God’s peace be with you.
I caught your Covid-19 stimulus package press conference on TV the other day.
A good package?
I am hopeless with all the figures bandied about, and there are experts aplenty bisecting and dissecting the RM250b package, so I wont even go there.
I will trust Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj in his assessment, as reported in Malaysiakini today :
“…the Caring Economic Stimulus Package (Pakej Rangsangan Prihatin) is on the right track”.
In that same report, Dr Jeyakumar said one other thing :
“Malaysia is handling this health crisis much better than many other countries…”
I agree with Dr Jeyakumar, and whilst much more needs to be done, full credit for this must go to all the health care workers and everyone who is in the frontline in battling the Covid-19 pandemic.
And whilst the current circumstance of the nation warrants politics taking a backseat so that all attention may be turned to the national crisis at hand, I must address one other thing that you raised during the Prihatin press conference.
You know what it is, but let me run the video here for you.
First, though, a question.
In your press conference you spoke mainly in Malay.
Except when you came to this part that I am now referring to.
Why?
So that Makcik Kiah, eagerly listening to find out what handouts might be coming her way, might not comprehend the purport of what you were saying here?
Meant only for the English speaking amongst the viewers?
“This government may not be the government that you voted for. But I want all of you to know this government cares for you,”
May not be the government we voted for?
Let me make this plain.
50% voted to get rid of UMNO / BN and rejected PAS.
Why?
Speaking personally, two reasons.
First, those votes were not “We love PH” votes.
We were not blind to the flaws in PH.
Dr M being one.
They were Anything But UMNO ( and thank you, no PAS ) votes.
For me, the 14th GE was, as were the 12th and 13th, about getting rid of the rubbish that had been lording it in Putrajaya for far too long. Never mind if we had to endure some deadwood and incompetence in the new government.
Come the 15th GE, we would endeavour to weed out the rubbish in the PH government.
First rid the nation of the poison, then endure a period of transition, and finally get the right people in.
Second, the PH manifesto promised much needed reforms. Of these, 5 main themes resonated with the changes I wished for the rakyat.
- An end to race-based politics
- Returning to Sabah and Sarawak all that was due to them under the Malaysia Agreement, 1963
- Returning the institutions of state back to the rakyat
- Repeal of all draconian laws
- Putting into place a needs-based affirmative program that would focus on uplifting the lives of the poorest and most marginalised.
Well before the previous parliament was dissolved and running right up until the eve of polling day on 9th May, 2018, on the campaign trail, your message was clear.
Reject UMNO / BN. They are the curse of the nation
Reject PAS.
PH would deliver the reforms as promised in its manifesto.
Youtube has too many videos to back what I say.
Using my summary of reforms listed above to measure the performance of the PH government during its almost 2 years in office, save and except for freeing up the press, and appointing credible individuals to helm the AG’s Chambers, the Election Commission and the MACC, in so far as honouring its promises to deliver on important reforms went, PH was a failure.
Failure or otherwise, that was the government we voted in.
Did we vote in your government?
In your stimulus package press conference, you also said : “So, my dear brothers and sisters, and children of this beloved country, whether you are Malay, Chinese, Indian, Sikh, Iban, Kadazan, Dusun, Orang Asal,please bear with me and my friends in the cabinet and the government”.
Please look at your cabinet.
Amongst their numbers are UMNO / BN and PAS leaders.
The very same you urged us to reject are now your “friends in cabinet”.
The very same who, post the 14th GE, racheted and ramped up the race-religion vitriol, continuing in their insidious efforts to drive wedges between your “dear brothers and sisters, and children of this beloved country”.
The very same who, whether in the Dewan Rakyat or Dewan Negara, blocked the passage of government bills to make law in pursuance of efforts to deliver on promised reforms.
Your “friends in cabinet”.
It is in this sense that your government might rightly be described as a “backdoor government”, your having engineered to get the very same people you urged us to reject into your cabinet.
Your government, for as long as it stands, patently manifests your betrayal of the majority of the rakyat, your “dear brothers and sisters, and children of this beloved country”.
Why did you do it?
You saw the failings of the PH government and seized the moment to put in place a government that cares for us?
Really?
You now lament that you have come in as “prime minister not at the best moment” and “face political, economic and health crisis all at the same time”.
PM not at the best moment?
Was it not you and Azmin who contrived the moment?
The political crisis is of your own making.
Economic and health crisis all at the same time?
You mean as the Sheraton move began to unfold, you were so intoxicated at the hint of imminent ascendancy that you were blinded to this epidemic that was already on the horizon and the economic plight of our B40?
“please bear with me and my friends in the cabinet”, you have asked of us.
Sir, your newly formed government meets all the requirements in law, but founded on your betrayal, is devoid of any moral legitimacy.
We, the rakyat, are the wiser for this, and we will take this wisdom to the 15th GE.
Your route to seizing power has also unearthed and laid bare the worms and vermin that once contaminated the PH woodwork.
Thank you.
We now know who to work with running up to the 15th GE.
Understand this, Mr Prime Minister.
In the 14th GE, a united people rose to slay a seemingly unbeatable monster.
We have done it, and can do it again.
You have sought to assure us that you “are doing the best we can to pull through this crisis together as one nation”.
As this nation goes through this period of great uncertainty and immense economic difficulty, I would commend this book to you and your “friends in the cabinet”.
The short title of the book, if nothing else, I trust, would drive the point home.
-The People's Parliament
The People Parliament my foot!!!!
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