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It’s not about golf, it’s about showing empathy

YOURSAY 'One doesn't delegate or abdicate leadership in times of crisis.'

 

'Is phone call all Najib can do about floods?'

             

Equatorial Man : While the people affected by the floods have to bear with many discomfort and disruption to their lives, the top leader of the country was supposedly directing the crisis from a distance while he enjoyed a game of golf on some paradise island in the Pacific, rubbing shoulders with the most powerful man on earth.

 

This is like the leader of a poor country saying that he is monitoring an ongoing famine crisis in his country while enjoying a sumptuous 10-course meal in an expensive restaurant in New York with US President Barack Obama.

 

Where is the sensitivity to the suffering of his people? We don't expect him to be a superman flying around and rescuing trapped folks in those flooded states, but his presence in the country is the least he can do to show that he is sincerely concerned and give great moral support to the victims in the flooded areas and those involved in the rescue operations.

 

Louis: It is already a disaster of national proportions, and it boggles my mind how PM Najib Razak could have gone on a golfing holiday. I think he is the only one of his kind in the whole wide world.

 

Tag: Basic leadership principle: one doesn't delegate or abdicate leadership in times of crisis unless one has been incapacitated.

 

Otherwise you are just form only but no substance, which incidentally many already believe you are. But this display of arrogant leadership confirms beyond doubt you are truly all style and no substance.

 

Anti Sarkis: We should be proud of Najib playing golf with Obama. Obama is the American president. US is a superpower in the world. Because of jealousy, the opposition likes to spin and make it an issue.

 

Baiyuensheng: I think it is unfair that the PM be critised so much... he deserves his holiday too. The DPM is now overseeing the relief efforts. I think we Malaysians should not ape the West in hysteria.

 

Mike1963: Yes, correct, it's unfair to criticise our PM. We should let him continue his golf trip, while our country is suffering from a crisis. Let him have his holiday.

 

A good leader will leave his country for a holiday and leave it to others to handle matters in times of a natural disaster.

 

New Waves: Of course, he has to go overseas to Hawaii to play golf; here in Malaysia, how is he to play golf when everywhere is flooded?

 

Abasir: Najib, being a good Muslim, is clearly not interested in going against Allah SWT's divine intervention in causing the flooding and the misery. That explains his choice of golf and the company of Obama to filthy water and soaked people.

 

Of course, the compassionate wife Rosmah Mansor is crying her eyes out in a swanky hotel in Hawaii just thinking about the people back home.

 

Terjah: This is what Najib had been saying, 'rakyat didahulukan' (people first). He lied all the time, and surprisingly the rakyat swallowed the lies blindly.

 

What happened to all the rhetoric at the recent Umno assembly, all the talk about helping their race? I am sure many of those flood victims are also Umno members.

 

What do you say now that while the rakyat (including those from the PM's state of Pahang) are suffering, your leader is enjoying golf in a faraway country? It's time Umno members boot him out.

 

LifeFlier: My heart goes to those victims... health minister, do something now, otherwise I am scared to imagine what will happen when really in the worst unimaginable case, cholera outbreak starts to threaten the lives of people in the affected areas.

 

S Subramaniam, are you waiting for instructions from the PM or acting PM? I think you are as confused as we are.

 

Spirit of Malaya: Good job, Malaysiakini ! Keep the information coming. I don't trust the news reports on TV and radio - they keep saying that flood victims are reducing when in actual fact, they are increasing.

 

Gordon Gecko: There is a golf saying: Work is for people who don't know how to play golf.  And that's apt for the poor doctor stuck in Badang.

 

Najib may be shooting eagles and birdies in Hawaii, but to the rakyat, Najib scores a big OB (out of bounds).

 

Kangkung: Najib is going to pay dearly for this blunder. His days as PM are numbered. With almost 8,000 comments on his FB page, he would be deaf if he doesn’t fly back immediately in his private jet.

 

GMK: Let him enjoy his holiday. After all, he knows this is probably his last term. Will Obama give him some tips on how to handle a flood crisis just like his in the US last year?

 

Anonymous #59879079: Najib cut short his vacation but he appeared to take the longest route possible to get back to Malaysia. He's flying via the Atlantic instead of the Pacific Ocean.

 

He was already in Hawaii and it's probably a 10-hour flight from Honolulu to Hong Kong and then another four to five hours to Malaysia, even 45 minutes shorter if he's heading for Kota Bharu.

 

He owes Malaysians an explanation. What was he doing in Los Angeles and Indianapolis? Just because the oil price has gone down does not mean he can waste fuel.

 

Negarawan: This (golf fiasco) is probably the biggest faux pas committed by Najib.


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