Zam: Dr M would not allow anyone to call Ministers ‘stupid’

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has a tendency to sweep problems aside, let things fester, and hope they would go away or resolve themselves on their own.

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin has described the decision by the Tunku Mahkota Johor, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, to unilaterally observe a “ceasefire” in the “war of words” with Minister of Tourism and Culture Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz as a wise one. “It seems that in announcing the ceasefire, he leaves it to the people to make a judgment but, in a parting shot, stressed that he was not a hypocrite.”

“You have to understand that the role of a politician is to serve the people,” Tunku Ismail was quoted as saying, said Zainuddin. “What this means is that don’t let matters reach a stage where the palace has to get involved. The politicians, as Ministers, must have the leadership qualities to reassure the people in situations which demand it.”

Tunku Ismail, he stressed, is from the Gen-Y and perhaps feels called upon to involve himself in politics as the situation warrants it. “The people were disappointed that the Nothing2Hide Public Forum had been aborted.”

“So, was it wrong for Tunku Ismail to get involved in politics?”

If the Tunku Ismail-Nazri “war of words” had continued, he ventured, it might have resulted in another constitutional crisis, also precipitated by Johor the last time. “This time, the constitutional crisis might have been about restricting the powers of the others in the palace below the Sultan,” said Zainuddin.

“It’s not possible to label a Minister as not qualified, stupid, and having no values, since he or she is selected by the Prime Minister who has been elected by the people.”

If Mahathir Mohamad had still been Prime Minister, he added, the Tunku Ismail-Nazri spat would not have happened or continued for so long but it’s a different matter with the present Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak who has a couldn’t care less attitude or pretends not to know. “Mahathir would not allow anyone to call his Ministers stupid and get away with it,” said Zainuddin. “He would not allow anyone to label his Ministers as not qualified as that would be tantamount to rubbishing the election results.”

Revisiting his comparison of Mahathir with Najib, Zainuddin noted that the Prime Minister has the tendency to let things fester in the hope that time will sort things out. “He sweeps problems aside and does not focus on solving them,” said Zainuddin.

It would be difficult to imagine Najib taking pre-emptive action in matters that touch on the dignity of the Constitution, he warns, although there are signs that the amendments to it that touch on the Sultans are beginning to be ignored. “Matters have been complicated by the Prime Minister himself involving the Sultans in politics as when he said the Pahang ruler backed him in his feud with Mahathir.”