'Ah Jib Gor' Najib is begging but no one is listening

Everywhere Najib goes, he keeps stressing the same message that it is "very important" for Umno and the BN to be re-elected in the next general election so that the party can deliver its promised transformation.

"I keep saying it is not unimportant to be re-elected. It is very important to be re-elected. For us to deliver the real transformation, we need to be re-elected," he said at the opening of a recent on "Politics of Economic and Social Transformation in the Era of Global Crisis.

No real authority in the first place

Is he being repetitive or is he actually begging for Malaysians to heed him and give his BN coalition another chance? Whichever it is, Malaysians don’t seem to care less. They no longer bother to listen to him.

At 58, Najib has become the proverbial boy who cried wolf. He has lied and talked nonsense once too many times. People in coffee shops around the country already call him, the PM who talks rubbish (some even use a ruder and fouler 4-letter word in place of ‘rubbish’).

Indeed, why should Malaysians listen to this guy, whom they did not elect but was appointed to be PM by his UMNO party after he successfully ousted his former boss Abdullah Badawi in an internal power struggle.

BN components already given up on him

Even the component parties in the BN are not listening to him, especially the ones from East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak. They all have their own problems within their own parties. Every BN component party is facing infighting, with members disgruntled and restless. There seems to be no hope for them. The BN brand name – once a winner – is now rotten and the heaviest cross to carry into the 13th general election. Defeat seems a certainty and yet all Najib, the BN chairman, can do is to talk nonsense!

In the peninsula Gerakan is a gone case. PPP is like Zaid Ibrahim's KITA- irrelevant! MIC is dormant and MCA has been reduced to pariah status in the eyes of the Chinese community. In Sarawak, chief minister Taib Mahmud is still calling the shots, including whether to allow his kingmaker PBS party to stay in the BN or not. And there is nothing Najib can do about this, despite all his high-faluting talk.

In Sabah, the LDP is still facing a leadership crisis; PBRS and UPKO are of very little influence on the outcome of the GE-13 as there is already UMNO in Sabah. And within UMNO in Sabah, some of the most vicious backstabbing is taking place even as Najib closes an eye and gives sermons on the importance of 'moderation'.

Not only is Najib living in a deluded world of his own, he still wants BN components to sacrifice their ‘winnable seats' for the collective good of UMNO! But with so much at stake, why would the BN components want to sacrifice an inch? Many already blame UMNO’s bullying and over-domineering ways for their current doldrums.

For example, Chua Soi Lek, the president of the MCA has gone all out to plead with his party leaders not to flee to the opposition, promising high posts with huge power and multimillion-ringgit revenues. But no, Najib now wants to reclaim everything that is winnable – how to stop the exodus then? Even Moses who could part the Red Sea would not be able to do it.

Forced to 'recycle' seedy old 'soldiers of fortune'

In a way, Najib is now reaping the retribution of the BN's sinful politics against the people. This is the result of the culture that has been nurtured in UMNO and BN for decades - the culture of corruption, money politics, back-stabbing, fighting for cushy posts and unlimited money. Yes, money is everything for UMNO-BN. Money is never for the people and country, it is always for themselves and their families. As for democracy, what’s that; the word is not in their dictionary at all!

So this is why nobody is listening to Najib. The ‘boy who cried wolf’ or ‘the Emperor who wore no clothes’, Najib has to implement dubious strategies requiring him to puff up his own image. He has to blame others and has even taken to recycling tainted politicians, so deep is the dearth of talent in UMNO, and so miserable his leadership that no one wants to follow where he leads.

For example, Najib has elevated Isa Samad to head the FELDA, so that Isa’s ex-students and proteges’ from Sekolah Dato’ Abdul Razak in Seremban who are now ministers, namely Shaziman Abu Mansor (Minister of Finance II), Ismail Sabri Yaakob (Minister of Domestic Trade) and Abdul Latiff Ahmad (Deputy Defence Minister), will stay in UMNO.

Even the Datuk T trio who presented the notorious sex DVD to falsely incriminate Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim is also an effort to recycle UMNO’s past talents, such as former Malacca chief minister Rahim Thamby Chik. What a failure that was! Not only did the DVD scam flop miserably but Rahim’s reputation - already dark as night - is worse than ever before.

Malaysia in her darkest and weakest era

But does Najib learn? Apparently not, because he is now putting on the pedestal Jamaluddin Jarjis, an ex-minister and most recently the envoy to the US. Again, JJ as he is called is not only known for a terribly corruption-tainted past but is also an alleged playboy with scandals that could rival Najib’s own naughty history.

Nonetheless, what works for Najib is that all of these guys will do whatever he asks of them just to be able to get back into a seat of power. It won’t be surprising if Najib soon recruits cash-in-suitcase Muhammad Muhammad Taib, another former Selangor chief minister with a really dubious past.

And for this, Najib wants the BN to surrender to the final decision on who to field in GE-13. Yes, he can bully his way through MCA, MIC, Gerakan and the other small ‘fries’. But already a huge fightback has been mounted in UMNO, with dissatisfied warlords wondering why they should not oust Najib instead.

Frankly, they are not wrong. Instead of improving the situation from where Badawi was forced off, Najib has pushed Malaysia into her darkest and weakest era. The present UMNO leaders and even those in the ‘winnable candidates’ list are no longer listening to Najib, because no one can guarantee that Najib will be in power after the GE-13.

OMG, not to the extent of Ah Jib Gor!

Najib is also trying hard to befriend the youth by having his own Facebook 'fan empire'. In fact he has set up several sites and one could easily be confused as to which one is genuine. As a result of this, his vain effort at self-glorification will be in vain indeed. The latest site now being laughed at across the nation is of course the “Ah Jib Gor” or 'Najib big brother' page.

Already distrusted by the Chinese, Najib has become an even greater object of ridicule and scorn to the Chinese youth, some of whom had at one time set up a ‘DIAM LAH’ or ‘Shaddup, you’ Facebook page especially for him.

See, nobody is listening to Najib. What about the kampong folks then? Are they listening to Najib? Well, some are still listening but most are not buying what he says.

These people have children and their kids are telling them not to listen or to believe in what UMNO, and in particular, what Najib has to say. “Something has gone wrong in UMNO. Maybe it is Najib or it is Mahathir. But UMNO can no longer be trusted”, is what the younger set are telling their parents and elders, when they are asked why is there so much disturbance these day?

To the nation and even the outside world, Najib is a pathological liar. He is not a man in control of his own destiny; he can’t even control his wife Rosmah Mansor’s extravagant spending. What more the country’s future and prosperity?

Malaysia Chronicle