As a consumer, communication and political analyst, I cannot but wonder what is happening? I have known Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak for more than two decades and my family in Kuantan for certainly much longer.

 

I have found he is a man of few words, very articulate, intelligent and visionary. He has no time for fools and idiots.

 

His administration started off extremely well with focus on managing the nation as one and looking at the problems of the country in one wave, one breath, one vision, one attempt.

 

It was an attempt to get rid of all the problems and hangups that were created in an administration that started in the 1980s.

 

And he did well - he went down to the grassroots and the communities and was prepared to address issues without fear, favour or political bias.

 

The first fruits were seen in the support received in the landslide victory in the recent Negeri Sembilan by-election after the bashing the Barisan Nasional got in the last general elections.

 

We saw the manner people moved excitedly towards him and the new administration. And the political and policy statements made by him were not only politically correct but were also refreshing.

 

But just as he was cruising along smoothly, there were statements made by others in the administration which made no sense and many of us monitoring the political plots are now asking ourselves if these rifts were started by selfish individuals from the past to try to undermine this administration just because their obsessive greed cannot be palliated.

 

Why the jostling for power by `political has-beens' who are maneuvering and subtly undermining the administration that started with so much promise? During the intervals between this jousting, many racist remarks were made with the venom and sarcasm.

 

Then the demonstrations started but there were confusing signals and advice given and no one took a statesmen approach calling for a `cooling off period' for all stakeholders. Instead, a racist mainstream vernacular played the main fiddler to torch anger among the electorate.

 

Then the attacks against churches began which was very well-publicised in the international media and brought the nation into the same league as terrorist-breeding nations like Sudan, Somalia, Pakistan and several others where sleeper agents are hiding resting and planning.

 

The backlash from public opinion abroad was devastating and despite the attempt by the Malaysian home ministry to address the issues with top foreign dignitaries - the damage was indeed done and entrenched.

 

Then came that statement of the 39,000 Indian nationals who came into our country on social visit passes and have now gone ‘missing’  - a statement that was carried in bold print locally and the issue picked up again by the foreign media. The timing was absolutely wrong just days before a state visit to New Delhi by the prime minister.

 

Already several newspapers on the Indian subcontinent had carried these statements and their editorials - I am told - and the response from their diplomats have not been pleasant. Why target the Indians was the call while some others challenged the figures as a gross exaggeration.

 

It was also interesting that questions were also raised as to why the Indians were picked on when there were hundreds and thousands of Indonesians, maybe millions who have freely sauntered into the country and have now gone ‘missing’.  And do not forget the Filipinos in Sabah many of them with Malaysian identity cards as well!

 

Here we have the Indonesians walking in and out of the country, setting up their colonies, taking over Chow Kit with some running supermarkets and construction companies. It will just be a matter of time before they ask for political electoral representation.

 

Already a former Indonesian's son has become a multimillionaire as a politician. And what about the hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis? Mentioning them would be embarrassing?

 

When I undertook in 2004/5 a study to address the issue of Bangladeshi workers who had broken our immigration laws by overstaying - just in one area - Cameron Highlands in Perak - the figure ran into more than 70,000 and I have given copies of that comprehensive report and details to a former home minister.

 

We must remember that the problems and scandals in regards to Bangladeshi workers from the last immigration opening is not over but already there are rumors that the Bangladeshi worker sector will be open again soon because the same people who raked in millions have run out of `their millions' and as such the pressures of political lobbying has started.

 

As far as the above comment goes against the Indians - it was in bad taste and badly-timed and therefore receiving brickbats from Delhi and their intelligent and independent media on that subcontinent.

 

I do not blame the premier but those around him and especially whoever was behind the preparation of that statement. And when I look at the caliber of several in the Malaysian cabinet, I again get disillusioned and I urge Pak Jib (Najib) to really make a drastic and radical change to the present cabinet.

 

It is time we got a cabinet which reflects Pak Jib's aspirations for ‘1Malaysia', a cabinet of workers - not party men and apple-polishers - comprising individuals who are professional, articulate and academically accomplished with no skeletons in their cupboards. They must be aware that they must focus on boosting the administration of Pak Jib and attaining its goals rather than trying to be independent political contractors or self-servers.

 

Pak Jib, it would not hurt to drop those who are above 60 for a younger, stronger and fresher version - a new crop of political leaders who are not racists and who have no political hangups to steer the nation to be once again a modern, secular and vibrant nation that it once was.