Najib’s image takes a knock with Waytha’s resignation over unfulfilled promises

Datuk Seri Najib Razak's approval rating has slipped to the lowest since assuming office. – The Malaysian Insider pic, February 10, 2014.Datuk Seri Najib Razak's standing is in tatters with P. Waytha Moorthy's resignation as deputy minister over unfulfilled promises made to the Indian community before Election 2013.

Those close to the Hindraf chief say he felt that the prime minister's word counts for little, quite similar to the 10-point solution for the Malay Bible that Najib now says is subject to state Islamic laws.

Both agreements with Hindraf and the Christians were cobbled together before elections by a prime minister that critics say is not really able or committed to keeping his word.

The question that is being asked now is, will any individual or group be prepared to take Najib's word from now on?

Even Malay rights group Perkasa is unhappy with Najib for the lack of a firm stand over Christians using the word Allah in their worship.

The Najib administration is also under fire for subsidy cuts that have sent prices up and inflation to rise this year, eight months after an election campaign where the prime minister promised to keep subsidies and ensure a high income nation by 2010.

Najib's approval rating has also slipped to the lowest dip since assuming office in 2009, declining to 52% in December 2013, from 62% in August 2013, a Merdeka Center survey has found.

Two months after replacing Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as prime minister, Najib had a 65% approval rating as people took to his 1Malaysia slogan and the promise of a people-centric government.

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang has taken Najib to task over his poor performance in fulfilling promises, saying yesterday that Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Paul Low should follow Waytha and resign from the Cabinet.

"It would appear that Waytha Moorthy and the Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia (PHM) are the only ones in the country who do not know that Najib does not have the political will nor the courage to deliver on the promises in the MOU.

"So is Paul Low going to follow in the footsteps of Waytha Moorthy as nobody is convinced that Najib has the political will to fight grand corruption and gross abuses of power by ministers and their officers?" the veteran politician asked.

Waytha and Low joined the Najib administration after the May 5 general election, in what was seen as a coup for the prime minister reeling from an even bigger electoral loss than his predecessor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in the previous polls.

Najib signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Waytha just before last year's elections that enabled his Barisan Nasional (BN) to claw back support from the tiny Indian community, who form 7% of the country's 29 million population.

In the MOU, the ruling coalition promised to resolve the chronic socio-economic problems afflicting the Indian community if BN was returned to power with Hindraf's support.

Lawyer R. Kengadharan said Waytha was a "broken man" as the BN government had failed to implement any of those pledges.

Christian leaders have also complained that the 2011 10-point solution allowing Malay Bibles is now meaningless after the prime minister said state Islamic laws took precedence as was the case in last month's raid of The Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) in Selangor.

The laws were enacted by BN state governments in the 1980s after the BN federal government followed a National Fatwa Council ruling that forbade up to 40 words from being used by other faiths.