Successive Malaysian governments have five common traits. You can disagree or add to the list.
Everything is done at the last minute. There is little sense of urgency.
Exposés confirm a lack of transparency and fear of a public backlash.
Damage control means issuing statutory declarations or affidavits to expel doubts concerning the veracity of their side of the story.
If one has to fall, drag others down, too. No point in suffering alone.
The inevitable blame game. Stop being accountable for one’s actions. Simply blame a higher order, and silence the rakyat into submission.
Who runs Malaysia? Is it Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the convicted felon and former premier, Najib Abdul Razak, or the Malaysian elite?
The latest scandal to upend Malaysian politics is Najib’s claim that he is entitled to serve the rest of his prison term, under house arrest.
We worry about the cost of living crisis, and Middle East tensions escalating into global conflict, but we are dragged, once more, into reviewing Najib’s comfort.
The convicted felon wields greater influence in Umno-Baru than its president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. He exercises power, by the ease with which he manipulates the coalition government, from the confines of his Kajang cell.
He has nothing to lose and everything to gain, by disrupting the Madani administration. He watches with glee, at Anwar’s response, or lack of.
Persistence works. Both his sentence and fine, have been steeply reduced.
‘People-pleasing’
Anwar, being Anwar, wants to please everyone and in the end, makes everyone miserable, including himself.
Anwar’s “people-pleasing” behaviour is to say very little, so as to avoid conflict. In the Allah socks saga involving KK Mart and Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh, Anwar failed to censure the recalcitrant Umno-Baru Youth leader.
On April 1, Najib rejected further delays on his house arrest and filed a review application, thus forcing everyone to spring into action.
The nation was led to believe that on Jan 30, International Trade and Investment Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz had shown Zahid, on his phone, the royal order about the house arrest, dated Jan 29.
The Pardons Board meeting was on Jan 29 and the statement about the royal pardon was issued on Feb 2.
To prove that he was not lying, Zahid scrabbled about to push through his affidavit about the royal addendum. He is the “critical witness” alluded to by Najib’s lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, on April 4.
A desperate Zafrul acted like a rabbit caught in the headlights, by adopting his usual “no comment” style. Forced to change tack when Zahid’s affidavit became public, Zafrul opted to seek legal advice to “correct Zahid’s factual errors”.
Zafrul is not the only rabbit caught in the headlights. Others who had seen the royal order include Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said, the attorney-general, the Pardons Board and the Prisons Department director.
Anwar previously denied knowledge of Najib’s house arrest but backtracked once all hell broke loose.
After yesterday’s Friday prayers, he told reporters that Zahid backed Najib’s bid for house arrest because he was Umno-Baru president. Absolving himself of any responsibility, he said his government would not intervene with decisions made by the Pardons Board.
Questions abound
In his bid to woo our votes at the 15th general election, Anwar promised a more transparent government. He has yet to fulfil this pledge.
Whose interests does he serve? His own? Umno-Baru’s? Or the rakyat’s?
For over two months, the addendum dated Jan 29 was mired in secrecy, but Zahid later claimed that the house arrest was part of Najib’s pardon process.
Last-minute meetings add to the confusion. The Pardons Board only met on the day before the previous Yang di-Pertuan Agong stepped down.
Was this deliberate, to stop attempts from countermanding the royal order?
More questions! Why did Zahid wait two months before going public with the royal addendum?
Are last-minute tactics a sly attempt at preventing possible amendments?
Some MPs knew about Najib’s house arrest, but all denied knowledge of its existence.
Blame game
When confronted, Anwar said the house arrest order came under the Pardons Board’s jurisdiction. He takes our trust for granted.
Pressed further, he skillfully crafted the blame game and absolving all responsibility, into one deft move.
It’s like telling everyone, “It’s nothing to do with me! It's the royals. Not me!”
His cop-out remark was, “…all decisions involving the Malay rulers cannot be challenged.”
He knows that few dare to criticise royalty, without attracting a charge of sedition. They may also find a vigilante group at their doorstep, questioning their allegiance to the crown.
More cop-out phrases from Anwar, “… I do not wish to comment further as this has been our (the government's) principle since independence.”
Finally, he introduces the fear factor and threat of violence with, “…All quarters should accept that fact and continue working on ensuring the country's peace, stability and developing the country.”
Malaysians are livid. A crooked, thieving former premier with royal links has his sentence reduced and is granted permission to wallow in luxury while serving his sentence. To rub our noses in it, the prime minister denied all responsibility.
We are a constitutional monarchy. If the prime minister is too timid, or reluctant to speak on behalf of the people, then he should end this charade. Either Malaysia becomes an absolute monarchy, or Anwar can stop pretending to be prime minister, by stepping down.
In Vietnam and China, corrupt people receive the death sentence. The authorities understand that the people’s anger over unpunished corruption will threaten the ruling party’s monopoly on power.
Conversely, in Malaysia, corrupt people are rewarded. The authorities don’t care if their actions bring shame to Islam and insult the Malays. - Mkini
MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army, and the president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO). Blog, X.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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