Rakyat must seize the day

Whatever is being said by the mainstream media or Umno's paid bloggers, nothing can save Najib Tun Razak or Barisan Nasional from meeting their Waterloo in the 13th general election.

COMMENT

Pakatan Rakyat should seize the moment as Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak falters in the run-up to the 13th general election.

Pakatan has been open, accountable and responsible in governing the states under its control as attested by the auditor-general himself.

Pakatan has been prudent in spending and allocating funds in Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Kelantan.

There is consensus among the coalition parties within Pakatan on the things that matters and I am sure that this will be defined in the manner they allocate seats for the 13th general allocation and in the give and take between PAS, PKR and DAP in the approach to the general election.

Whatever is being said by the mainstream media or those bloggers paid by Umno will not save Najib or Barisan Nasisonal (BN) from meeting their Waterloo at the 13th general election.

Win or lose, Pakatan is there as a credible alternative to BN. There will be no more two-thirds majority for BN. No more arrogance or strutting in the corridors of power for those elected to government – not for BN or Pakatan.

Government is a privilege conferred upon those that will do good for the people that have elected them to office.

Do otherwise and you will be called to account for your deeds.

Pakatan heralds openness

There has been no turning back to the Umno of old after the 12th general election. No more BN that dares to claim the government as its entitlement.

We are comfortable with these change and we intend to ensure that change is a constant that will bring about good governance in a country desperate for it.

For now, that harbinger of change is Pakatan. Pakatan heralds a new era of openness and accountability that we deserve.

We have to believe that our people can now think for themselves and vote Pakatan. We would have to believe that our people have had enough of being abused by BN and vote for Pakatan.

We would have to believe that for the Malays and non-Malays what is important to all of us is to have good government and do away with the corrupt and arrogant BN that has plagued us for over 50 years.

If this does not happen, then are we to believe that our people will choose evil over goodness, corruption over honesty and arrogance over humility?

No, I do not think that possible.

Anything else…

Anything else will damn our country to more NFC (National Feedlot Centre), more PKFZ (Port Klang Free Zone), another Altantuya maybe, another Teoh Beng Hock, A Kugan and many more financial abuses.

Anything else and we will still have a Petronas unaccountable to the rakyat, an EPF used for purposes other than the one that matters, a toothless Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and a Defence Ministry riddled with money-making debacles,.

Anything else and we will have ministers with questionable ethics and morals, a prime minister still to clear his name over Altantuya and explain the abuses during his years as defence minister, a deputy prime minister who is a Malay first, and a keris unsheathed to warn non-Malays who ruled the country.

Anything else and we will have cronies getting rich on the proceeds of criminality by those in power, Persaka and Ibrahim Ali, a tainted judiciary, an attorney-general whose loyalty is questionable, a corrupt police force, a royalty that does not understand the need to stay out of politics or matters that do not concern them.

Anything else will simply mean another term under the Umno-led Barisan Nasional – surely a fate worse then death?

And so on to Putrajaya without these encumbrances to good government. On to Putrajaya to put Pakatan into government – a government of the rakyat, by the rakyat and for the rakyat.

CT Ali is a reformist who believes in Pakatan Rakyat’s ideologies. He is a FMT columnist.