own Malay brothers. It seems after more than 5 decades of rule, UMNO is more insecure than ever. Its fear of losing the confidence of the Malays is most evident now than in its entire history, while the efforts to transform Malaysia has long ago lost the confidence of the non-Malays.

But the nation has intuitively been shifting away from Umno

With the nation slowly moving forward on its own steam away from depending on UMNO, real transformation will happen eventually. Malaysia is reforming on its own initiative, driven by the people themselves who are demanding a clean-up of the governmental system so badly compromised and ravaged by UMNO.

In a reformed Malaysia, UMNO stands to lose the most and this will stump any efforts by an UMNO prime minister to implement change. Najib’s moves towards liberalising the economy has been met with resistance from within Umno as well as Malay rights group Perkasa. Najib may speak all the right words when it comes to reforms, but he definitely lacks the political will to bring about any measure of change or reform in Malaysia.

So far the only reforms that we have seen are merely cosmetic in nature. We have merely swapped an evil for greater evil. This is not the path Malaysia should take if is to be a progressive nation. To coin a phrase often used by the arrogant BN parliamentarians; “if you don’t like it, then vote”.

Yes, the people of Malaysia are sick of lies and mere talk. After so many decades in power, it is still saying that it needs more time. But the resources are gone, the lands have been grabbed, the Petronas 'black gold' has been diverted to many private overseas bank accounts. For sure, Malaysians must make a timely decision. They must vote out the inefficient, dishonest, spendthrift, irresponsible and corrupt. In other words, avoid UMNO unless you want to get plague and die a long, slow and extremely painful death.

Malaysia Chronicle