No wonder there was much denial that Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe was in town. The accepted version was that he was in Malaysia for an operation. Nothing is further from the truth.
Mugabe was here to give Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak several tips on how to manage an election, or so some wits say. Everyone is aware that the Zimbabwe president wins every election in his homeland and the population must love him because he gets 110% of the votes.
When Najib went to Tenang, ostensibly on a flying visit, he did not just travel by helicopter to save time. He came so that he could have a “helicopter view” of the Tenang residents.
He helped identify what the people wanted, by dangling the carrot which we are told was worth RM1.6 billion. That always helps. It helped Najib in Hulu Selangor, Galas, Sapi, but not in Sibu.
Presumably, the Sarawakians did not see what Najib had to offer as they must have been given some of that “special tea” that Najib said Anwar consumed.
Najib is the perfect pantomime dame. As in any good ‘panto’, audience participation is essential, with phrases like “Oh no he’s not”, “Oh yes, he is” or “He’s behind you” commonly heard throughout the play.
So when Najib asked the crowd “Do I need to debate with him?”, the crowd responded with a resounding “No!”.
The problem with Anwar is that he does not use slapstick and childish comedy like Najib.
In fact, Najib would make the perfect entertainer for a child’s birthday party – like Krusty the Clown, in the Simpsons.
Anwar wanted to have a debate with Najib. The debate would give Najib the chance to dissect Anwar’s ’10-point, 100-day reform plan’ and show how, in Najib’s opinion, it would lead the nation to bankruptcy.
But Najib was only thinking of the crowd. Anwar’s clinical and incisive debating skills require too much hard work, too much thinking. Moreover, it is not entertaining.
On the other hand, Najib is only interested in the 30-second sound bite. He knows that “Schadenfreude is a crowd-puller.
Perhaps, Najib’s deputy, Muhyiddin Yassin should not have said, just before Christmas, that BN would come up with an alternative to Pakatan’s ‘10-point, 100-day reform plan’.
As it is, Muhyiddin has not yet formulated BN’s plan as he could not fit it in with his busy overseas schedule.
Najib has found to his cost that as always, it is the deputies and subordinates who put leaders to shame.
Thus, it is not Najib’s fault that he will have little to say during this debate. More importantly, Najib will have nothing to counter Anwar’s ’10-point, 100-day reform plan’.
That is why the organisers were forced to distribute a 15-page colour booklet titled “105 Reforms by the Prime Minister”, which detailed all of Najib’s efforts since he took over the Felda portfolio.
Najib knows that a colour edition is a sure-winner.The glossy booklet looks expensive. Najib is using psychology. People who give cheap presents always increase their perceived value by wrapping the presents in glossy wrapping-paper and ribbon. Never mind the inferior contents, the exterior presentation and wrapper mask its true value.
But there were reservations about placing Najib’s father’s photos on display.
There can be no doubt now, that serious comparisons will be made between father and son.
While many people may respect Najib’s father for his work to form Felda, others will question what the son is doing by putting a corrupt politician, Isa Samad, as its chairman.
Many will remember that Najib’s father worked his way into politics; others will wonder if the son is piggy-backing on his father’s good name, by the shameless visual reminders of his father.
People will start to think of the Chinese curse which says that wealth does not pass beyond three generations of the family. It appears that the wealth of Felda will stop at the second generation.
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