Anwar the choice as NEW PM: 'Sulking' Najib comes empty-handed to Dong Zong CNY

UPDATE 5 In his first ever visit to the Chinese New Year open house held by education NGO, Dong Zong, Prime Minister Najib Razak came empty-handed, shocking and disappointing his hosts as well as the Chinese education fraternity with the perceived snub.

"He should not have come if he was unhappy or sulking," a senior academician attending the event told Malaysia Chronicle.

"Even we visit a friend of another race, we often bring something, chocolates or fruits. So this is very rude manners. Najib as the PM for all Malaysians should have at least announced some funding for the schools but he now looks churlish and petulant."

Wee dumb-founded

Indeed, Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong was at a loss for words and when asked for comments, Wee could only shake his head and wave reporters away.

Najib had arrived at the Dong Zong headquarters in Kajang shortly before 10am and left after about 30 minutes. He was given a grand welcome and send-off, complete with red carpet and lion dance.

Howver the response from the crowd of mostly parents, teachers, academicians, and members of the education fraternity was distinctly lacklustre.

During his visit, Najib went onstage to toss yee-sang - a raw fish salad signifying good luck and success - with members of the Dong Zong board as well members of the Cabinet including MCA president Chua Soi Lek, Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon and MCA deputy chief Liow Tiong Lai.

Be fair and give equal opportunity to all

Dong Zong is the United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia, and has traditionally acted as a pressure group to fight for greater rights for vernacular schools.

In his speech, Dong Zong president Yap Sin Tian had pointed to Section 3 of the Education Ordinance in the Federal Constitution which states that "the educational policy of the Federation (of Malaysia) is to establish a national system of education acceptable to the people as a whole which will satisfy their needs and promote their culturla, social, economic and political development as a nation, with the intention of making the Malay language the national language of the country whilst preserving and sustaining the growth of the language and culture of peoples other than Malays living in the country."

"We hope Prime Minister Najib Razak will bring good news to the Chinese community. We accept the principles of the various political parties but do not subscribe to their ideologies. This has been Dong Zong's consistent stand. We hope that both the ruling parties and the opposition parties will promulgate policies that are fair and give equal opportunity to all," said Yap.

I LOVE PM - but Anwar not Najib!

Soon after Najib's departure, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang and other leaders of his Opposition party including MP for Cheras Tan Kok Wai and MP for Klang Charles Santiago arrived to a thunderous reception. PAS vice president and MP for Pokok Sena Mahfuz Omar was also given a rousing welcome.

But the crowd saved their best for Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim. It was clear from the din they raised with their shouts and cheers when the 64-year-old Anwar had arrived. Anwar was accompanied by PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and other party leaders including MP for Batu Tian Chua.

More significant than any lion dance or red carpet welcome were the 'I LOVE new PM anwar' cards the crowd flashed spontaneously at Anwar when he arrived. Their reaction bolsters the view that Anwar is the choice of the Chinese community as the nation's next prime minister.

The de-facto head of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition is already rated by many political analysts as having more than an even chance of creating history and effecting Malaysia's first-ever regime change by wresting the federal government in the coming general election.

Contrasting styles

Anwar and team declined to make any speech so as not to put the Dong Zong board in an awkward position since Najib and BN had not spoken to the crowd. The Opposition Leader had on Saturday told another CNY gathering to reject the BN at the country's 13th general election, which is widely expected to be held within weeks.

"Sin nian hau, nian nian hau but for nian nian hau, kita mesti kalahkan BN sebab BN pu hau (May the new year be a good year and every year be good but for every year to be good, we must topple the BN because the BN is not good," Anwar said in Mandarin to the delight of Chinese in the audience.

"Why? Because prices of goods are too high, timber (wealth) is gambled away, AES (traffic summones have to be paid), semua sapu (all national assets are being robbed by unscrupulous leaders, even the cows are not spared (referring to the RM250mil NFC livestock scandal)."

Najib too has been busy making the rounds to reach out to as many in the Chinese community, the second largest electorate after the Malays, as possible. But unlike Anwar, the PM's message was ominous.

Najib was brutal in telling the Chinese that their famed business skills and hard-workingness were not really the reasons behind their success but it was the BN's help and support that had been instrumental - implying that they should be grateful and vote for his coalition in GE13.

"The Chinese community’s success is also because the government has created an environment that enables the Chinese to make a good living,” Malaysian Insider reported Najib as saying in a speech at a 1 Malaysia open house in Puchong last night.

“If not for the success of BN leaders in maintaining harmony and implementing good policies, even if we were hardworking and had good business skills, we would never have been successful."

Licking your wounds but don't take it out on the Chinese schools

Najib who has been accused of spending millions on showy public relations and image-fixing campaigns, recently suffered a major psychological setback when he was clearly rejected by the crowd that turned up for the Penang BN CNY open house, where Korean mega-star Psy was the main attraction.

Not only did the crowd say 'No' when Najib asked if they were ready for BN, Psy snubbed the invitation to go onstage to toss yee-sang with him, wife RosmahMansor and other BN leaders including Gerakan's Teng Chang Yeow and Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen.

Today, at the Dong Zong event, Rosmah was conspicuously absent and so was Yen Yen, an MCA vice president.

"They must be still licking their wounds but to be frank, these type of knocks are common for politicians and Najib should not deprive the Chinese schools of funding just like that. But to be fair, I think he is under tremendous pressure from Umno because of the fiasco. Hardliners like Mahathir and Muhyiddin will demand to know why he is generous with Chinese schools after the Psy incident," Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

Whatever the reason behind Najib's decision to keep silent at the Dong Zong event, whether he was sulking, afraid to make more boo-boos, or unwilling to displease the extremists in his Umno party, it should be noted that the crowd that had rebuffed him at the Penang gig was multi-racial.

In the crowd of at least 30,000, Indians and Malays were just as numerous as the Chinese who came to the Han Chiang school field to watch Psy perform his signature Oppa Gangnam-style.

Malaysia Chronicle