Sudah lah ‘Jib! You’re just another Pak Lah!⃰ – M. Bakri Musa DECEMBER 02, 2013 Sudah lah ‘Jib! (You are finished, Najib!), you are just another Pak Lah! Malaysia cannot afford two consecutive incompetent leaders as it enters the 21st century. The precious and critical first decade is already lost. Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s latest “Pak Lah moment” came when his police chief, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, threatened to arrest Mariam Mokhtar for sedition over her article, “One ideology, two reactions”, posted on Freemalaysiatoday on November 29. Mariam dared to highlight the highly favourable treatment extended to Siti Aishah Abdul Wahab, the woman allegedly held as a “slave” by Marxists in London, compared with the contempt the Najib administration heaped on Chin Peng, leader of the defunct Malayan Communist Party. Mariam suggested that the Najib administration’s generous gesture to Siti Aishah was more on exploiting the favourable publicity surrounding that London slavery case. “She had better watch out,” Khalid warned, “or we will go after her!” The “her” is, of course, Mariam. Jantan kampung betul! (a real village bull), as we say in the village when referring to such petty bullies. The inspector-general of police should display his manhood where it would really count, as with confronting Singaporeans spying on Malaysia, the intruders in Lahad Datu, or the alleged treachery over the loss of Pulau Batu Puteh. Those are the real and menacing threats to the nation’s security and stability, not the eloquent writing of a young woman. Clearly, Najib and his officials are threatened by Mariam’s ideas. Najib is stuck in a time warp of the old feudal ways, unable to grasp the new reality of a porous digital age. He and Khalid should be complimenting Mariam for her ability to write well and in English, as well as her courage to express her views. If Najib and Khalid have a better grasp of English, they would have discovered that Mariam’s earlier essay in Malaysiakini, “Three slaves and the rakyat”, on the same case had more punch. In that piece she noted that while the three London women were imprisoned for three decades, Malaysians have been “metaphorically imprisoned for the most part of 56 years”, adding that the three women were shackled by “invisible handcuffs”, just like Malaysians. “It is doubtful,” Mariam continues, “if many Malaysians realised the similarities between themselves and those three women.” Now that’s powerful stuff, but Najib and Khalid missed Mariam’s well-chosen metaphor and imagery. Congratulations, Mariam! Your voice is being heard at the highest level, and widely, too, as judged by the outpouring of comments both articles elicited. Keep writing! I hope the police chief and Najib’s other top officials would continue widening their reading repertoire beyond the Umno newsletters – the “New Straits Times” and “Utusan Melayu”. Mariam is not the first writer to be intimidated by the authorities. She does not need to be reminded of the horrible experiences of Kassim Ahmad, Syed Hussein and Raja Petra, among others. I have nothing to offer Mariam except my best wishes and I wish her that, and more, with her continued success in writing. I can, however, pass on the advice from that great Indonesian writer, the late Ananta Prameodya Toer, a man who had endured much from his government. “Orang boleh pandai setinggi langit,” Pramoedya wrote in “Rumah Kaca” (The Glasshouse), “tapi selama ia tidak menulis, ia akan hilang di dalam masyarakat dan dari sejarah.” (Your intellect may soar to the sky but if you do not write, you will be lost from society and to history.) Rest assured that when the collective “invisible handcuff” gets unshackled, as ultimately it will, Malaysians owe a huge debt of gratitude to brave individuals like Mariam Mokhtar. As for that police chief, only his family would remember him, or if remembered by others, he would prefer not to be. Look at his many “illustrious” predecessors – one jailed for punching Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, another a defendant in a multimillion-ringgit suit, and a third rewarded by being chairman of a casino. That character apparently gambled right! Najib’s ultimate Pak Lah moment Back to Najib’s other Pak Lah moments, the supposedly pious and humble Pak Lah (former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) squandered millions of taxpayers’ funds to renovate Seri Perdana before he deemed it liveable. This from a man who, only a decade earlier, did not even own a house. Najib, however, bested Pak Lah on this front. Najib burned more than RM2 million a year on electricity. When citizens complained, he haughtily defended his wasteful ways by suggesting that his official guests should not have to dine by candlelight. He must have had the entire United Nations as his guests, and every day, too! More likely, Najib must have really turned down the thermostat and then had the fireplace roaring to simulate the English ambience of his student days so he could cuddle up to (Datin Seri) Rosmah (Mansor). Najib should remember the advice he received from his prime minister father when he (Najib) and his brothers were clamouring for a swimming pool at the old Seri Perdana. “What will people say?” Najib quoted his old man as saying in turning down their request. Then there is the ultra-luxury, custom-fitted Airbus jet. Even Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister David Cameron do not have one. Pak Lah was severely criticised for his excessive use of that expensive toy. At least his wife (the first or second) did not get to use it in her personal capacity. Today, we have Mrs Najib (the second) jaunting off in it, oblivious of the cost to taxpayers. I do not know which is more reprehensible. Najib requesting the approval from the Cabinet for his wife’s use of the jet or the Cabinet approving it. This at a time when he warned the country is on the brink of bankruptcy. Abdullah burdened Malaysia for more than five years, the nation is still paying for his many follies and general incompetence. Many claim that Najib is worse than Pak Lah. That is being petty. When you score an already miserable F, it does not really matter whether it is also F-minus. Expect at this week’s Umno general assembly for Najib to execute yet another Pak Lah moment – reading his “own” pompous self-congratulatory pantun (poem). Do not expect, however, the delegates to even mention, let alone review, this critical issue of his glaring incompetence and profligate ways. Thus, it behoves Malaysians to ensure that this burden of Najib’s inept leadership comes to an end soon. Malaysians must force Najib to perform his ultimate Pak Lah moment – resign!
Posted on: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 06:12:34 +0000
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