2017 YEAR OF GREATEST DANGER FOR MALAYSIANS? POLITICAL INSTABILITY AS ARRESTS WARRANTS FOR NAJIB & CO LOOM & MAHATHIR ADVANCES

Ever since “Merdeka” or Independence from the British in 1957, nearly sixty years have passed and the Barisan Nasional (BN) government has exclusively ruled over this country. But it looks like the six decades is now being seen by more and more Malaysians as an overstay by BN. If anything, next year is a crucial year in which the direction of the country is poised to change.

The coming year is the run-up to the 14th general election. It’s anyone’s guess when the 14th GE will be held but it looks like its going to be the mother of all battles as the popularity and unity of the opposition coalition of Pakatan Harapan grows to make them a real threat for possibly the first time in the history of the nation to seize and capture the right to govern from Putrajaya.

It does not help that BN is in sixes and sevens, and though on the surface it looks as if they are still holding strong, there are covert signs looming that all is not well. The reasons are simple. Under Najib’s leadership BN has regressed terribly and there are worry signs and signals from Malaysians all over the country which highlights the distress the nation is facing going into the close of the year.

Najib’s leadership under scrutiny

While Najib has held power as the Malaysian prime minister for some years now, it is only over the last couple of years that his leadership has come under scrutiny by more and more Malaysians. And many Malaysians have taken to social media to find out the truth of Najib’s leadership when the 1MDB saga was disclosed by whistle-blowing news portal Sarawak Report.

Ever since then the course and direction of the country began to get more and more destabilized and now a slew of indications such as the battering of the value of the Malaysian currency, the Ringgit, the fragile state of race relations and disharmony in the country and the blatant and widespread and rampant plundering of the Treasury by public officials have made many a Malaysian hot under the collar.

The last couple of years have been terrible and the implementation of GST caused more hardship and suffering, putting pressure on households as household debt in Malaysia is the highest in the region along with Non-Performing Loans leading to a great number of bankruptcy cases. Companies going insolvent are more common now and small-and-medium scale businesses are going under or folding.

Political and economic gloom

While the BN government has unearthed a range of supposedly facts, figures and statistics which, according to authorities, indicate that the economy is doing well and everything is under control and the nation is fine and dandy, heading for developed status in the year 2020, the ground realities, the hard, harsh realities of life for most Malaysians actually tell a different story.

Despite initiating the Bantuan Rakyat 1 Malaysia or BR1M, Klinik 1 Malaysia and Kedai 1 Malaysia, these set-ups have only caused a growing number of Malaysians to become dependent on the government for handouts and subsidies. This does not augur well for a nation that is seemingly on track to being a fully developed nation in another three years.

The political reality is that Malaysians are now poorer and worse off and the gap between the rich and the poor or the have’s and the have not’s in this country has grown to become a wide schism. This is why many Malaysians are angry and resentful over the spate of corruption and hanky-panky going on in the country. This is also why there is no social cohesion and civil unrest in the future looms like a good possibility.

Being vigilant and watchful

In view of the growing calamity that the nation is entering into, Malaysians will be well-advised to be on the alert and to watch out for themselves and their families as political instability is set to get worse in the coming year. You don’t have to be a clairvoyant or psychic to really be told all this if you follow social media as you will be able to work out and figure things out for yourself.

Its all quite simple. But at the appropriate time and after much thought and consideration over the ploys and antics of politicians and political parties, you will be well advised to cast your vote for change rather than to suffer with the present governance of BN which is beginning, as all of us witness, to take us on a downward spiral.

Come election time for the 14th GE, vote well and vote wisely to safeguard your future and the future of your children and the generations that are coming on stream and do not for a moment be hoodwinked by empty promises and manifestos but go by the yardstick of truth and reality. Vote only for those who have proven themselves and earned your respect and admiration and discard the rest of the field.

WRITER: Christopher Fernandez