The ugly face of money politics is back

Najib's financial handouts show that BN and money politics go hand in hand.

COMMENT

It’s raining money in Malaysia. And the man who is opening the purse strings is none other than Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

This is nothing new. Everytime an election is round the corner, financial aid is given to all and sundry. The one-off handouts is an attempt to make the rakyat think favourably towards Barisan Nasional.

First, he targetted the students.Najib decided to give an estimated 1.3 million students in private and local higher learning institutions book vouchers worth RM200.

While primary and secondary school students have been offered RM100 cash allowance. And beginning next year, education in government primary and secondary schools in the country will be provided at no cost.

Riding on his “People First” mantra, Najib enticed the people with a one-off grant of RM500 to households with a montly income of RM3,000 and below.

Najib told Malaysians that all this would cost the government RM1.8 billion and will benefit some 3.4 million people or 53 per cent of households.

Now for the real equation.Would the 3.4 million blindly vote for Barisan Nasional?

The truth however is that the promises made through the 2012 budget seem too good to be true, so much so that some even see the budget as “unrealistic”.

A scheme to buy loyalty

The 2012 budget is seen as Najib’s an attempt to regain what BN lost in the last general election (GE), five states and the people’s trust.

Indeed, had the rakyat’s concern been Najib’s priority, the 41 families who once worked the Bukit Jalil estate and had set up home there as early as 1900s would not have been made homeless early this year by the ruthless City Hall of Kuala Lumpur.

Where was Najib when these people cried out for ‘divine’ intervention, as their humble abodes of many years were razed to the ground.

To conveniently throw crumbs at the Indian community is an insult the BN has to stop indulging in, as Najib did by providing an allocation of RM50 million for basic facilities for the Indian community living in plantations.

Looking at the feverish pace with which Najib is going about declaring his commitment to uphold the people’s well being, one cannot help but deduce that BN lacks confidence in winning the next GE.

The money politics that it continues to resort to is proof of the fear that the rakyat no longer has faith and trust in BN. This is compounded by the various scandals involving its leaders, the most current being that of Women, Family and Community Development Minister, Shahrizat Jalil who has been accused of misappropriating millions under the National Feedlot Centre.

Undoubtedly, BN and money politics go hand in hand. What is worrying and regrettable is that it is the rakyat who are most often than not deceived.

The 2008 GE if anything served as a bitter reminder to BN that greed comes at a price.

Perhaps Najib and his buddies should reflect on the message behind Leo Tolstoy’s ‘How Much Land Does A Man Need’.

Jeswan Kaur is a freelance writer and a FMT columnist.