Will MH370 see the undoing of BN?

The MH370 crisis has exposed the weaknesses of our public institutions and political leadership as nothing before it has done.

COMMENT

The MH370 crisis will go down in history as one of the worst managed by any nation.

Almost every government official has fumbled when he makes a statement to the press, each adding to the impression now held by the international community that the country is run by a bunch of halfwits.

Media agencies, particularly those that are foreign based, are having a field day taking potshots at our ministers, ambassadors, military chiefs, police officials and even ordinary citizens.

Neither have the relatives of MH370′s passengers minced their words, with some branding the entire nation as “murderers” and “liars”.

The air is filled with anger, distrust and disgust, especially among those families. Their agonising wait for credible answers has evolved into hatred.

Meanwhile, aviation experts around the globe have been running us down flat as being lackadaisical and bereft of any clue of how to handle the crisis in any of its facets.

What may be perplexing to international observers is that even in the face of such a catastrophe not a single government agency has come forward to accept any responsibility for what happened on March 8.

Even before the crisis, MAS had been recording losses for many years. It will now be practically buried for good, but we can expect the government to come running to bail it out, as it has too often done with badly run GLCs, never mind the expense to taxpayers.

But then, Malaysians have become so immune to such glaring displays of cronyism and corruption that a large number will probably still vote Barisan Nasional at the next general election.

Still, there are many hoping that the MH370 affair will be the final undoing of the BN government.

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak may well be under tremendous pressure to quit and exit Putrajaya prematurely over his lack of credible leadership in managing the crisis.

There has even been speculation that the disappearance of MH370 was a well planned operation undertaken by hidden hands. It is well known that BN has many enemies not only outside its ranks, but within as well.

Opportunists work in the least suspected areas. People can be brainwashed and diehard cultists can go to unimaginable extents to achieve their objectives.

As in war, anything is possible in politics.

Narinder Singh is a FMT team member.