LETTER | Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan should not become an overnight hero in taking to task celebrity Sheila Majid for having tweeted about the economic problems of the rakyat.

A few days ago, she tweeted that ordinary Malaysians are suffering from rising debts,
falling income, and the lack of purchasing power.

Whether celebrity or not, whether politicians or not, Malaysians, in general, have all the
right to raise questions about the economic direction of the country.

Sorry, it is not her living style but the everyday social and economic conditions of the
people that seem to have attracted the attention of Sheila and many others.

While many welcomed the comments by Sheila, however, there are those in the BN establishment who have not taken kindly to her Twitter remarks.

It is rather amusing for Rahman to have issued an invitation to Sheila and also, other celebrities to attend a talk at the Economic Planning Unit (|EPU) to "educate" them on the state of the economy.

He said that since he is open to criticisms, he is willing to arrange a briefing session for
those have been misinformed about the country's state of economic affairs so that they
can get the "right picture" about the true situation economic situation of the country, which is merely a figment of the wild imagination of Rahman and other die-heard Umno supporters of the beleaguered regime of Najib Abdul Razak.

There is nothing for Rahman to "whitewash" about the "goodness" of the social
and economic situation of the country. He himself knows about the actual situation, so
there is no need to be untruthful apart from the need to ingratiate him within the top
echelons of the Umno leadership.

Ordinary Malaysians of all walks of life are experiencing economic and social problems
arising from rising debts, the high cost of living and the falling value of the ringgit. This is the result of years of bad governance. The financial fallout from the 1MDB fiasco has
unimaginable problems for Malaysians especially those in the lower socio-economic
categories.

I don't think that Sheila, however apolitical she is, can really refrain from making comments about financial difficulties of ordinary Malaysians. Anyway, it is the fundamental right of Malaysians to come out comments and analysis about what plagues in the country. In this regard, celebrities are no exceptions.

Rahman should not be arrogant in wanting to "school" Sheila and the others who are critical of how the country is being managed. Perhaps a time has arrived for Rahman and others in Umno to realize what has really gone wrong with the country.

In this respect, EPU's ideological briefing will do no good rather than paint a glossy
picture of the country. Such a briefing serves no purpose but merely prolong the problems of the country.

Rahman, who missed out on providing a good leadership to the ministry of Housing
and Urban Development should realise that he is hardly in a position to arrange lectures for those who are critical of the country's economic policies.

P RAMASAMY is Penang Deputy Chief Minister II and Perai assemblyperson.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.