The threat by the CEO of a country to sue a local news portal and its readers, who are taxpayers, is in fact bizarre to anybody’s imagination.
Imagine President Barack Obama of the United States of America suing the New York Times , or even Queen Elizabeth II suing one of the local English dailies in the United Kingdom, or elsewhere.
Even the late Lady Diana Spencer had come under close monitoring by the paparazzi, but we have never even heard of the princess taking up a lawsuit against the newspapers in the UK. Sadly, this is the part of the deal for people who choose to live a public life.
They are judged more severely, compared with those who live a simple and private life. This is the standard of the world. If you are in public office, you will either make it to be a statesman like Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi, or even the late Tunku Abdul Rahman, or you will be seen as the “crook” (or whatever) as far as the people are concerned.
Not many public figures, past or present, have taken up a lawsuit against the people or a newspaper that represents the views of even a segment of the community.
Mind you, the US and UK are established democracies in the world, and of the two, UK has a system more similar to our constitutional monarchy. Malaysia is only half a century old, nothing in comparison to the two other nations where the court system is more advanced.
Why, in the first place, did Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak have to sue Malaysiakini in his personal capacity is simply bizarre!
As much as he can defend himself or even win his case in a court of law, he has lost the case in public eyes. In the first place, Najib should never have even brought up the threat to sue the news portal.
Why do people malign others?
If he had done well, why would people malign him? Look at former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and compare him with Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Between the two, why is one being ostracised more than the other when both have retired?
Najib should concentrate his time on how to run the country, especially when the country’s economy is in the doldrums. The sentiments are not that great when I talk to the business people. The country’s economy is slow, and it is heading in no direction.
We have taken one beating after another and one only wonders, after six months into 2014, how many new tourists have we attracted to visit the country during Visit Malaysia Year?
If I may put it, MAS’ recent record of aviation safety appears to have dipped, with one incident after another that suggests, at least to me, that poor maintenance is the major reason for its numerous incidents.
We have enough of MH370 fiasco that has largely exposed our inability to handle such a situation professionally and coherently. Frankly, I would be reluctant to fly with our national carrier, where once I was proud of it.
Know thyself
In the first place, Najib should also realise that all politicians are up there because of the people’s support. Without the people’s support, they are as good as gone, especially with a government that has lost the popularity support.
Instead of throwing a lawsuit after another, Najib should, in fact, nurture good public relations with the people whom he knows have the power to prop him up or bring him down. Politicians in Malaysia have to learn to live with the current scenario, where they can no longer behave as feudalistic lords anymore.
‘The government knows better’ no longer holds true in the context of our modern world, thanks to the advancement in the Internet communications. At the click of the button, people here can read news about Bill Clinton’s sex scandal, or immediately hear about the demise of the well-respected Nelson Nandela.
I can assure you that when Najib sues a news portal, it is not only his public office but also his personal reputation that will take a dip. After all, what is in a person’s reputation, but what the general public perceive of the character of a person?
With or without Malaysiakini ’s article, the people’s sentiments are already expressed in other forms – email, Facebook, blogs, and so on. Therefore, anything that appears in the news portal is nothing but reflective of the people’s general sentiments against a public figure, be it Najib or Mahathir, former Kelantan menteri besar Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat or Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.
Najib should be mindful, therefore, of the fact that there is already a strong sentiment to remove him, from both within Umno Baru and from the opposition. Therefore, every move that he makes should have been wiser than just repeating the same bloopers that he made during the Penang rally in the lead-up to the 2013 general election, or when he bought a slaughtered chicken for RM1.
The moral of the story is this: The more you intimidate the rakyat, the more they will retaliate. The country’s situation is already volatile, and if a public figure like Najib does not handle the country well, it may cause a lot of unhappiness among the rakyat.
Our problem is because our leaders think that they are there forever. They have to be frequently reminded that change is a constant. Even a change of government through the ballot box is legitimate within a democratic country like Malaysia.
This is my two sen worth of thought for the country’s leadership, past or present. I am just being frank, direct and honest.
STEPHEN NG is a chemist by training. He dealt with printing ink, paint and emulsion polymer for 15 years before becoming a freelance writer.
