Umno and Najib: Plundering or transforming the nation?

He is pleading, looks pathetic and desperate. He wants Selangor back into the BN fold to save himself from being chucked out as UMNO leader. But the country is in huge debt. Borrowing has not stopped and yet spending is lavish when productivity is extremely low. So much of taxpayers’ money has gone to the people to practically “bribe” them to vote for Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next general election.

Another RM6.5 billion is now needed to provide for the pay rise of civil servants – number of which has bloated to about 1.5 million. Thousands of MAS workers are not happy with the present MAS-AirAsia deal. Millions of EPF contributors are distraught to know that billions of ringgit that they have saved for their retirement days has been loaned to the government for non-profitable projects involving UMNO cronies.

Corruption and scandals keep on colouring UMNO leaders who are forever in a denial mode of their wicked engrossment to mislead the people. Over 54 per cent of the population have been given RM500 each to vote for BN in the next GE. It only shows that at least 60 per cent of the population in the country are still living in poverty under BN rule for the past six decades.

Poverty among people of all ethnic groups is a scourge that BN has failed to eradicate despite being in power for so long. Race relations and religious tolerance under BN are becoming a disparagement. Najib Abdul Razak, the prime minister in sitting, is not much into transforming the country but he is more concerned of what his fate is going to be when BN loses the 13^th general election.

No reason why Selangor must be handed to BN

And now Najib is pleading for the people to walk with him.  He wants Selangor back but does he know that the state is already resourcefully handled by a competent Menteri Besar (MB), Khalid Ibrahim? Does he want to drag Selangor back into the era of corrupt leaders like Khir Toyo or Muhammad Muhammad Taib?  Can Najib handle a state that is already efficacious under the Opposition with his friable team? Najib must be an armchair prime minister. Does he know the many achievements made in Selangor and Penang under the competent leadership of Khalid and – respectively – and this is acknowledged by both the Opposition and UMNO members?

Selangor is one of the most developed states in the country. When the country as a whole under Najib is wincing economically, Selangor recorded positive economic growth consecutively after taking over the state from BN in the March 2008 general election. The state GDP for 2011 stood at 5.9 per cent stimulated by domestic and foreign capitals. Selangor under Khalid is able to contribute 22 per cent to the overall GDP of the nation – the biggest among all states in the country. Investments for 2011 totalled RM8.74 billion with 263 major projects developed fruitfully by the state government and this has given jobs to more than 15 000 people. Reserves savings have increased to an unprecedented RM1.9 billion in the same year.

Penang is another exemplary state under the Opposition. Kedah and Kelantan too have shown that progress can be achieved through honest leadership.

The people see no reason why Selangor and the others states under the Opposition must be handed over to BN when corruption, maladministration and financial leakages were intolerably high during the latter’s rule. A former senior UMNO lawmaker from Selangor quipped, “Khalid has done a tremendously good job for Selangor. Khalid is more a corporate man than a politician. His sincerity and no-nonsense approach to work has brought a lot of changes to Selangor. He is clean and tolerates no corruption. Many UMNO members acknowledge this and they do support him.”

Najib embroiled in a lot of enquiries

But when Selangor is progressing expeditiously, Najib is embroiled with a lot of personal issues and endless enquiries on how taxpayer’s money is being abused by self-serving UMNO politicians and cronies. Najib has not been transparent and his mere denial to all the accusations against him and UMNO will not convince the people anymore. The people demand hard evidence that he, UMNO, BN and those who are politically connected to the government are clean.

As prime minister, being silent and adopting a denial syndrome stance as a defensive weapon will not settle matters. Neither could he depend on his “generals” to do the dirty jobs and wash the dirty linens for him. The perception of the people is that the wrongdoings of the present government have always been cagey and the mainstream media are always in cahoots with the ruling party not to disclose unpleasant issues to the public. Only some – the tip of that iceberg – have been leaked by patriotic whistle blowers to the public.

For instance, the NFCorp and Port Klang scandals have seen billions of taxpayers’ money washed into the drains. Then within this month alone three issues were scrupulously raised by the Opposition on Najib’s integrity as prime minister.  As reported, he has been asked to explain on the fate of some RM976.6 million in taxpayers’ money following the sale of the 26km Kuala Lumpur-Putrajaya Highway, better known as the Maju Expressway (MEX), to EP Manufacturing Berhad. The overall cost of constructing the highway by Maju Holding reportedly stood at RM1.32 billion with RM976.7 million being government grant. The builder Maju Holdings Sdn Bhd had only injected RM60 million, 4.5 percent of the overall cost, besides loaning RM370 million from financial institution.  And the sale of RM1.7 billion will bring a windfall to Maju Holdings if the grant given by the government totalling RM976.6 million is not returned. If the public money was not returned, Maju Holdings would make a net profit of RM1.33 billion sans the RM370 million loans it took. The RM976.6 million belongs to the people and this must be accountable, says the Opposition.

Lavish events

Prior to that and as reported, the Opposition had also demanded Najib provide unbreakable evidence that public funds were not used to pay the RM409,767 bill for his daughter’s engagement dinner that was held on the June 17, 2011 or, unswerving evidence that he himself paid for the amount. Then again, Najib’s birthday party on June 24 last year cost RM79, 053. For both events the amounts were billed to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). People are confused here over the public and personal use of the department. They are all eager to know the truth and this should come from the horse’s mouth with rock-hard evidence.

The people want to know why private functions are billed to the PMO and how Najib could afford these two lavish events in a space of one month if the PMO did not settle the bills. The Banquet Event Order (BEO), from a famed hotel, was not only addressed to the PMO but was also billed under the PMO’s account.

Najib has not set a good example to the people, as firstly the two events were too lavishly done.  It was not fair for Najib to indulge in such lavish activities when he preached for the public to lead a moderate lifestyle.  RM500 Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) – a bribe of sort to face the 13^th general election – that is handed to the government to the 54 percent eligible people only shows that almost 60 percent of Malaysians are categorically poor. Secondly, PMO should be seen as free from any elements of abuse and breach of trust. Thirdly, if Najib wants the people to walk with him, he should first walk the talk that he had promised political, economic and social transformations as an answer to the people’s demand for a cleaner government.

What transformation plans is Najib talking about?

The people of Selangor are aware that Selangor under Khalid has transformed in less than four years more that the whole country has done so in the past 54 years. Seeing the success of Selangor under Khalid’s headship, Najib now wants back the state. But then to the people of Selangor giving back Selangor to BN is akin to “giving a pumpkin for rats to work on”.

What transformation plans is Najib talking about to the nation? The electorate see practically nothing on the ground since Najib’s tenure as prime minister. Apparently, it’s only flip-flop policies all the way until the present. His predecessor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, did the same kind of travelling around the country using taxpayers’ money telling “bedtime stories” to the people on the country’s economic growth when nothing actually took off the ground. This incurred the wrath of Mahathir Muhammad, the man who fixed him as prime minister. But Mahathir’s choice of Najib to replace Abdullah is also deplorably dissipated in the eyes of all Malaysians.

The academics see only mind-baffling flowery acronyms used by Najib to describe his transformation plans. This is more proper in an academic setting where lush talks are common, but these are just ideals that cannot be translated into practice. It is obvious that the people are now seeing too many policy flip-flops happening during his tenure as prime minster and all this points to Najib’s inconclusiveness in implementing policies. Najib’s personal drive is always to play safe in politics. His immediate aim is not transformation of any sort to the many existing rotten systems in the country but to win the next general election, as he knows if BN could not make it he will be shown the door by UMNO and BN members. The jittery now is making him edgy and he knows pretty well that BN cannot win the next GE. What more about taking the four states under the Opposition now.

A big-leap in transformation can only be achieved when leaders are firm in decision making, not corrupt, able to manage the country prudently and when there is competence, transparency and accountability. States under the Opposition are doing the big-leap now with Selangor and Penang leading the trail. BN leadership should take a leaf from Selangor MB or Penang Chief Minister (CM)  to succeed instead. Arrogance and badmouthing the Opposition through the mainstream and paid-to-attend ceramah will make UMNO none the wiser.

Real transformation is going on in states held by the Opposition. Has Najib not heard the Auditor General’s (AG) relentless praises for all the Pakatan-held states for the past four years? Unfortunately, none of the states under BN has been commended by the AG. In fact the record for financial management was worst in all the states under BN before the March 2008 tsunami. Corruption and abuse of taxpayers’ money were endemic during those years but only a few cases were brought to court – just to please the critics – for fear than BN’s image would be completely ruined.

Armchair leaders

It’s leadership quality that makes the difference in governance. Good governance and best practices are not done by armchair leaders who have no business and economic acumen but with ill-advised opportunists who are there to make millions out of the Malaysian government. Khalid as the MB of Selangor is a doer. He has not wasted taxpayers’ money to engage APCO or any other foreign agencies to help him run the state or for that matter build up his image. He already has a clean image as a former successful corporate figure. The same goes with Lim of Penang and the other two righteous leaders of Kedah and Kelantan. Good leaders are those who are clean and able to walk the talk. With their competence and virtuosity they have brought tremendous transformation to the states under their charge.

The government under Najib has been endlessly talking about transformation since 2009 but the people see no changes taking place on the ground. What they see are subsidies being cut, prices of almost all essential household items sky rocketing, costs of living unbearable, the education system in  a dire state, crime rates escalating, poor race relations, the poor are more marginalised, negotiated tenders going to incapable cronies who cannot do the job, companies handed with government contracts go bankrupt but individuals managing these companies enrich themselves, scandals after scandals plaguing UMNO top leaders, investors shying away from the country … and the list goes on. Is this what a transformational repertoire is all about?

By right, looking at the sterling performance of Penang and Selangor, all states under BN now should come under the Opposition fold. And with credible leaders like Khalid and Lim at the helm there will be huge and proven changes in governance that will propel Malaysia to developed nations status by 2020.

The Opposition is ambitious as well but they are more sincere to see the country prosper than the proven bad track record of BN government. In the case of present Selangor state government – that Najib is desperately eyeing for – nobody can deny that the incumbent MB is an exemplary leader who gets things done without any pomp or fuss.

They cannot defend a government that is corrupt

The transformation policy for the nation does not need BN per se. It can be better achieved at the national level with leaders like Khalid or Lim holding the rein. Even a strong alternative government can guarantee the stability of the nation. The people of Selangor, Penang and other states under the Opposition can be the ambassadors to promote that a two-party system is always the best for the country and that the Opposition if given the chance to govern the country can achieve progress more than what BN has done for the past six decades.

The people cannot talk good about a government if the government is not performing; they cannot defend a government that is unclean and corrupt. They cannot become spokesmen or ambassadors for those who are plagued with scandals. Thus when BN is plagued with corruption and abuse of power it just defeats the purpose of promoting the coalition to the people.

Najib scared of losing power has now acknowledged the poor implementation of previous Bumiputera initiatives where contracts and projects were given to cronies and those with political connections. Why this remorse and compunction all of a sudden? Hope his statement does not incur the wrath of Mahathir and Daim Zainuddin who were staunch advocates of this crony-oriented business deals. Over 90 percent of those failed projects given on the platter to the incompetent cronies have failed and this has made the nation bleed until today. Malaysia Airlines (MAS) recorded a stunning net loss of RM2 52 billion for 2011 and the company is now in “crisis”.  MAS were making profits before an UMNO crony took over the company in 1994 during Mahathir’s and Daim’s time.

Ironically, the Malaysian system allows individuals end up becoming rich and their companies go broke and have to be bailed out with taxpayers’ money. Billions of Petronas dollars paid to the government as tax have been sucked dry without anybody knowing the exact amount left in the coffer now. Petronas money was used to bail out ailing crony companies. One landmark the people are aware of today is the “white elephant” Putrajaya administrative point that was built with this hard-earned money. With all the corrupt practices that have bled the nation thus far, BN cannot be the saviour of this nation anymore.

Just a track of four years

The choice of party to rule must be based on track record. But the track record does not have to be for 54 years. Just a track of four years has seen success in Selangor, Penang, Kelantan and Kedah. The people are relatively happy with their government now and these states will indisputable get the support of the majority of the people in the next GE. These are the people who will also convince those from other states to give the Opposition a chance to govern the country.

The people are committed for a change. They cannot anymore tolerate the abuse of power, wastage in government expenses and corruption. The many issues highlighted by responsible leaders in the Opposition of late have opened the eyes of all Malaysians and they are now more aware that the present government is corrupted to the core. Denials of bad practices from the top BN leadership are not the way to escape from issues affecting the people’s life.  If accused of wrongdoing, a leader must have the honour to defend his or her stance with concrete evidence to prove otherwise. Or else the people will lose confidence in their leadership.

Najib is still not a not a “legitimate” leader of UMNO as he has not gone through the “ritual” of being endorsed as one yet by UMNO members. He thus cannot control the warlords in UMNO and those closely aligned to UMNO factions. His is now jittery, as Daim has warned him that if he cannot win big in the next GE the “knives” will be out within UMNO to finish him off. Mahathir must feel the same but has been rather quiet of late.

Under BN Malaysia is bound to end up a failed state. Opposing a two-party system is opposing the choice for good governance. Najib is perceived by both within UMNO and the Opposition as a leader who has failed to manage the nation’s finances.  His wife, unfortunately, has not become a political asset for him. Najib is weak and many with correct political cables have squandered so much of people’s money and yet he has remained very silent when queried about this. As most critics say, Najib only wants to hear pleasant news and prefers to play safe in politics – both are bad qualities of a leader.

The people do not want thieving leaders anymore

Khalid and Lim have shown to the people that when responsible and trustworthy politicians are appointed as leaders real reform can take place. The government will be corrupt-free. The country’s economy will become more competitive and attractive. Education improves and crime rates will decrease. The judiciary, anti-corruption agencies and the police will be respected. The economy will improve and government debts will decrease. With more economic opportunities for all, racial tension will be reduced.

Khalid’s success in Selangor and Lim’s success in Penang are a resounding testament to tell Najib that the people do not want thieving leaders anymore.

Malaysia Chronicle