After frightening the rakyat into believeing
that only Umno can ensure peace and prosperity in this nation, Najib
himself is now in fear of calling for the election
Why
are we talking about who will be prime minister after the 13th general
election? Why are we wondering if Pakatan Rakyat will be our choice or
if Barisan Nasional will still be in control of our destiny? Why? Are we
even going to have a general election? This prime minister of ours, who
has been putting fear into our hearts, is himself afraid to call for a
general election.
Was it not this prime minister who told the Chinese that if they do
not want to lose all the wealth that they have gained thus far, then
they must vote BN because if Pakatan comes to power, they will lose it
all?
This same prime minister told the Malays that they must be united and
make sure Umno is still in power if they do not want to lose all that
they have gained under Umno these last 50 over years. If the Malays do
not vote, Umno they will lose Ketunanan Melayu (Malay supremacy), lose
their Sultans, lose their privileges.
And it is this same prime minister who put fear into all the other
races in Malaysia, telling them that only Umno can ensure peace and
prosperity in this nation of ours. And this prime minister who has put
all this fear into us all is now himself in fear of calling an election?
Why is he so much in fear of calling for the 13th general election?
Is it because all the information available to this prime minister tells
him that BN will lose in the 13th general election?
That Special Branch has reported to him that BN will not be the rakyat’s choice for government after the 13th general election?
This, in spite of the RM500 already given to so many of them; in
spite of the tyres already bought for taxi drivers; in spite of the Hari
Raya bonus for civil servants; in spite of all the transformation
programmes and economic initiatives started by Najib Tun Razak.
Win or lose, Umno is in for the ride of its life! Everything has
changed for Umno and yet nothing has change within Umno. The world
outside Umno has evolved towards an open, responsible and accountable
society where everyone wants to have a voice and a role to play (if they
so choose) in their future. But nothing has changed within Umno.
Desperate plea
Few people think that Najib can deliver what he has been promising.
Taxi drivers could not care less – they already have their tyres. The
civil servants will have their bonus and all those who would have
benefited from any cash handouts have had their cash.
So would they remember that it was Najib and BN that gave them the
cash and vote for him and BN in the 13th general election? Maybe they
will, maybe they will not. As Mahathir said, “Melayu mudah lupa” and the
same can be said of many Malaysians.
Najib desperately hopes that this time around the people of Malaysia
and the “pendatangs” (immigrants) who have been given right of abode and
the right to vote, all of them will be translated into votes for BN .
If it does not, then Najib has a problem. And that makes him very afraid
of what the 13th general election will bring him.
I do not envy the game Najib is playing but he has no other choice.
He has nothing to draw upon from his years in public service to validate
his desperate plea to the people to give him an elected term in office
as their prime minister.
Do you want Najib as your prime minister? What credentials does he
possess to ask us for the privilege of leading us after the 13th general
election? And do not forget that it is a privilege to be leader of any
nation – not a right! And who will give him the privilege of leading
this nation again come the 13th general election?
Not Adam the taxi driver. He already has his tyres. He wants to be
able to use the money he earns to pay for the taxi that he owns, not to
pay for the taxi that someone else owns.
Nathan did not qualify for the RM500 handout but he still has to find the money to pay for the school uniforms of his children.
Chan has enough to pay for the education of his son at the University
of South Australia in Adelaide, but for now he would have to make do
with his 10-year-old Honda Civic for several more years until his son
graduates and is able to earn his keep – in Australia or Malaysia.
It is people like Adam, Nathan and Chan – millions of them – who pose
the biggest challenge confronting Najib’s BN in their bid to secure
another term in government at the 13th general election.
Najib dreading losing power
Najib will have to convince these three and the millions like them
that things will get better when Umno is returned after the national
polls. These are the millions who will decide Umno’s fate at the next
general election. Will Najib be able to do that?
Who is afraid of Najib? Not Rosmah. Not Anwar Ibrahim. Not Muhyiddin.
And yet Najib has built his bid to win the general election on fear.
He has been telling anyone who will listen that it would be a
disaster for all if Umno loses the general election. But Najib knows
that having the general election is as good as handing over power to
Pakatan.
Handing over power is one thing Najib dreads but more so the
questions he has to answer to the new Pakatan government and to the
people about the abuses and misuse of executive power by him and his
ministers while in office, and that line stretches as far as the eye can
see right up to at least the start of Mahathir’s tenure as prime
minister.
Spending time behind bars is not something anyone of them would want
to even think about, much less endured. But for long can he hold off
having the general election?
CT Ali is a reformist who believes in Pakatan Rakyat’s ideologies. He is a FMT columnist.
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