Datuk Seri Najib Razak ended his first day as prime minister freeing 13 ISA detainees and lifting the ban on two opposition newspapers, reflecting his easy confidence of providing strong leadership for the country.
Talk about releasing some ISA detainees as a “surprise” before Tuesday's three by-elections had been percolating since Najib became Umno president last week. He had already shown his penchant for surprise by talking about reforming the party election system that has been fraught with money politics since Umno reconstituted itself in 1988.
Now, the country's sixth prime minister and an Umno blue-blood is talking about reviewing the Internal Security Act, enacted to shut out communists and subversive elements and later used to lock up political opponents, religious extremists, counterfeiters and even a nuclear weapons middle-man.
The last time anyone had openly suggested reviewing the ISA was Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim but he was then dumped in unceremonious circumstances for different reasons. Interestingly enough, both Anwar and Najib were part of the Wawasan Team that swept through the 1993 Umno elections where former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi lost his vice-presidential seat.
Yet, Umno and Barisan Nasional are very far away from 1993 when both were dominant in Malaysian politics under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The party and ruling coalition are still reeling from their dismal performance in Election 2008 and two by-elections since then.
They face three by-elections on Tuesday and Najib's bold move on Day 1 of his administration might have somewhat deflated the resurgent opposition which had urged Najib to release all ISA prisoners and repeal the law that provides detention without trial to mark his first day in office.
While he has only freed 13, the opposition knows that Najib aims to keep them off-balance with a string of surprises to win over a cynical Malaysian electorate.
Najib, whom opposition strongman Lim Kit Siang described as the man who comes in with the highest disapproval ratings for a prime minister, knows he has very little time to impress Malaysians — particularly the urban population — to trust him, Umno and Barisan Nasional that has ruled the country since Merdeka.
He will have to constantly innovate, surprise and show Malaysians that he is listening to them, institute reforms and lead the country out of the yawning jaws of the global recession.
Politicking, like his daring raid of Perak to topple the Pakatan Rakyat government, will have to give way to pragmatic methods to retain or regain power in the state and federal levels.
Freeing ISA detainees and lifting the suspension of Harakah and Suara Keadilan, which the opposition had tied to him, will have to be the start of better moves to impress the people. He cannot afford to go downhill from his first day as the prime minister.
And he will have to live by the impossibly high standards set for himself in a term coined by his advisers — “People First, Performance Now”, be it in reforming Umno, liberalising the social and economic structure of the country or even dealing fairly with the opposition.
Otherwise, that slogan will go the way of “Bersih, Cekap, Amanah” and “Work with me, not for me” that marked the downhill start of his two immediate predecessors.
Talk about releasing some ISA detainees as a “surprise” before Tuesday's three by-elections had been percolating since Najib became Umno president last week. He had already shown his penchant for surprise by talking about reforming the party election system that has been fraught with money politics since Umno reconstituted itself in 1988.
Now, the country's sixth prime minister and an Umno blue-blood is talking about reviewing the Internal Security Act, enacted to shut out communists and subversive elements and later used to lock up political opponents, religious extremists, counterfeiters and even a nuclear weapons middle-man.
The last time anyone had openly suggested reviewing the ISA was Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim but he was then dumped in unceremonious circumstances for different reasons. Interestingly enough, both Anwar and Najib were part of the Wawasan Team that swept through the 1993 Umno elections where former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi lost his vice-presidential seat.
Yet, Umno and Barisan Nasional are very far away from 1993 when both were dominant in Malaysian politics under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The party and ruling coalition are still reeling from their dismal performance in Election 2008 and two by-elections since then.
They face three by-elections on Tuesday and Najib's bold move on Day 1 of his administration might have somewhat deflated the resurgent opposition which had urged Najib to release all ISA prisoners and repeal the law that provides detention without trial to mark his first day in office.
While he has only freed 13, the opposition knows that Najib aims to keep them off-balance with a string of surprises to win over a cynical Malaysian electorate.
Najib, whom opposition strongman Lim Kit Siang described as the man who comes in with the highest disapproval ratings for a prime minister, knows he has very little time to impress Malaysians — particularly the urban population — to trust him, Umno and Barisan Nasional that has ruled the country since Merdeka.
He will have to constantly innovate, surprise and show Malaysians that he is listening to them, institute reforms and lead the country out of the yawning jaws of the global recession.
Politicking, like his daring raid of Perak to topple the Pakatan Rakyat government, will have to give way to pragmatic methods to retain or regain power in the state and federal levels.
Freeing ISA detainees and lifting the suspension of Harakah and Suara Keadilan, which the opposition had tied to him, will have to be the start of better moves to impress the people. He cannot afford to go downhill from his first day as the prime minister.
And he will have to live by the impossibly high standards set for himself in a term coined by his advisers — “People First, Performance Now”, be it in reforming Umno, liberalising the social and economic structure of the country or even dealing fairly with the opposition.
Otherwise, that slogan will go the way of “Bersih, Cekap, Amanah” and “Work with me, not for me” that marked the downhill start of his two immediate predecessors.
04/04/09
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