Let it rain on Najib's parade

The abortive Malaysian leg of the Formula 1 Grand Prix last Sunday may have dampened the spirits of millions of my fellow rev-heads around the world, but I personally consoled myself that it might be yet another sign that Najib Abdul Razak’s premiership is fated to prove a total wash-out.

For anyone as eager as I am to see Umno/BN finally disappear down the gurgler, the signs and portents are everywhere, from the economic storm-clouds looming ominously over Malaysia to some far-from-gushing mentions in the international media.

As far as I’ve seen, no international report of Najib’s ascension to the top job has failed to mention the morass of suspicions and allegations in which he’s long been mired.

And some international commentators went totally off the deep end. Hamish McDonald, Asia-Pacific Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald , for example, saw Najib’s elevation as a triumph of gutter politics.

In an article headed ‘Party machine trumps morality’, he unleashed a torrent of criticism beginning with: ‘Yesterday one of the countries Australia and its friends have long seen as a pillar of regional stability took another big step towards becoming a pariah nation.

‘Malaysia swore in perhaps one of the most questionable current politicians in any of the world’s democracies as its new prime minister, in a triumph of party-machine politics over sound governance and morality.

‘This comes as the OECD lists Malaysia as one of the holdout nations refusing to exchange information to prevent tax avoidance. On top of a trade collapse, it now risks sanctions against tax havens agreed upon at this week’s G20 meeting.’

McDonald then proceeded to detail the deluge of circumstantial evidence that has long linked Najib’s name with scandals like the purchase of Sukhoi fighter jets and Scorpene and Ogosta submarine deals, and the murder of Altantuya Shaaribuu. He concluded with a final spray to the effect that ‘Southeast Asia seems to be getting a new Marcos’.

Whether he’s the new Marcos or not is debatable, I guess, but he’s pulling out all the stops to rinse off his murky image and attempt to look like a freshly-laundered if not entirely new Najib.

He has issued a stream of executive orders releasing selected ISA detainees from Kamunting, restored the publication licences of two recently-banned opposition party organs, and declared his intention to choose a ‘clean’ cabinet, however that might be possible given the records of potential candidates.

Najib’s token ‘reforms’ are a mere drop in the proverbial ocean, of course, and so fanciful that anyone who has been fooled by them must have come down in the last shower - as must anyone so gullible as to believe a word of the bilge that Najib spouted the other night in his oration on ‘Policy, Politics and the New Media - A New Way Forward’ at the MPI Press Awards.

The speech was a veritable cloudburst of platitudinous pronouncements and predictions that were as soppy as they were incredible:

• That there is a need to encourage respectable and fair dialogue on the country’s future involving the whole nation that takes place with a vibrant, free and informed media

• That the country needs a media - both old and new - that is empowered to responsibly report what they see, without fear of consequences, and to hold government and public officials accountable for the results they produce

• That there must be a new national discourse on the principles of transparency and accountability; service to all, not just a few; and respect and fairness in the public dialogue

• That a new national conversation is needed about the nation’s future; there is a need to respect the other’s opinion, value discussion and discourse, recognise that opponents need not be enemies and that differences of opinion do not come from malicious motives but from a concern for Malaysia’s future

“This will be a core principle of my government; governing that reflects the best values, abilities and strengths of our people, our leaders and our nation,” he said, adding that the institutions, parties and public servants must work for the public interest and “not narrow opportunism or political interests”.

And on and on with such a drizzle of such drivel as to produce water on the brain.

Desperation quite clear

What’s even more depressing than the thought that Najib expects people to swallow such swill is that millions of Malaysians do lap it up, and keep rushing back for more.

How else to explain the appalling fact that Umno/BN has swept the pool in every general election since Merdeka? And how else to account for the wave of euphoria that greeted the political return of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad despite the 22 years he spent miring the nation in corruption, nepotism and injustice, and then five years pouring poison on his chosen successor?

Despite the fact that so many of us saw the March 2008 general election results as a “tsunami”, it didn’t turned out such a watershed for the nation after all. And the three by-election wins for Pakatan Rakyat since then have not opened the floodgates of freedom either.

BN, not long ago, turned the tide against Pakatan Rakyat with the notorious power-grab in Perak. But today, as we speak, or as I type, voting is underway in by-elections in Bukit Gantang, Bukit Selambu and Batang Ali.

And maybe by now fewer voters will be so wet as to sell their votes to the highest bidder.

Najib has declared that these contests aren’t a referendum on him as prime minister.

But his desperate attempts to rally a groundswell of support by releasing some political prisoners, unbanning the two party organs, pretending to promise media freedom and vowing to form a “clean” cabinet all suggest he’s desperate to win them.

However, I hope that, by the time you read this, Pakatan will be home and hosed in at least one or two of the contested seats, if not all three.

The more it rains on Najib’s victory parade, the sooner we’re likely to see him and the whole rotten Umno BN regime swept away for once and for all by the storm-waters of progress and reform.