RM500 buys… — Lucius Goon

March 13, 2012

It is not surprising that PM Najib Razak says that the government will give cash to Malaysians if revenue goes up. He has found out that his disbursement of RM500 has been a success. Nothing it seems keeps Malaysians happy than some lucre in the pocket.

Najib knows this and if it means emptying the coffers to win the election he will do it. The PM a great believer in deal-making knows that RM500 will...

• persuade many Malaysians to have amnesia and forget the catalogue of flip-flops and mistakes from Najib who has inherited mantle of flip-flop king from Abdullah Badawi.
• make Malaysians forget about the string of corruption issues and dodgy deals from the development of land near Martrade (Naza TTDI) to the rm9 billion patrol boats to the super sweetheart West Coast Highway deal (60 year toll concession) to the RM2.2 billion Kidex highway.
• help Malaysians forget about how the power and might of the state was brought to bear on ordinary citizens who were marching for clean elections.
• lull Malaysians into complacency that they forget that Indonesians, Bangladeshis and other foreigners are being “allowed” to vote.
• convince Malaysians that Najib is a decent chap, despite allegations that the powerful and connected and people from his inner circle are making much hay while the sun shines. Forget about the RM24 million ring and the shopping trips.
• get Malaysians to focus on material wellbeing instead of focusing on fighting evil and injustice.
• persuade Malaysians that the government is really prihatin and has the welfare of Malaysians at heart, instead of asking why the national debt has reached unheard of levels and pondering about a government which has to buy its way to power.
• hope that Malaysians forget that everything about this government is about announcements and launches and where consultants are paid mega bucks to recycle ideas as Government Transformation.

Yes, the government hopes that the occasional RM500 will be like a drug to Malaysians and they want us hooked for life.

* Lucius Goon reads The Malaysian Insider.