NAJIB'S RUBBER STAMP: Worst Cabinet in Malaysian history – Kit Siang

The Malaysian Cabinet Edition 2015 is probably the worst in the 58-year Malaysian history – acting like the traditional three monkeys with eyes that see not, ears that hear not and mouths that speak not.

Did the Cabinet repudiate and reprimand the Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government Minister, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan for his irresponsible and reckless statement that the restoration of local government elections could worsen racial polarization when supporting the equally bizarre statement by the PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang that the restoration of the third vote could cause a repeat of the May 13 race riots?

Abdul Rahman is the most irresponsible Local Government Minister in the nation’s history for no other Local Government Minister had ever made such a statement in the past 50 years since the suspension of local government elections on March 1965 on the ground of threat from Indonesian Confrontation.

And yet nobody in Cabinet dared to confront him and propose that the Cabinet should reprimand him and dissociate itself from the Local Government Minister’s irresponsible and reckless remarks on the restoration of local government elections.

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad had dismissed the previous Cabinet as “half-past six” and former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin had shown utter contempt of what he described as “deadwood” Ministers.

But the present Cabinet of Ministers are worse than being “half-past six” and “deadwood” when they could completely lock themselves off from a series of far-reaching developments in the country, like:

· *Abdul Rahman’s irresponsible rationale about worsening racial polarization if the third vote is restored;

· *Home Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi’s gross breach of Ministerial propriety, code of conduct and even violation of Official Secrets Act when he wrote the infamous letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) vouching for the character and integrity of an alleged gambling kingpin Paul Phua standing trial in Las Vegas, Nevada for illegal gambling, contradicting the earlier Malaysian police account to FBI – without the consent or knowledge of the Inspector-General of Police, the Foreign Ministry, the Cabinet and the Prime Minister.

· *The latest crackdown against university students and academicians, like the refusal to renew the contract of the University of Malaya deputy vice chancellor Professor Dr. Mohd Hamdi Abdul Shukor because of his refusal to support UMNO and the punitive action against the UM8 student leaders in the University of Malaya for organising a political talk while Malaysian educational standards, primary, secondary and tertiary, continue to head south!

· * Continued crackdown against freedom of expression, latest example being police raid of the office of Malaysiakini’s cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Hague, better known as Zunar, in police investigations under the Sedition Act – demonstrating the remorseless process of selective prosecution by the Attorney-General and selective police investigations under the Sedition Act, attracting the concern of a lengthening list of countries and organisations about human rights violations, latest being the Canadian Foreign Minister, John Baird.

· *The increasing cases of deaths in police custody, with the Seremban Coroner’s Court verdict yesterday that the death of police detainee, P. Karuna Nitha, 42, engineer, two years ago in the Tampin police lock-up was the result of assaults by both policemen and other lock-up detainees.

Has the Cabinet ever discussed the Open Letter to the Prime Minister by the 25 Eminent Malays, and the snowballing support from Malaysians regardless of race, religion and region, on the need for government action to foster national unity by taking a strong and uncompromising stand against extremism, intolerance and bigotry?

Malaysians do not want a Cabinet which is not prepared to adopt a hands-on approach and responsibility on the great and critical issues of democracy, good governance, human rights, educational excellence and national unity.

Malaysians do not deserve a “half-past six” Cabinet of deadwood Ministers!

Lim Kit Siang is DAP Adviser