Najib feels the heat, gags ‘The Heat’

The government is under pressure and reverting to the Umno-Baru style of governance, which is bullying and scare tactics.

COMMENT

Najib Abdul Razak is feeling the heat, over an article, which allegedly offended him. Under his auspices, the Home ministry has suspended, for an indefinite period, a weekly publication, called ‘The Heat’.

Although Thursday 19 December 2013, is a black day for the freedom of the press in Malaysia, the upside is that reporters, writers and newspapers must be doing a good job. The government is under pressure and reverting to the Umno-Baru style of governance, which is bullying and scare tactics. So much for Najib’s best democracy in the world!

Last October, a few weeks before the Umno-Baru internal elections, the Home Minister, Zahid Hamidi, threatened a Malaysiakini journalist, who had grilled him about the missing police weapons, which the Auditor-General had highlighted in his annual report.

A few days later, at a meeting in Malacca, Zahid threatened several reporters and said that he would shut down their newspapers. His talk had been secretly recorded and it emerged that he allegedly had links with secret societies, in particular the Tiga Line group of gangsters.

Journalists have an enormous responsibility to write without fear or favour. Both Najib and Zahid have been entrusted with serving the rakyat, but when will they stop serving themselves and start to serve the nation?

The article which observers believe may have pricked Najib is the one which criticised his spouse, the self-styled “First Lady” of Malaysia (FLOM), Rosmah Mansor. It is not the first time that the FLOM has attracted public criticism and ridicule over her extravagance.

So, can anyone really say what Najib has done for Malaysia, since he became Prime Minister?

When there were important issues to be debated in parliament, he was silent or could not be traced for comment, as he was conveniently overseas.

When the country faced a security risk, during the Lahad Datu invasion by armed militants, Najib stayed quiet. He left his minions to take charge of a very grave situation.

With the rakyat facing a barrage of price hikes, and his government’s inability to prevent the haemorrhage of billions of ringgits in illicit outflows, Najib has again remained mute.

When his wife Rosmah, was slagged-off for her alleged abuse of taxpayers’ money and his inability to curb her excesses, Najib was quick to rebuff all criticism and instead praised her influence with the wives of deposed despots.

At the Umno-Baru General Assembly, Najib had brought up the subject of his wife’s trips to the middle-east and the Federal Territory delegate, Affandi Zahari defended the FLOM’s use of the ministerial jet.

Affandi said, “Rosmah’s safety is paramount and if anything happened to her, it will only upset the prime minister. This involves the security of his wife. If anything happened to her, it will affect him emotionally.”

Is Afandi insinuating that Malaysian Airlines (MAS) is unsafe for the FLOM, but is good enough for members of the public? This criticism has apparently upset many pilots, engineers and the cabin crew of MAS.

When former British PM Tony Blair wanted the taxpayers to fund a jet, “Blair Force One”, like the US president’s “Air Force One”, for ministerial use, his idea was shot-down, before it could take off.

In Malaysia, the mainstream papers merely function as mouthpieces for the ruling party and have failed their readers.

Politicians ought to remind themselves that they are paid to serve the rakyat, and their wages are borne by the taxpayer. Politicians are in the public eye. They and members of their family are bound to be subject to scrutiny. Taxpayers’ money is not for their personal gain.

Only a free press would show the rakyat when ministers misbehave, and allegedly abuse the taxpayers’ money or use ministerial jets for non-essential government business.

One of the online newspapers, which have more freedom than the printed papers, reported the story of the son of a minister, who allegedly beat-up a security guard at a luxury condominium.

Only a free press could reveal to the rakyat how public money is being spent. It brought to the rakyat’s attention the alleged waste of millions of ringgits of government funds to buy luxury condominiums and imported cars, in the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) scandal. The free press reported the Scorpene submarine exposé, and the alleged multi-million ringgits in sweeteners, given by Najib’s aide and the alleged links to the killing of a Mongolian model.

The free press highlighted the death of A. Kugan, in police custody and the police shooting of a teenager, 15-year-old Aminulrasyid Amzah for taking a car for a joy-ride.

Only a free press reports issues which affect patient safety. The latest ceiling collapse in the Serdang hospital raises several questions about the integrity of the contractor which built the hospital and the government departments which issued a certificate of fitness on completion of the work.

The rakyat has a right to know, to demand an explanation and to call for the resignations of the ministers who are responsible for the abuses.

Die-hard Umno-Baru supporters need to be educated, that without a free press, the nation might as well call itself a communist state.

Mariam Mokhtar is an FMT columnist