FEBRUARY 27 — I am writing to respond to the assertions about why Semenyih voters need to support BN in this Saturday’s by-election. Such views either completely misses the point or these people have opted to drink their own kool-aid. I’d stick to the main four areas:
1. On PH’s Manifesto
The contention about Pakatan Harapan not fulfilling its manifesto was an attempt to pull wool over voters’ eyes. After over six decades of BN rule – of which the last 10-15 years were pockmarked by misrule and graft cases that make international headlines – and we expect a miracle in nine months?
When Gil Amelio was ousted by Apple’s board of director in 1997, Steve Jobs returned to a company he founded – and to a sea of red-ink and financial mess left by Job’s predecessors. The company was 90 days away from insolvency. It took years before Jobs could turn around the company he founded with Steve Wozniak in the garage of the former’s parents home in Los Altos, California.
Former PM Najib Razak, through his misrule and mismanagement, had left a trail of economic ruin. Surely picking up the pieces and undoing the financial damages would take longer than the normal duration a human mother would carry a baby in her womb. Rushing to roll out all electoral pledges for populist reasons reek of economic irresponsibility.
That said, the PH government has been making baby steps to fulfil pledges in its Buku Harapan, including reducing toll for highway users, which the Finance Minister said could save road users up to RM180 million a year.
Those keyboard warriors had probably benefited from using faster Internet access at no increased charges. Have they forgotten that was also part of PH’s pledge?
2. Race and religious bigotry
Seriously, what have these people been smoking? What did the Najib administration do when racial-religious sentiment were boiling over? Wasn’t Jamal Yunos and his Red Shirts “untouchable” when they went to town fanning racial-religious emotions and by organising a counter-rally to Bersih’s?
Weren’t right wing groups like Pekida and Isma given a free hand in pushing zero-sum political narratives, and in doing so, had threatened to unravel the delicate social fabric which had been woven so painstakingly and intricately since Merdeka?
And these critics had the cheek to blame the present administration of stirring the hornet’s nest when it was the Bossku’s administration which had thrived on divisive race-based politics, with fingerprints that led all the way to the epicentre of power in Putrajaya.
3. Najib
Say what you want, but ex-PM Najib is still the man at the centre of graft and money laundering investigations by at least half a dozen countries around the world, and whose “MO1” moniker had brought nothing but utter shame to Malaysians. And it was the disgust at his blatant plundering of this nation, his tall tale about Arab donations, his close association with fugitive playboy Jho Low and Rosmah’s penchant for ego-goods that led to BN being toppled for the first time last May.
Yes, there is good reason to remind voters of the perils of going back to Najib’s excesses. Najib is the antithesis of what Semenyih voters – and Malaysians in general – do not need and deserve.
4. Defections
It was BN’s secretary-general Nazri Aziz who had openly said that the coalition was opened to an electoral pact with Anwar Ibrahim to form the next government. If that is not welcoming defectors, then one might as well say that Brutus was loyal to Caesar to the very end.
Lest we forget, this March is the 10th anniversary of the Perak Constitutional Crisis when three Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen defected to BN, leading to the downfall of the 10-month state government. Then, the defectors were hailed as heroes by BN.
And the mastermind of the saga was the then Umno Perak chairman, Najib, who was also the DPM. And who is to claim the moral high ground when defections are an extricable part of the BN’s DNA?
In any case, political re-alignment is a natural process in politics. It happens all over the world but it is hypocrisy of the highest level to, on the one hand, disparage it, but on the other, practice it with impunity.
Sure, there has been missteps by PH leaders, many of whom are still learning the ropes of governing. But to cherry-pick and present a distorted view of a nine-month old administration as reason not to support PH in Semenyih is at best, myopic, and at worst, perilous.
If at all, PH needs a strong endorsement for it to clean up the mess left by an inept, corrupt regime. Steve Jobs took about four years after his return to Apple to turn the company into the tech giant it is today. Semenyih voters need to support the coalition that is trying to replicate Job’s mammoth task.
*This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
