PAS central working committee member, Dzulkefly Ahmad has commented recently that BN has no second-echelon leaders to take over the parties’ leadership after the current top leaders retire.
Perhaps too that is why former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has plumped for current Prime Ministe, Najib Tun Razak as the best man to lead the nation. Simply because there is no one in sight!
This is unlike Pakatan Rakyat (PR) who have many second-echelon leaders who can take over once the top leaders retire.
Listed below are the lists of capable up-and-coming PR leaders who are the future leaders of their respective parties.
PKR: Nurul Izzah Anwar (Lembah Pantai MP), Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (Seri Setia State Assemblyman and Deputy Speaker for the Selangor State Assembly), Rafizi Ramli (Pandan MP), Tian Chua (Batu MP), Elizabeth Wong (Bukit Lanjan State Assemblyman and member of Selangor EXCO), N Surendran (Padang Serai MP), R Sivarasa (Subang MP), Baru Bian (Ba Ke’la’lan State Assemblyman)
PAS: Ustaz Nasruddin Hassan Tantawi (Temerloh MP), Ustaz Idris Ahmad (Bukit Gantang MP), Mahfuz Omar (Pokok Sena MP), Khalid Samad (Shah Alam MP), Nizar Jamaluddin (Changkat Jering State Assemblyman), Hanipa Maidin (Sepang MP and PAS legal counsel).
DAP: Tony Pua (Petaling Jaya Utara MP), Lim Lip Eng (Segambut MP), S Kulasegaran (Ipoh Barat MP), Gobind Singh Deo (Puchong MP), Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz (Raub MP), Zairil Khir Johari (Bukit Bendera MP), Tengku Zulpuri Shah Raja Puji (Mentakab State Assemblyman), Kasthuri Patto (Batu Kawan MP), Hannah Yeoh (Subang Jaya State Assemblyman and Speaker for the Selangor State Assembly)
Special mention has to be made for M Manogaran, a well-known DAP Indian leader who lost in the battle for the parliament seat of Cameron Highlands to MIC President, G Palanivel. He will be filing an election petition to dispute the polls result.
Of course there are many more names besides the above but these lists just goes to show that Pakatan is the team for the present and the future.
The legislators above are chosen as this columnist knows them personally, have spoken to them or read their statements in the papers. Therefore there will be some lawmakers especially from East Malaysia who will be inadvertently left out.
Fun in parliament
PM Najib would do well to note how the best men and women in his cabinet fail to match up to Pakatan’s lists above.
With the new 13th Parliament term beginning on Monday, June 24, it will be interesting to see how the quality of debates stack up between the PR and BN MPs.
Hot issues will of course be the ‘weird incidents’ that happened before and during the 13th general election especially on polling day May 5, 2013. Let us see how the BN MPs refute the arguments of the Pakatan MPs.
Pertaining to this issue, we can expect PKR’s strategy director, Rafizi Ramli to be in the spotlight as he has a lot of evidence to present to show what really happened in the recent hustings.
It is also very disappointing to note that immediately after the 13th general election, the antagonism between PR and BN has only gotten worst with the crackdown of the Black 505 Rally organisers.
By doing this, the BN federal gGovernment have given the impression that they are afraid of the ceramahs during the rallies to inform the masses about the electoral process.
The government thus have projected a bad image of themselves in this whole exercise. Instead of giving attention to the rally organisers, they should have just let the rallies go on.
Another list which PM Najib ought to pay serious attention to is none other than the rakyat’s requisition list.
This list is compiled by this columnist who talked to about 100 people in KL since May 6, 2013. These requests have also been mentioned on the social media:
1. No GST (Goods & Services Tax). Not now. Not ever.
2. Reduce the intake of foreign workers.
3. No increase for the price of RON95 petrol until year 2016. A better move would be to reduce the price of RON95 from RM1.90 to RM1.40 now.
4. Remove the current Election Commission (EC) chiefs.
5. Have a re-election in 30 Parliamentary seats with new EC chiefs in charge.
6. Do not show Tanda Putera.
7. Curb wastages and leakages.
8. Stamp out corruption. Curb crime especially snatch thefts and house break-ins. Having more police patrols would certainly help.
9. Reduce the price of cars now.
10.Stop being spendthrift. Start being thrifty. Practice transparency.
11.Get rid of cronyism.
12.Put an end to mysterious deaths.
13.Everyone must stop fantasizing about the Red Bean Army because this said Army does not exist. Those who fantasize on this issue are suffering from schizophrenia.
14.Implement Minimum Wage Policy starting with the basic salary of RM1,100.
15.Give RM5,000 for BR1M 3.0 beginning from January 2014. The BN federal government can surely afford it as PM Najib has always mentioned that the economy is robust.
16.Affordable housing scheme for the poor must be implemented. Houses to be priced below RM120,000. Otherwise the poor will not be able to afford it. Why else are they called ‘the poor’ then?
17.Stop the crackdown on democracy.
18.Stray dogs must not be ill-treated.
Return the favour
The above list is definitely not exhaustive but this columnist has only put in the most popular requests.
Najib must fulfill all these requests because he has always announced that he is the prime minister for all Malaysians and he always has the citizens’ welfare at heart.
He must never forget his slogan of ‘People First, Performance Now’.
As he has always remarked that Pakatan leaders fail to fulfill promises, he must strive to fulfill all the above requests and no foot-dragging on it. Budget 2014 will be coming up in September and the rakyat will be keen to see what are the goodies in store.
Najib should step up his performance to please the rakyat as he has proclaimed that he has obtained the mandate from the rakyat.
Now it is time for him to return the favour to the people so that he will be voted in again in the next general election.
Exciting times are in store for the BN federal government and also for all the ordinary rakyat.
Selena Tay is a DAP member and a FMT columnist.
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