The fear to hold polls

After frightening the rakyat into believeing that only Umno can ensure peace and prosperity in this nation, Najib himself is now in fear of calling for the election

COMMENT

Why are we talking about who will be prime minister after the 13th general election? Why are we wondering if Pakatan Rakyat will be our choice or if Barisan Nasional will still be in control of our destiny? Why? Are we even going to have a general election? This prime minister of ours, who has been putting fear into our hearts, is himself afraid to call for a general election.

Was it not this prime minister who told the Chinese that if they do not want to lose all the wealth that they have gained thus far, then they must vote BN because if Pakatan comes to power, they will lose it all?

This same prime minister told the Malays that they must be united and make sure Umno is still in power if they do not want to lose all that they have gained under Umno these last 50 over years. If the Malays do not vote, Umno they will lose Ketunanan Melayu (Malay supremacy), lose their Sultans, lose their privileges.

And it is this same prime minister who put fear into all the other races in Malaysia, telling them that only Umno can ensure peace and prosperity in this nation of ours. And this prime minister who has put all this fear into us all is now himself in fear of calling an election?

Why is he so much in fear of calling for the 13th general election? Is it because all the information available to this prime minister tells him that BN will lose in the 13th general election?

That Special Branch has reported to him that BN will not be the rakyat’s choice for government after the 13th general election?

This, in spite of the RM500 already given to so many of them; in spite of the tyres already bought for taxi drivers; in spite of the Hari Raya bonus for civil servants; in spite of all the transformation programmes and economic initiatives started by Najib Tun Razak.

Win or lose, Umno is in for the ride of its life! Everything has changed for Umno and yet nothing has change within Umno. The world outside Umno has evolved towards an open, responsible and accountable society where everyone wants to have a voice and a role to play (if they so choose) in their future. But nothing has changed within Umno.

Desperate plea

Few people think that Najib can deliver what he has been promising. Taxi drivers could not care less – they already have their tyres. The civil servants will have their bonus and all those who would have benefited from any cash handouts have had their cash.

So would they remember that it was Najib and BN that gave them the cash and vote for him and BN in the 13th general election? Maybe they will, maybe they will not. As Mahathir said, “Melayu mudah lupa” and the same can be said of many Malaysians.

Najib desperately hopes that this time around the people of Malaysia and the “pendatangs” (immigrants) who have been given right of abode and the right to vote, all of them will be translated into votes for BN . If it does not, then Najib has a problem. And that makes him very afraid of what the 13th general election will bring him.

I do not envy the game Najib is playing but he has no other choice. He has nothing to draw upon from his years in public service to validate his desperate plea to the people to give him an elected term in office as their prime minister.

Do you want Najib as your prime minister? What credentials does he possess to ask us for the privilege of leading us after the 13th general election? And do not forget that it is a privilege to be leader of any nation – not a right! And who will give him the privilege of leading this nation again come the 13th general election?

Not Adam the taxi driver. He already has his tyres. He wants to be able to use the money he earns to pay for the taxi that he owns, not to pay for the taxi that someone else owns.

Nathan did not qualify for the RM500 handout but he still has to find the money to pay for the school uniforms of his children.

Chan has enough to pay for the education of his son at the University of South Australia in Adelaide, but for now he would have to make do with his 10-year-old Honda Civic for several more years until his son graduates and is able to earn his keep – in Australia or Malaysia.

It is people like Adam, Nathan and Chan – millions of them – who pose the biggest challenge confronting Najib’s BN in their bid to secure another term in government at the 13th general election.

Najib dreading losing power

Najib will have to convince these three and the millions like them that things will get better when Umno is returned after the national polls. These are the millions who will decide Umno’s fate at the next general election. Will Najib be able to do that?

Who is afraid of Najib? Not Rosmah. Not Anwar Ibrahim. Not Muhyiddin. And yet Najib has built his bid to win the general election on fear.

He has been telling anyone who will listen that it would be a disaster for all if Umno loses the general election. But Najib knows that having the general election is as good as handing over power to Pakatan.

Handing over power is one thing Najib dreads but more so the questions he has to answer to the new Pakatan government and to the people about the abuses and misuse of executive power by him and his ministers while in office, and that line stretches as far as the eye can see right up to at least the start of Mahathir’s tenure as prime minister.

Spending time behind bars is not something anyone of them would want to even think about, much less endured. But for long can he hold off having the general election?

CT Ali is a reformist who believes in Pakatan Rakyat’s ideologies. He is a FMT columnist.