For the last 72 hours since coming home, I have had an earful.

Netizens aside, a senior banker, a businessman, a professional, an entrepreneur, a school teacher, a small trader, the media, self-employed in the service sectors, party activists, the man in the street, the pakcik makcik that i have met, NO ONE, absolutely no one, defends the inconceivable decisions of the current administration.

The exasperation of the people and the public outcry have been deafening.

What we have witnessed instead  have been the naked attempts to silent the media, the whistleblowers, the critics,  the investigators, etc

In sharp contrast, the silence of the rest of the cabinet ministers (other than Khairy Jamaluddin, sort of) has been frighteningly deafening.

History would judge Najib Abdul Razak in his contribution to transform our economy, liberalising the financial market, public service transformation, recognition  and accommodation of the heritage of our educational and cultural diversity, etc, etc. But all these can never be valid grounds to justify our defending the indefensible.

You may love Caesar, but shouldn’t you love Rome more?

It is time for the BN component parties leaders and cabinet ministers to break their deafening silence, and to uphold their duty to the nation.

GAN PING SIEU is co-president, Centre For A Better Tomorrow (Cenbet).