YOURSAY 'Najib's reform drive has stalled? Are you kidding me? It never even got off the ground. Name me one reform that has been implemented.'

'Bold moderniser' faces brick wall in reform drive

your say Anonymous_4031: A ‘bold moderniser' PM Najib Razak is not! Rather, he is NATO (No action, talk only). A firm leader is unshakeable and unmoved by whatever wall that is in front of him - he just bulldozes through.

Singapore leader Lee Kuan Yew once declared that if he felt his stand was correct, even if the whole world was against him, he would stand firm and fight through. I don't think Najib is such a leader: he flip flops at every turn, whenever there is opposition.

Note that at the United Nations General Assembly, he blew the trumpet that he was a moderate and against racism and extremism, but when he came home, he chickened out when racists and extremists shouted from the rooftops.

This man has no guts. Voters can write him off. Najib is full of sound and fury, but signifying nothing.

Manjit Bhatia : Najib's reform drive has stalled? Are you kidding me? It never even got off the ground. Name me one reform that has been implemented. Just one.

Everything Najib has boasted that is his reformist agenda amounts to more of his and Umno-BN's hype and hubris. A grand pack of lies.

Truth is, the opposite has happened. Which is worse: hard authoritarian statism or soft authoritarian statism?

The Malaysian state has moved from the former to the latter. All the reforms will lead to newer, subtler and harsher forms of political repression and racism. But there'll be not one iota of real and meaningful change in state policy that will lead to any real democratic change in Malaysia.

And what of Anwar Ibrahim? He's all Mr Personality Politics. Does anyone really believe he can engineer genuine - genuine! - and lasting reforms in a country as politically damaged by inbred racism as Malaysia is and wrought by the ongoing stupidity of competing and self-serving cultures and religions?

Blackknight: Kudos to Terence Netto for dissecting The Economist's opinionated piece and exposing it for what it is - an opinion.

I find that many have fallen for the tales spun by Najib's spin-doctors that his popularity is on the rise especially among the young, and certain racial groups like the Indians.

The reality is Najib is no reformer. We were taken for a ride for 22 years by a 'dynamic' leader who succeeded in destroying many of our cherished institutions. The evidence is there for all to see.

We should rid ourselves of this trait of being too trusting of our tainted leaders and their spins.

Restless_Native: Bold moderniser? My foot. He has even failed at moderating his party's racially-biased platform, which is really the root cause of everything that is wrong with the country.

He can't get anyone in his party to embrace his 1Malaysia concept, which has, for the most part, remained just that - a concept. He has absolutely no control over his party members even as they blatantly contradict his edicts.

So, what has he done that is "bold", never mind moderniser? His predecessors shackled everyone with the ISA and he replaced it with a more latent version of it. He boasts of a "part of equals" when it is in fact all Umno - "my way or the highway".

If anything, he is a dismal failure of a national leader. The trouble is, he surrounds himself with a bunch of nincompoops (ministers) who, if merit were the criteria, would never have made it past the front gate.

As we say in the United States, "You can't soar like an eagle when you work with turkeys." Bold? Yeah, right.

James1067: There are too many people pulling the strings when it comes to Najib. The problem lies in him carrying all his baggage with him when he came into power. His biggest liability is his own wife, alone she had sent a huge number of votes to the opposition.

So if he cannot start by putting his house in order then how is he going to bring changes? Moreover, the corruption in this country cannot be tackled if it emanates from one's own house.

Nothing will happen and no changes will take place. It will mean that we are heading downwards until we have a leader without baggage and who is willing to take the bull by the horns and who puts the people and country first.

Nik V : It's been said that corruption is a team effort. And we know that to be a fact as it is near impossible to act alone against large and wide-scale corruption and get away with it without the cooperation of others.

‘You scratch my back and I scratch yours' has been the play of the day with BN. Here's where Umno-BN has thrived, where one would venture to guess that the majority of Umno-BN are involved directly or indirectly, by virtue of those dipping the grubby fingers into the cookie jar, and those who are aware of it but choose to keep quiet while waiting their turn.

So in summary, one would guess that it would be impossible for Najib to do anything as he has either dipped his fingers in at one time or know of those who have and cannot act on one, or else all will fall as a result of the domino effect.

The only remedy and hope for all of us as good Malaysians is to remove the cancer. We need to give Pakatan Rakyat a chance to show us the change we hope for our country.

Retnam: The one and only way to bring reform is to get rid of corruption completely. Any other attempt is just bull. Najib, with his record of handling corruption, will never succeed.

 

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now .