Yee Siew Meng

‘Ola Bola’ has taken Malaysia by storm. Everyone’s talking about it. I certainly was surprised at myself and the emotions that swelled up as I sat through the movie. I think the other moviegoers in the cinema were swept away as well as everyone broke out into applause at the end, revealing a pleasant approval.

There are some in PKR who forget quickly; perhaps their amnesia is hastened by politics and blind loyalty to factions?

Every 10 years or so, we see Umno and the ruling coalition go through some sort of political upheaval which inevitably changes the landscape of Malaysian politics.

The amount in question is RM2.6 billion. Not RM2,600 or even 2.6 million. It is RM2.6 billion which is 1 percent of the Malaysian Gross National Product. That is 1 percent of the value of all finished goods and services in Malaysia. It is a ridiculous amount of money deposited into an individual’s account. Not just any individual but the personal account of the prime minister of Malaysia.

Everything has a beginning. A burst pipe started with a small leak. A jumbo elephant was born a calf. A little pothole on the road becomes a crater. So it is with the state of our nation. The rot did not start with Najib Abdul Razak. His brazen and glaring attempt to derail investigations into anything 1MDB and the bold transfers and termination of senior civil servants in government is not an isolated event thought off by Najib.

Perhaps what astounded me most in this Low Yat Plaza fiasco is the level of fear still among Malaysians of a repeat of May 13. That is the May 13 of 1969 when race riots erupted in Kuala Lumpur. Granted many of those who are jittery are those who were old enough to have witnessed the May 13 violence.

Of late all over Malaysia there is the rise of the skirt police. Even tourists in Malaysia are not spared at KLIA. If this is the way to promote ‘Truly Asia’ and tourism in Malaysia, then perhaps the tourism minister should confine his promotion of Malaysia to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other Arab states. 

Let’s reason for a minute. The state of the nation is certainly in a bad shape even if you were a BN supporter. It has become difficult to deny that the government’s handling of Malaysia’s finances leaves much to be desired. Even to the ordinary Malaysian, the effects of a weakening Ringgit compared to our neighbours is telling of the lack of confidence in Malaysia’s economy.