Zaid: We need a PM who talks sense

It is also important to choose a Prime Minister with the right kind of wife, the former law minister said.

KUALA LUMPUR: The next Prime Minister must be a people’s Prime Minister. “Let’s be careful whom we select as the next Prime Minister,” ventures former de facto Law Minister Zaid Ibrahim.

He urged that the people stay away from the type who likes to travel in private jets and rub shoulders with leaders in Washington and London. “We are not a G20 country, for God’s sake. There’s no need for our leaders to be seen with Obama or Cameron all too often.”

“We do not need leaders whose sons and daughters have mansions and penthouses in London and New York.”

He lamented that the people still have a country that needs to give them RM900 in cash so they will vote the ruling party into power during elections. “We have a government that still pays cash to those travelling to voting centres, although this is not called bribery.”

Malaysia was a country, he continued, where basic amenities were still unavailable to the common people, and yet the Prime Minister behaves like an Emperor. “Land cannot be used because of poor irrigation facilities, dengue is a yearly epidemic.”

In Kelantan alone, he said, more than 20,000 families are still waiting for their houses to be repaired or for the cash support that was promised to them after the last great flood.

The Prime Minister, he added, must be one who knows what life was like for ordinary Malaysians. “The Prime Minister must talk sense.”

This calls for someone who speaks plain Bahasa and English, and who writes his own important speeches so he understands what he’s saying. “There are just too many consultants being employed at the moment and too much money was being paid to them.”

“We can have speech writers if the speech was for the United Nations or some other global platform, but we need someone who knows how to speak from the heart when he is talking to the people.”

The Prime Minister, said Zaid, must be one who ensures that the people’s money in the EPF and their shares in Felda are safe, that their Amanah Saham unit trusts will continue to give good dividends, and that their savings in Tabung Haji will not disappear in a dubious business deal. “They want to know that there was enough money for PTPTN loans to continue.”

Once they are assured of all of this, he added, there will be no need for expensive consultants to protect the Prime Minister’s image. “The people’s Prime Minister will be confident and will know that the rakyat will accept him and believe in him, with no spin doctors.”

It’s important, said Zaid, to also choose a Prime Minister with the right kind of wife. “She must not be the type who wants her own office in Putrajaya.”

“We do not need a First Lady. This is not America. This is not France.”

The Prime Minister’s wife must not flaunt her wealth and cause further pain to the rakyat, who have seen their spending power dip even lower in the wake of the GST, said Zaid. “We do not need to see our PM’s wife travel the world in private jets draped in diamonds.”

“Let’s make sure the wife of the future PM was not someone who attracts the attention of world leaders, who would rather spend time with her than the PM.”

Zaid, continuing on the kind of wife that the Prime Minister must have, suggests that the wife must not be one who calls the CEOs of banks and GLCs to tell them how to do their work. “We just need a PM with a good, low-key wife who helps her husband discharge his duties.”

He cites Siti Hasmah, the wife of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, as a good example to emulate. “She continues to be always gracious and kind. The Deputy Prime Minister’s wife fits the bill as well but her husband, strangely enough, appears to be a reluctant candidate as PM.”