Najib’s time ends now

Josh Hong

From day one, Najib Abdul Razak’s apprenticeship as prime minister has been marked by facade.

Having edged out Abdullah Ahmad Badawi with the help of Muhyiddin Yassin and Dr Mahathir Mohamad, he promised the people a thorough reform, so that Barisan Nasional and most critically, Umno, could regain the public trust, and yet another mandate to rule.

At a media function nearly four years ago, he publicly stated that “there is a vital place… for a vibrant, free and informed media” and that “we need a media – both old and new – that is empowered to responsibly report what they see, without fear of consequence”.

Now, turn toUtusan Malaysia, Berita Harian, the New Straits Times,The Star and the Najib-friendly Sinchew Daily, and read for yourself their coverage on the fiasco at the Chinese New Year celebration in Penang, at which the crowd shouted “No!” loud and clear – not once, but three times – to Najib early this week. There is no better way to put Najib’s sincerity to test, and it is found utterly wanting.

Najib also admits that “the era when the government knows best is over”. Still, his party and coalition partners continue to exercise a tight grip on the mainstream media, with Utusan arguing flagrantly and atrociously that there is no need to verify negative news concerning the opposition parties.

And my sources told me that with Chinese support almost bottoming out with no hope of being revived before the upcoming general election, there is now a team of people at the Prime Minister’s Department directly monitoring all the Mandarin news on TV to ensure that ‘undesirable’ elements are edited out before they are aired.

Even the Malay elite are beginning to feel the heat of Umno’s hegemony, and Azrul Azwar, the chief economist at the Islamic Bank suspended from duty over his ‘politically incorrect’ predictions, is a case in point.

Facade is actually a worse form of politicking than spin-doctoring. Whereas the latter is meant to interpret favourably words and actions of a certain politician to convince the public, and may contain half truths in it, the former is a sheer exercise of deception with a clear goal of fooling the people.

Najib’s rubbing salt into wounds

Hence, when Najib bowed to mounting public pressures and set up a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into the mysterious and tragic death of Teoh Beng Hock, all that it culminated in was a verdict that only rubbed salt into the wounds of the victim’s family, while the death of Ahmad Sarbaini Mohamed had been completely erased from public memory.

Despite that the RCI did identify ‘institutional racism’ as being pervasive in the public sector, Najib has done nothing to address the issue, choosing to blow his own horn of ‘1Malaysia’ ad nauseam.

But what ‘1Malaysia’ is he boasting? His wife, the infamous ‘First Lady’ Rosmah Mansor, graced a fundraising event hosted by Ibrahim Ali of Perkasa exactly a year ago, over which Najib was conspicuous by his elegant silence. I still remember someone describing it as, “as if Michelle Obama is endorsing the Ku Klux Klan”. What a fitting analogy!

Najib’s being beholden to the ultra-conservative forces within Umno can be clearly seen from his failure to chastise Ibrahim Ali (right) over the latter’s recent threat to burn the Bible. While Mahathir rushed to the defence of the Perkasa head, Najib just played dumb as usual. As a believer in free speech, I disagree with those who call for Ibrahim Ali’s arrest in the wake of his remarks, incendiary though they may have been.

But as a politician aspiring allegedly to national leadership, Najib should have at least had the courage to rebuke them. Born with a silver spoon, Najib is no risk-taker. He prefers, obviously, to indulge in his own fantasies of ‘transformation’ while the extremists are becoming bolder by the day.

And never in Malaysian history has there been a prime minister who is so shameless and desperate as to attempt to ride on others’ coattails at every opportunity. At the most politically-charged CNY celebration in Penang, Najib had hoped Psy’s popularity would rub off onto him, but the crowd showed no qualms in telling him off, leaving him so embarrassed that it was almost like the laughable ‘You help me, I help you’ episode all over again.

But the worse was yet to come. Three days after the public relations nightmare, Penang BN chief Teng Chang Yeow suddenly regained his memory and revealed that Najib had to leave the stage immediately after tossing the yee sang because “there was an attempt on Psy’s life”.

Remember how the police locked down the entire city centre of Kuala Lumpur and installed roadblocks on all the major roads leading to the Klang Valley areas ahead of the peaceful street rallies of Berish 1.0 and 2.0? The drastic actions were taken in spite of the lack of evidence of violence on the part of the participants.

Now they are seeking to have us believe that the ‘Oppa Gangnam Style’ show must go on even when Psy’s life was at risk. Some who were there told me security was barely adequate and that people were free to move in and out of the padang (field). I thought our PDRM would have dispatched a crack squad so that the ‘First Lady’ and the others would get to enjoy the horse-riding dance?

What an ominous sign for BN, when their leaders no longer know how to tell lies properly. With their credibility so easibly demolished, I would not be surprised that Mahathir (left) and his boys are quietly sharpening their knives once again. Like all regimes facing a rapid downfall, these people are deluded to think that any one of them would do better than Najib, perhaps by adopting an ultra-Malay platform.

My advice is for everyone to stay calm even if voices of ‘Chinese in Penang showing disrespect to Malay leaders’ are heard in the days to come, for this is just one of the remaining antics that they can employ to divert the public’s attention from unbridled corruption, alarming crime rates, and rising costs of living.

As for Najib, I would not shed a tear for him should he turn out to be the only prime minister without a mandate. After all, his probation would have been terminated long ago in light of his disastrous performance had there been a more democratic mechanism of checks and balances in Malaysia.

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JOSH HONG studied politics at London Metropolitan University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. A keen watcher of domestic and international politics, he longs for a day when Malaysians will learn and master the art of self-mockery, and enjoy life to the full in spite of politicians.