Cakap Cakap...right thing to do.

Idris Jala: M’sia must cut subsidies, debt by 2019 or risk bankruptcy

Of what concern is it to Najib and his Barisan Nasional cabinet if our country is heading for bankruptcy?  There is still enough money for them to take and be rich! In as long as Najib can remain as Prime Minister he would be willing to make any deal, negotiate any settlements and pay any price. All our Prime Minister before him, Pak Lah and Mahathir included,  stood up for their convictions and would not budge from their core beliefs. They were their own men. Not Najib.

Najib is different. Whatever he does on a personal, political or national level must take into consideration inputs from a number of sources. First would be from Rosmah. Let nobody under estimate the influence and hold she has over Najib. She, above all others, is privy to his strength and more damaging, his weaknesses. Najib lives in fear of her ability to harm him. For now the trappings of power which comes from Najib as Prime Minister means there is an uneasy calm in his household. No Prime Minister post means no power – because power bought with money is no comparison to political power.

After Rosmah, Najib is beholden to first and foremost to the warlords within UMNO who decides what Najib can and cannot do politically. Muhyiddin, Mukhriz and Isa Samad are not Najib’s choice. So he is PM at a cost. He had to take in Muhyiddin as his deputy to cover his flank for now and Mukhriz into the Cabinet and keep KJ out. Again not something he wants to do but something he had to do to be Prime Minister. Uneasy lies the head that has the crown especially when the crown was place there by others.

What hold has Mahathir got on Najib? Except for some incriminating videos…not much! When it was decided that it was time for Pak Lah to go  Najib became a stop gap measure while UMNO tried to consolidate its position politically with the Malays. To dilute KJ’s hold over Pemuda and UMNO in general they used Mahathir whom KJ could not overcome and when the dust settled Mukhriz was brought in to complete KJ’s humiliation.

Where do we go from here? If expediency can replace greed then we will see UMNO regrouped, revived and consolidated hopefully in time for the next general election. For those who love UMNO – do not hold your breath and hope for that to happen. Greed will kill UMNO as curiosity killed the cat.

This is our time to push for change because the people are ready. What will turn the tide? Whether we vote with our heart or it is the right thing to do we will vote PR. This is how it should be all of us.

IT IS THE RIGHT TO DO!

Whether you become a Malaysian because like me your ancestors took shelter in Malaysia from a storm many many years ago. Whether your ancestor came 1000 years ago across the Bay of Bengal to trade here. Or you came much later to work on the estates during the British rule. Or whether you were a Sikh and came here to work as a Policeman or as a watchman. Whether you speak Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka, Fuzhou or Mandarin. Whether you are an atheist or God fearing. Buddhist, Melanaus, Ibans or Bidayuhs….whoever you are, wherever you came from – if you are a citizen of this country then we need to walk together and have goodwill towards each other.. No alienation, no exclusion. We cannot allow anything that prevents other races being equal to the Malays. The Malays want houses to live in and education for their children. So do the others. It is not whether we Malays will accept others as our equal but after years of being abuse and marginalized by the Barisan Nasional government will the other races treat the Malays as their equal? This means that in all practical terms and in the course of time all Malaysians shall have what rights the Malays has now. That our government shall address poverty not only in the rural areas but also in the city. Yes we all want to be ourselves and yet we want to be Malaysian more! You can go and tell the Chinese now that we Malays understand the frustrations and disgust they all feel when their children are not able to get a decent education in Malaysia like the Malay children are able to do now. You can tell the Indians that we Malays understand the poverty a lot of them live in and we are here to try and change that. For all the others whether you are conservative or radical, atheist or god fearing, urban or rural – there will no longer be a divide  –  we need to be together.

We will not have to send emissaries to persuade those that have left us to live overseas to come back. They will come back when they see the change. There will be a little bit more imagination, a little bit more compassion, a little bit more common sense in the way we do things with BN gone. But first there is the business of getting rid of BN. If people are asked to die for their country in times of war would it not be possible that they are willing to do the same even in time of peace if their country is threaten from within? As we are now? After over 50 years of independence we have a government that steals from its people, a government that throws its people in jail without trial, a government that only has its own interest at heart. People have died for less! 

MERDEKA!