Najib politically lost in No Man’s Land

Zaid Ibrahim feels sorry for the PM for being a leader without the direction or political will to stand firm on any issue affecting the nation.

PETALING JAYA: In his latest blog entry, former law minister Zaid Ibrahim said prime minister Najib Razak was like a leader lost in “No Man’s Land, speaking to Nowhere Man and getting the attention of Nobody!”

Criticising the weak Umno slogan of “Malays Unite”, Zaid also said Najib should try harder with more believable slogans that showed his stand on important issues instead of relying on “false alarms” that Malays faced problems because they lacked unity.

Offering his own slogan of “Let’s Get Real”, Zaid said it was time Najib made a a real effort to do more than just be a “50 percent moderate” and “50 percent Ibrahim Ali”.

Saying there was a clear need for Najib to “be a real agent of change”, Zaid added that Najib got it all wrong in how he dealt with thorny issues like Chinese schools, Islam as well as criticisms by former premier Mahathir Mohamad regarding his leadership style, 1MDB and BR1M.

Giving a blow by blow account of how Najib should have handled these issues, Zaid first attacked Najib’s unimpressive reasoning that he needed Chinese votes and therefore would keep Chinese schools in existence.

Zaid said it would have been “more fitting” had Najib said he would commit to vernacular schools simply because that was what the country’s founding fathers had agreed to.

He also said Najib let too many people speak on his behalf when it came to the subject of Islam and that by doing so, the PM ran the risk of having both himself and his spokespersons, being rejected outright by the people.

Zaid said that what Najib should have done was address head on the dilemmas of drug addition and divorce among Malay Muslims instead of hiding behind Jamil Khir Baharom’s rhetoric.

Finally Zaid was of the opinion that Najib’s harshest critic, former premier Mahathir Mohamad, could not be underestimated as his “strike rate is awesome” and that if Najib wanted to stay in the latter’s good books, he should have shown more “earnestness” in his leadership.

Zaid said, “Najib must be prepared to risk it all by showing more earnestness in delivering on his election promises.”

For starters, Zaid said Najib had to take the bull by the horns and declare to the country that 1MDB “was a mistake”, just like Mahathir had said, and that reorganisation was sorely needed.

Zaid also suggested Najib take BR1M to his party members and ask for genuine feedback on whether it should be continued or stopped for good.

Finally Najib had to take concrete steps to secure the support of the moderates supporting him by being “prepared to alienate Perkasa by standing firm on the principles of the Barisan Nasional alliance”.

Saying it was time for Najib to take the “high ground”, Zaid added that this was the only way Najib could salvage his weak image and be remembered for his “valiant effort” in defending democracy and uplifting the nation’s economy, should he really be removed from office because of his lacklustre leadership.