Mahathir has strong forte in toppling leaders but weak in finding appropriate replacements

I have been unfailingly contacted by my regular friends as well as new men and women who follow my writings and thinking requesting me to join them to talk about national issues at teh tarik and roti canai restaurants and stalls. A number of them got together to brainstorm on present-day topics on politics as Malaysians are now full time politicians. Old and young ordinary Malaysians are attentive and sensitive on issues connecting them as each and every issue of the day has connectivity with his or her daily live.  

Surely the forum attended by large number of ordinary Malaysians at the K Club, Taman Melawati last Saturday was top on their list of talking points. They enthusiastically wanted me to join them to get my opinion and my own personal comments on any issue they discuss.  

That forum was of interest to them as it was a kick-start move by Mahathir in the process of ousting Najib from the premiership of the country. I told them that kicking out a Prime Minister has been normal happenings and it was not new since Malaysian independence and in all occurrences Dr Mahathir had been a player in it.

Most of them were on mutual opinion that Mahathir has strong forte in pulling down leaders right from the Tunku to the Abdullah Badawi. Now he is targeting Najib as he has strong addiction on toppling leaders. He is gifted with capability to move up and pulling down leaders at his whim and fancies. He can pull down leaders either by direct confrontation or by using his strong invisible hands and both means have proven to be efficacious and fruitful.

He used his invisible hands on Hussein Onn and without elaborations Hussein Onn left the office giving way to him for the premiership. To the veterans who are still living, they keep this observation to themselves as they reluctantly accepted his moves purely for the good sake of the ruling UMNO then.

They knew all along that he was behind the move to oust his boss Hussein Onn by riding on the youth discontent toward Hussein over Dato Harun Idris’s issue from far behind. The youth professed that the charges against Harun was politically motivated and blamed Hussein for the jail sentences on the national UMNO youth head.

When he was the Prime Minister for twenty two years he created a record in our history for having four wrong deputies one after another. Musa, Abdul Ghaffar and Anwar were all his failed deputies while his fourth deputy Abdullah was lucky enough to get ascended to the premiership as the time for Mahathir to retire was up while he was still save as his deputy. Not long after he became the Prime Minister Abdullah too was pulled down by Mahathir.

Mahathir again succeeded and put up Najib as Abdullah's replacement. After the third year as the Prime Minister, Najib was already showing his true self as irresponsible Prime Minister as one after another serious issues against the PM surfaces. Najib is giving Mahathir expediency to move against him and it is imminent that Najib will have to bow down to the pressure from the public to quit. Mahathir has the killer instinct in him which nobody has. Many quarters believe Mahathir’s move is going to bear fruits and Najib has to go.

That is why the forum at the K Club on Saturday was focused by both local and international community. The general believe is that Mahathir is going to succeed in toppling the PM soon but there is another question that keeps on troubling the concerned public. Who is after Najib?

The question arises because Mahathir had been giving preferences to wrong leaders to succeed everyone he topples. Musa, Ghaffar Baba, Anwar and Abdullah were all his preferences but in the end Mahathir toppled them all. Alongside his capability to topple leaders he has serious weakness in finding viable alternatives to the leaders he toppled.

Like mathematics a correct formula will give the right answer. The formula of taking in Mahathir's preferences to replace the outgoing leaders have proven to be wrong formula. Maybe the right formula is to give the leadership to a leader who has never been in the preferential list of Dr Mahathir.

He stated Muhyidin Yassin as possible replacement but if this is so then we may have to go back to assemble at K Club to restart another roadshow to topple Muhyiddin, may be in two years or less from now. Remember Muhyiddin is a leader of the same mould with Najib. Muhyiddin should take collective accountability for the cumbersome acts of the government on all issues together with Najib and the rest.

It is skeptical that Muhyiddin can show much difference. Let us all be serious in finding the suitable replacement to Najib. The tradition of replacing the PM with the Deputy UMNO President has proven to be disastrous.

Once and for all find somebody else more judicious to restart the nation afresh. We are not just in search of a leader of UMNO but we are in dire need to find a leader respected by all races and rekindle the spirit of united Malaysians which we joyously experienced once upon a time. 

Mahathir kick-starts his road show today

Dr Mahathir will start series of road shows in his campaign to oust Najib as the Prime Minister. At 11 am today he will be speaking at K Club Taman Melawati to kick-start an upright confrontation with the current sitting Prime Minister. If we judge through past experiences Mahathir will continue to deride Najib until the PM resigns like Pak Lah did when Mahathir went all out against him in 2006.

On the 24^th June 2006 I initiated the same forum at the same premise to kick-start the campaign against Abdullah Badawi where he talked on various issues against the Prime Minister. The forum was attended by representatives from more than eighty NGOs country-wide alongside with representatives from various political parties. Subsequently Dr Mahathir went on road show to attend forums organized by various NGOs at state level against Abdullah and in the end Mahathir succeeded in ousting PM Abdullah Badawi.

As we can remember the issues against Abdullah was not as serious as existing issues against Najib. The issues against Abdullah were centered on the role played by the 4^th floor boys and of course he personally went straight attacking Khairy Jamaluddin as the Youth Head was acknowledged to be the main personality that influenced most decisions of the father-in-law Prime minister. Other contributing issues then were the crooked bridge and few other concerns relating to issuing of contracts. However the issues over Abdullah were comparatively trivial as compared to gigantic and injurious issues against the current PM.

This time Dr Mahathir is going to restart a campaign, now against the leader who took over from Abdullah after the sitting PM was ousted. The turnout is expected to be large as the mood and tide against Najib is ever expanding. The mood against Najib is far larger and with that expected big turnout, it is not unanticipated that many more NGOs country-wide will be willing to organize forums to provide Dr Mahathir platforms to speak out against the PM Najib. Predictably the support is going to get larger and bigger by the day.

The issues surrounding Najib is perceptibly the biggest ever faced by any PM of the country. If we were to ask anyone on the street no one would ever dare to bet that Najib will survive the attacks from the rakyat through Dr Mahathir Mohammed and from various NGOs and individuals in the country.

Please face it, Najib is not in the position to defend him on issues of his mishandling of 1MDB and loads of other complementary problems any longer. It was found out that Najib had lied to Parliament by claiming that monies retrieved from Cayman Island was deposited in BSI Singapore wasn’t true. Evidently Najib had lied to Parliament and that was a cardinal offense for any parliamentarian to commit.

This very grave offense that Najib have committed warrants him to quit instantaneously. In reality 1MDB’s existence was inexactly a huge unacceptable financial scam committed by the leadership of the country. The dubious meetings between Najib with his wife and Jho Lo which was reported to happen in Turkey last week was an added reason why Najib should go. Based on the latest in Sarawak Report Jho Lo is the biggest account holder in BSI Singapore and indications are clear that he is directly involved in the scam through 1MDB that is going to burden the tax payers.

I do not want to extend the 1MDB issue here as this blog doesn't have the privilege of time and space. Dr Mahathir will be elaborating the entire goings on 1MDB and the rest of other issues today at Taman Melawati.

It is going to be attended by thousands of attentive audiences eagerly wanting to know the actual reasons why Malaysians are so enraged with the sitting PM of the country who is under severe pressure to resign.

Ada pemimpin berbakti dengan mengambil jawatan, ada yang boleh berbakti dengan meletakkan jawatan

Serangan terakhir Dr Mahathir terhadap Najib amat berat implikasinya. Dr Mahathir telah meminta UMNO menyingkirkan Najib untuk menyelamatkan UMNO dari mengalami kekalahan dalam pilihanraya yang akan datang. Najib telah membawa UMNO kepada tahap yang paling mengaibkan kerana sebagai pemimpin beliau tidak dapat memberikan jawapan terhadap isu yang besar yang melibatkan masa depan rakyat yang sedang hangat dipersoalkan.

Bagi saya pandangan Dr Mahathir itu sangat relevan sebab jika kita mendengar rungutan ramai di bawah ini terhadap Najib dan kumpulannya, kita akan merasakan dengan sebenarnya betapa seriusnya kesalahan Najib terhadap Negara dan rakyat.

Dr Mahathir sudah sampai kehilangan sabarnya kerana melihat betapa bahayanya keadaaan negara dan parti yang di pimpinnya sekarang ini. Dr Mahathir merupakan seorang yang liberal apabila menghadapi isu kepimpinan negara dan beliau selalu sahaja membiarkan gejala ini membesar dan tidak mengambil tindakan apa-apa terhadap masalah yang timbul semasa beliau menjadi pemimpin utama negara dahulu. Masalah yang kini menjadi barah bermula   beliau tetapi tidak sampai ketahap yang ada dibawah Najib sekarang ini.

Tetapi kini Dr Mahathir telah menghamburkan kritikan keras tehadap Najib kerana beliau merasakan keadaan ini tidak boleh lagi berterusan semata-mata untuk menyelamatkan negara dan parti dari terjerumus ke lembah yang paling hina dalam sejarah kemerdekaan negara kita.

Justeru seruan Dr Mahathir untuk UMNO menyingkirkan Najib itu sememangnya wajar. Sesungguhnya rakyat ramai telah lama menunggu saat seperti ini kerana masalah yang kita hadapi sekarang adalah masalah budaya kotor yang telah lama bersemadi dalam parti dan kerajaan kita. Itu sebabnya jika sesiapa yang mengikuti pandangan blog ini sejak bertahun dahulu, meminta menyingkirkan pucuk pimpinan UMNO itu sudah menjadi perkara biasa kepada blog ini.

Walaupun seruan seorang pemimpin ulung Negara ini sudah agak lewat, tetapi ia masih boleh dilakukan kerana sekarang ini rakyat biasa sudah yakin yang selagi pemimpin seperti Najib dan barisan kepimpinan diperingkat tertinggi parti masih dari gulungan dan sikap yang sama, selagi itulah kita tidak akan selesai usaha membetulkan keadaan Negara kita ini.

Sekarang ini UMNO itu sendiri sudah kehilangan segala kudrat untuk menjadi parti yang betul kerana sudah menjadi budaya semua pemimpin parti yang berkuasa untuk menyalah gunakan pengaruh dan kuasa dalam kerajaan. Justeru mengambil tindakan terhadapNajib dan konco-konco beliau dalam barisan kepimpinan negara itu sudah menjadi kewajipan semua jika kita mahu melihat negara dan rakyat tidak diperkosa oleh pemimpin yang sudah kehilangan identiti bangsa dan perjuangan mereka.

Mengikut kefahaman saya dari apa yang disebut oleh Dr Mahathir itu kita terpaksa memilih untuk menyelamatkan Najib dan konconya atau memilih untuk menyelamatkan negara. Untuk memilih menyelamatkan Najib sambil menyelamatkan Negara itu adalah satu situasi yang mustahil untuk dilakukan. Rakyat terpaksa memilih satu di antara dua pilihan itu. Maka kenyataan Dr Mahathir semalam jelas mahukan rakyat untuk menyelamatkamn negara walaupun kita terpaksa mengenepikan Najib dan kepimpinannya serta merta.

Kepada Dr Mahathir, Najib sudah hilang segala kelayakan untuk menjadi Perdana Menteri kerana beliau tidak mampu untuk memberitahu kita ke mana dan bagaimana wang rakyat dihilangkan. Najib gagal samasekali menerangkan dengan jelas kepada persoalan rakyat bagaimana pegawai-pegawai keselamatan di sekeliling beliau melakukan pembunuhan tanpa mengetahui siapa pembunuhnya sedangkan umum mengetahui seorang pegawai beruniform itu akan melaksanakan tugas mengikut arahan pihak atasan. Siapa yang mengarahkan pembunuhan itu dilakukan tidak dapat dijawab oleh Najib walaupun pegawai-pegawai yang melakukan kesalahan itu bertugas dibawah dagunya.

Isu-isu terhadap Najib begitu banyak serta besar dan tidak perlu disebut berulang kali kerana ia amat membebankan rakyat untuk bercakap tentangnya sekarang ini. Masa untuk bercakap sudah habis maka sekarang masa untuk menyingkirkan Najib secepat mungkin seperti yang disarankan Dr Mahathir itu sudah merupakan tanggungjawab terhadap negara.

Najib tidak perlu merasa takut untuk berundur kerana berundur itu merupakan satu-satunya jalan atau pilihan untuk beliau  berbakti kepada negara. Jika beliau gagal untuk menunjukan kemampuan beliau untuk membina Negara, berundur itu adalah cara yang tepat untuk beliau menunjukan yang beliau sayangkan Negara dan sanggup berbuat apa sahaja untuk negara sekali pun terpaksa berundur dari jawatan yang tertinggi dalam kerajaan itu.

Rakyat akan menganggap pengunduran beliau itu sebagai satu sumbangan besar terhadap Negara dan ia akan dikenang sampai bila-bila oleh rakyat dan Negara. Pengunduran beliau itu merupakan satu tindakan bijak bagi mengikis ‘stigma’ buruk yang melekat kepada batang tubuhnya sebagai pemimpin negara.

Najib tidak dapat lagi bertahan dan elok bagi beliau membantu dalam peralihan kuasa negara dari bertahan yang sudah hampir pasti tidak akan mendatangkan kejayaan kepada beliau. Beliau boleh membantu untuk menyelamatkan negara dan bantuan itu adalah dengan cara mempercepatkan persaraan agar negara tidak kecundang kerana kesalahan dan kesilapan beliau.

Sesungguhnya kesalahan dan kesilapan beliau itu ada kesalahan dan kesilapan yang ‘unnecessary’ tetapi kelalaian dan kelemahan beliau sebagai pemimpin negara itu menyebabkan beliau menghadapi masalah-masalah yang  ‘unnecessary’ itu.

Kepada Najib, bantulah rakyat dan negara dengan berundur secara terhormat. Mulakanlah usaha itu dari saat ini dan jangan toleh kebelakang lagi. Hakikatnya ada pemimpin yang boleh berbakti dengan mengambil tugas dan jawatan walaupun ia dari luar kerajaan, tetapi ada setengah pemimpin boleh berbakti dengan mengundurkan diri dan membantu kepimpinan baru negara.

The darker the night the nearer we are to the dawn

We are now at the darkest part of the long night. There has been a long dark night for us as if that the dawn and the sun lights will never come at all. The revolting minds of the people are at the all-time high that the people just can’t endure the mischiefs of the leadership any longer. 

PM Najib and his fellow Cabinet members are reprimanding at the widespread calls for them to quit. They are now grouping and embrace each other in stubbornness and in turn allege us being the sponsors for the split among the people.

Najib and gang are now entangled in the web. They are trapped in between their greed to cling to power and the unreceptiveness of the ordinary people towards them. The dejected Malaysians are just waiting for them to be back to their sense and quickly admit that they are the authentic cause for the split and swiftly take a bold move to quit.

Time and space do not permit us to list the mischievous acts of the ruling leaders. Enough have been said about it and the people are conclusive in wanting the current group of leaders to relinquish their respective responsibilities to give way for a new nation to kick off. They have taken in enough of deceptions by the ruling leaders and they can’t consume it anymore.

Najib and his group have been given six years and sufficient chance to proof their worthiness as leaders but they fail miserably. They have lost all clues as how to mitigate the massive complications as they are lacking in all necessary requisites of functional and suitable leaders with leadership. To some honorable people, there are at least three imperative ingredients of a good leader. The three are intelligence, energy and integrity. If they don’t have integrity please do not bother to think of the earlier two.  

It’s an undeniable fact that UMNO too have highly qualified leaders, young and old graduating from well-known universities across the globe but they are diseased by the deleterious cultures that are ingrained in the party. There are a few of them who we initially thought as youthful leaders who came down from paradise to heal the serious and terminal diseases that UMNO has contracted for so long. Nevertheless in the end they too succumb to the evil and devilish cultures in UMNO.

Ultimately they are just part and parcel of leaders who are deprived of integrity and subsequently become the conduit and protectors to the evil and unwieldy acts of their leaders. The youthful leaders are ineffectual lots these days. They are undependable. They are not like youth leaders of three or four decades ago who were brave and courageous to set the mode for change when necessary even to the expense of their personal perquisites and benefits.

The youthful UMNO have long gone with history and now being taken over by impotent lots. Youth of today are just like a dead fish that leisurely swims with the flow. It’s not indecorous to say that the youth of today more often than not adds more burdens to the country which they claim to love and struggle for.

However the ordinary citizens are fast realizing the real goings on in the present government and they are unwearyingly waiting for the change. The calls for the leadership to quit are ever mounting as they truly and genuinely believe that change will follow suit. When and how it happens that is for everybody to guess.

Corruption level is at the deepest while the abuse of power is at unimaginable and beyond comprehension by any sensible being called human. No leader of any reasonable government spends like our government does. At every international turfs and arenas we rank the worst and there is no indication that our leadership can change as they can never change.

We are truly at the darkest part of the night but a pacifying adage keeps me and many others going. It says, the darker the night the nearer we are to the dawn.

What’s happened to the spirit of democracy?

We once had leaders who stuck to the morals of democratic leadership.

By Aspan Alias

We are sometimes too ready to claim that we are a democratic nation, forgetting that democracy comes with a spirit and a set of ethics. Without its spirit and morals, democracy is incomplete. If a person gains power through democratic elections, but then shamelessly clings to that power at all costs even if the voters don’t want him anymore, then the democracy he claims to be practising is deficient.

Normally, a leader elected through the democratic process takes the populist route to maintain the mandate given to him by the electorate. But popularity is an ephemeral thing. It’s tough to maintain. In most cases, it will gradually dip even if the elected leader is blameless. Of course, if he abuses his power or is perceived to be doing so, he will see a sharp decline in his popularity. The more he continues to commit wrongdoings, the steeper the decline will be.

There inevitably will come a time when such a leader will be tested on his morality and dignity as a democratic leader. If he is a man of morals, dignity and decorum, he will resign in order to save his nation from tribulation.

Unfortunately, not all democratically elected leaders are that honourable and upright. It is an immoral and undignified leader who, after realising that his popularity has dwindled, still desires to remain in power. Often enough, such a leader would start becoming autocratic, enacting unjust laws to tighten the defence of the position he is in love with.

From this point on, the voice of his conscience will become more and more inaudible and it will be hard for him to make decisions that are morally correct. He will start corrupting the people around him with wealth and position in order to ensure their continued support.

We don’t have to go too far back in history to find Malaysian leaders who practised democracy by its letter and spirit. Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Hussein Onn were leaders of high morals and dignity when it came to the issue of democratic leadership.

The Tunku left the Prime Minister’s office when he realised that his popularity had dwindled and led to a massive loss of seats for his Alliance government in the 1969 general election.

As for Hussein, when Sulaiman Palestin revolted against him by contesting for the Umno presidency in 1978, he knew that he no longer enjoyed solid support from party members. He did secure overwhelming support in the voting, but the 250 votes for Sulaiman were enough to convince him that he needed to resign in the interest of democracy. He cherished the spirit and morals of democracy exceedingly.

Democracy, if we take it by its letter, didn’t demand Hussein’s resignation and he could have continued in his leadership role for many more years. But he was cognisant of the spirit of democracy and decided to announce his resignation from all positions in the government and the party at the Umno general assembly in 1981. What mattered to Hussein was the continued fortification of Umno as Malaysia’s ruling party.

Leaders of those days were close to having what we would call a First World mentality. They placed the future and destiny of the nation above everything else. Hussein never took positions in Umno and the government for personal magnification but as his duty to the country. That was why when he decided to leave he ensured that nobody came out to demonstrate in his support or to call for his continued tenure as Umno President and Prime Minister.

His wife Tun Suhaila, like the wives of previous prime ministers, was never an ambitious social climber, and she never tried to influence her husband in government and party matters. These grand ladies were born into aristocratic families and did not need to complement their status through extravagant means.

It is indeed a great tragedy to have leaders of low integrity. What Malaysians need is a leader with the morals, integrity and firmness to mend our distorted and rotting nation. And we need him or her right now.

It's now head-on clash between the ordinary people and the ruling UMNO

UMNO is shivering by the criticism from Dr Mahathir together with the massive and widespread discontent from the ordinary citizens towards Najib that will consequentially make UMNO to suffer. The restlessness is not only derived from the Malays in UMNO but it comes from the Malays as a whole and Malaysian in total.

The feeling of hopelessness is by no mean a small issue as they are troubled by the feelings of no-confidence towards the leadership of the day. The leadership is now in an intimidated situation and is now hectic with demands to get everybody and in UMNO especially to come out with statements of undivided support for the PM as the only propaganda effort left for Najib to remain in power.

These statements that come from all states UMNO heads and the law makers from the Lower House and the Senate as well as from every heads of organization sponsored by UMNO and BN do not hold any strength in actuality.

They are not representative of the true feelings of the ordinary people as they know all the pranks and the shenanigans committed by the current leaders will put their daily lives in peril in time sooner than expected. Right now the people are feeling the pinch of not-well-thought policies by the government and the numerous oppressive enactments and laws that the usual modern law-makers would not even contemplate to legislate. Our country is impregnated by out-dated mentality and undependable law-makers.    

The PM and the government leaders know and understand what the feelings of the people but they choose to disregard the pulses of the people for the sake of their own personal future and their ever hungry-stomach that they have. UMNO and its leaders now sturdily conspire against the wishes of the people by pledging to give undivided support to their politically bedridden chief. Of course most of them who come in the open to support their boss are taking the situation expediently for their own personal benefits. They are merely fishing in troubled water.

Dr Mahathir is seen to be the most disappointed man today watching the pranks of the leaders that he had built up all the years. Mahathir’s hands are masticated by the very people or leaders who had been bowing and kneeling in front of him for favors. Certainly Najib is one of those sycophants and minions who have below average leadership in them. They were merely foot-soldiers to Dr Mahathir when he was the Prime Minister.

When Mahathir retired he had no one else good enough to take on the mantle within the party lineup.  Mahathir and UMNO had to make do with one of the sycophants, flatterers and apple polishers to replace him. That was how the truly ineligible leaders like Abdullah Badawi and the present PM ascended to power. I personally had been saying this issue loudly for the past decades in a very small way and don’t have regrets for being side-lined at my own peers of sycophants in my state.

The situation of today was foreseeable and predictable since then but everyone around were all out to struggle for their own advantages. We knew for certain that one day this country would be led by group of unpatriotic leaders who do not have even a bit of conscience plundering and looting the nation incessantly.  

It is noble to see Dr Mahathir is back with the people. 

These were the people who in actual fact supported him but unfortunate for these people that Mahathir were so consumed by his sycophants amusing at all time. He is now returning to the original and pure supporters of UMNO and the people who made him the leader for 22 years. We are sad and dejected witnessing the leadership of the country is hijacked by the group sycophants that Mahathir trusted all the years. Now the same group who apple-polished Mahathir is saying loudly that this grand old man is already irrelevant and should not pay any attention to him anymore.

The group is now focusing to get more from the current leaders. They just offer big thank you to Dr Mahathir for what they have achieved from this ‘irrelevant old man’ while he was in power. They are now taking advantage on the current weak leadership and Najib who knows how to handle these breeds of people. They want immediate positions and money and Najib has the resources to fulfill their wishes. Najib knows that they are just like him.

Najib will tell them “lu tolong gua, gua tolong lu”. ‘You take what you want, but please don’t disturb mine. Keep on supporting me and believe in me. I know how to take care of you’.

If anyone of them asks him “what about for the people sir? Are you taking care of them?” he will then answer swiftly, “Don’t worry. I have given them some BRIM money, but I am taking it back through GST. We are collecting back big money from the people and we are going to have billions every year at our disposal. I know how to spend the money. Don’t you forget that I am also the Finance Minister?”

Mahathir must have realized that this scenario is devastating for the country and that explains why he feels too cross with Najib and group. Mahathir is not at all alone as he humbly admitted days ago. He is actually with the masses who want to see structural changes in the nation’s leadership.

There are millions out there going to be together with Mahathir to work on the changes. In actual fact Mahathir is now with the people who want to see the rogues to nation to be out of action. Don’t get swayed by the publicity given to those who line up in front the cameras of the main stream media. The revolting feelings of the ordinary people are becoming worse by the day. Now the battle is between the ordinary citizens against the ruling leaders.

I am personally blissful that Mahathir realizes that the people have to take back the country from the group of looters, robust social climbers and chubby rent seekers in the government.  We have to do away with the big group of ‘Botak Chins’ who are loitering around the corridors of power presently.

We have to ensure that we are not perpetually ruled by this group of perilous, terrifying and newly found emperors and czars any longer. Some say that it is too late to do the restoration job, but it’s better late than never.

We still have the time as the world is not going to end that soon. 

We need a leader cast from a new mould

Let's go for a lively democracy and leave the kind we are practising now.

There’s no denying that Umno and BN are in a fix. While many Malaysians agree that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has to go, BN’s fate will remain uncertain even if he is eventually forced out. Umno may see some increase in support from the Malays if Muhyiddin Yassin assumes the presidency of the party, but this won’t make a difference to the other BN components in their ability to increase support from the Chinese and other non-Malay communities. Indeed, even with Umno, there is some doubt as to whether the silent majority of Malays will support it.

In the eyes of voters of all races, Umno has fallen to its lowest level and it is perhaps safe to say that none of its current top leaders can assume the presidency without anxiety.

This is not about changing leaders from Tom to Dick to Harry. It’s about changing the entire brand. The country needs a new ambience that can be brought about only by a fresh political environment. We can no longer afford to have a leader cast from the same old mould.

Replacing Najib with someone from the current line of leaders in the Umno Supreme Council will not change anything. They are just spare parts of what was once a fairly credible leadership. That’s why Pak Lah was not the appropriate man to replace Mahathir. And Najib is even worse.

What Umno needs is nothing less than a structural change in its leadership. If we continue with the traditional routine of changing leaders, we’ll be only addressing the pain without curing the disease.

Even if one leader emerges who is credible enough to inspire a resumption of support for Umno from the Malays, he won’t be good enough if he cannot also inspire support for the change that is needed. He would be an even worse option if he does not have what it takes to bring about economic transformation and to address the massive corruption and other evils that flow in the veins of our leaders of today.

We need a leader who is prepared to be a true servant of the people and not an apparatus to be used by diabolical warlords in Umno. We cannot have as a leader one of those who have been responsible for the disease afflicting us.

The intolerable problems we are now facing cannot be resolved through the simple approach of having the Deputy taking over the President’s position and duties. We have had enough of that sort of thing and it’s high time we leave that outdated and irrelevant culture behind. It will only prolong the abominable practice of patronage in our political system.

We claim that we are a democratic nation but we have never seriously shown any appreciation of the morals of democracy. If Najib is ousted, all members of the Cabinet appointed by Najib must resign. When the appointer is gone, the appointees must by necessity also go.

The person who takes over will then have the liberty to reappoint those who have resigned, if he wants to. When Tony Blair resigned to give way to Gordon Brown, all members of the British Cabinet resigned as well. Nevertheless, Brown called most of them by the evening to reappoint them. That is the spirit of democracy at work, as it has been working in the advanced nations across the globe.

If we truly want to be a first class nation, we must be serious in our practice of democracy and stop talking about “our own kind of democracy”, which has proven to be fruitless in our pursuit of advanced-nation status.

Let us go for a lively democracy and leave the kind we are practising now far behind us. To go for this kind of democracy we need a leader who is judicious and highly magnanimous. That leader can come from any side of the political divide, but the practical choice would be a Malay with an incontestable ability to rule this country in a truly democratic and workable fashion.

Malaysia must get back its bearings

The country needs to be transformed and this can be done without Najib and his substandard Cabinet.

Malaysians yearn for the nation to get back to the state it was in some three decades ago. We were then on the verge of greatness. But we have since gone wayward and lost our bearings. We are now led by shameless leaders lost in their state of barefaced immorality. Worse, they do not have the conscience that might stir them out of their debauchery.

It is certain enough that the public has lost confidence in Najib and his Cabinet. Najib is responsible for the unmanageable problems that his administration is saddled with, while the Cabinet members are accountable for not shooting down his morally questionable decisions.

If they were responsible leaders, the Cabinet members would, for instance, have railed against the PM’s decision to acquire an elaborately luxurious and expensive executive jet, mainly for his use. They would have demanded that he cancel the decision. We won’t accuse them of giving him permission in the first place. They apparently did not. Najib asked for approval only from the Finance Ministry, which is of course under his charge. He asked himself for approval and he gave the approval to himself without the “official” knowledge of the Cabinet.

Najib is encumbered by issues of weak leadership and ineptness in managing what used to be a nation poised for glory. We were at one time ahead of South Korea and many other developing nations across the globe. We are now miles and miles behind.

Malaysia is now well known for all the wrong things. We are Number One in the purchase of defence equipment at inflated prices to allow for enormous kickbacks to the country’s leaders and we are certainly unmatched among importers of unskilled labour.

We are already in a state of devastation and Malaysians should not have to wait for the leadership to be rehabilitated. Efforts to discontinue Najib’s premiership is not an option any longer. He must resign and give the people a break. Malaysians need the country to be transformed and this can be done without Najib and his substandard Cabinet. He has mislaid all clues that point to how a prime minister should be managing a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation.

Najib should not have been the Prime Minister in the first place. I blame the politicking of the warlords in Umno for offering him the post. This was a serious political misadventure. It has resulted in Malaysians being saddled with the weakest prime minister since we achieved our independence. The time has come for the warlords and for ordinary Malaysians to search their souls and to forget past differences. Just set in motion the engine that will lead us to a genuine leader who will initiate the transformations that we are in dire need of.

We ordinary Malaysians are frightened by the real prospect of the country becoming insolvent. What is even more frightening is that our leaders – both in the executive and the legislature – don’t seem moved enough to bring about the changes we need. Indeed, many of our legislators seem incapable of even standing on their own feet.

Our legislators are undependable weaklings compared to their counterparts in Japan. The Japanese legislators have often demonstrated their commitment to their nation by revolting against the reigning prime minister.

We have to envy the Japanese for setting such a tough standard for their Prime Minister and Cabinet. The lawmakers are tough leaders who perpetually check on the conduct and behaviour of the Prime Minister and Cabinet members to ensure that they don’t transgress against the tiniest part of the system.

Masayoshi Ito had been PM of Japan for only 35 days when members of the legislature revolted and kicked him out of office in July 1980. Sosuke Uno had only 68 days as PM. Tsutomo Hatta had 63 days. Many other Japanese PMs stayed less than a year in office because the legislators take their duty to their nation seriously indeed.

Despite the frequent change of PMs, the Japanese government remains strong because the system of governance works. The Japanese PM is subservient to the system, but it is the other way round in our country. In Malaysia, the PMs change the system like changing their underwear to suit their whims and fancies. The system is submissive to the ruling Prime Minister. This is irrefutably one of the main causes of the problems we face today.

Jangan bandingkan pimpinan kita dengan LKY, kita jauh ke belakang..

Ada yang bertanya kepada saya kenapa saya tidak berminat untuk membuat komen tentang kematian Lee Kuan Yew baru-baru ini dan apakah perbezaan di antara pentadbiran kerajaan Malaysia dengan Singapura, terutamanya perbandingan di antara Dr Mahathir dari Malaysia dan LKY dari Singapura. Ramai di antara penulis-penulis telah memberikan komen tentang isu ini tetapi saya tidak melakukannya seperti penulis-penulis tersebut.

Saya bukanlah seorang yang mempunyai ‘authority’ kuat untuk bercakap tentang perbezaan di antara Dr Mahathir dengan Lee Kuan Yew kerana bagi saya itu adalah topik yang terlalu besar untuk saya yang kerdil ini. Hanya saya sememangnya suka untuk membaca ucapan-ucapan penting pemimpin banyak negara termasuklah negara Singapura, terutamanya ucapan-ucapan Encik Lee Kuan Yew. Dulu-dulunya saya suka membaca apa yang diperkatakan oleh Toh Chin Chai yang suatu ketika dahulu merupakan Timbalan Perdana Menteri Negara itu, salah seorang arkitek yang membina asas kemajuan negara Singapura itu.

Saya mempunyai kepercayaan apa yang dikatakan oleh seseorang itu memberikan peluang untuk memberikan pandangan dan persepsi kita terhadap seseorang pemimpin itu. Dalam komen pendek saya ini, saya akan hanya memberikan pandangan berdasarkan kepada ucapan-ucapan LKY dan jika ada perbandingan dengan Dr Mahathir ia boleh disandarkan kepada apa yang kita lihat diatas segala tindakan dan keputusan-keputusan yang dilakukan oleh Dr Mahathir terhadap negara.

Kedua-dua pemimpin ada persamaannya dan tidak boleh dipisahkan persamaan itu walau sekuat mana pun usaha untuk membezakannya. Kedua-duanya mentadbir Negara ala kuku besi dan tidak boleh mana-mana pihak untuk menunjukan tentangannya. LKY yang terkenal sebagai bapa Singapura moden itu sememangnya tidak boleh dinafikan kerana beliau memerintah begitu lama dan berjaya untuk menjadikan Singapura dari sebuah Negara kecil yang miskin kepada sebuah Negara moden yang mempunyai pendapatan per kapita berlipat kali ganda dari Negara kita Malaysia.

Jika itu menjadi ukuran tentang kejayaan LKY, ia tentulah mempunyai kesahihan perbezaan kualiti kepimpinan yang melebihi dari kepimpinan Negara kita. Kalau tidak masakan Singapura telah melebihi dari Negara kita dari sudut kemajuan dalam bidang politik dan ekonomi untuk ‘city-state’ itu.

LKY telah menunjukan dan melakukan tindakan yang tegas bagi memajukan Negara itu dengan membina ratusan anak-anak muda yang tinggi ‘professionalism’ mereka pada awal kemerdekaannya hasil dari pemecatan Negara itu dari Persekutuan Malaysia. LKY telah memastikan Singapura membentuk ratusan gulungan yang tinggi sahsiahnya dan melatih kumpulan yang terbaik bagi menerajui Singapura dalam berbagai bidang yang telah dirancang.

Dalam satu ucapan mereka dihari kemerdekaan Singapura LKY telah memberitahu rakyat jelata yang Singapura sedang membina dan telah pun berjaya mewujudkan kumpulan yang begitu tinggi sahsiah mereka. Jika ratusan ini berada dalam satu pesawat besar dan terhempas maka Singapura akan jatuh dan tidak akan bangun buat berapa lama. Begitulah seriusnya LKY untuk membina kepimpinan dalam semua bidang bagi meneruskan perjuangan negara itu untuk mencapai kemajuan yang pesat setanding dengan negara-negara maju di barat dan seantero dunia.

Di sinilah terletaknya perbezaan yang sangat ketara jika dibandingkan dengan kepimpinan politik negara kita. Pemimpin Negara kita takut dengan rakyat yang bijak dan dalam usaha mengekalkan kuasa terlalu ramai pimpinan Negara yang boleh memberikan keuntungan serta kebaikan kepada negara diketepikan dengan cara politik dan hanya yang tidak berkemajuan dan berkepimpinan yang menguasai teras kepimpinan politik dan pentadbiran negara.

Sehingga sekarang hasil dari budaya dan sikap negatif itu negara sekarang sedang berhadapan dengan kekosongan dan ketandusan kepimpinan. Kita dipimpin oleh kumpulan elit yang hanya mementingkan kepentingan kumpulan itu dan membudayakan budaya ‘factionalism’ serta membina bibit-bibit ‘sycophants’ yang begitu ketara.  Negara ini diambil alih oleh mereka yang tidak berkepimpinan selain dari kumpulan elit pengampu dan nepotisma dikalangan mereka yang berada di ‘corridor of power’.

Begitu maju Singapura membina negaranya walaupun negara itu tidak mempunyai ‘natural resources’ seperti yang ada di negara kita. Kita mempunyai kekayaan ‘natural resources’ tetapi tidak memberikan apa-apa makna kepada Negara kerana ‘natural resources’ yang kaya raya itu sebaliknya memberikan kita kemudharatan kerana kita terlalu kufur kepada nikmat anugerah Tuhan itu.

Keluasan hutan belantara sebagai anugerah kepada negara telah dikufurkan dan ia telah memberikan impak buruk kepada negara dengan terjadinya banjir besar kerana kerakusan setengah gulungan elit negara untuk menggunakan ‘natural resources’ itu secara ‘evil’ baik dari mereka yang berkuasa politik, mahupun dari mereka yang mempunyai kedudukan sosial yang tinggi dinegara ini.

Mungkin Singapura tidak mempunyai ‘resources’ besar lah yang menyebabkan pimpinan mereka memberikan fokus kepada kemajuan negaranya tanpa mempunyai peluang untuk menggunakan apa-apa hasil  bumi secara kufur itu. Itu sebabnya perpatah ada berkata, ‘jika terjumpa barang yang cantik dan lawa jangan terus diterkam kerana mungkin ada celaka disebaliknya, dan jika terjumpa barangan yang buruk jangan terus dibuang kerana mungkin ada hikmah dan kebaikan disebaliknya’.

Bagi Negara kita untuk menyaingi negara Singapura yang diasaskan pembangunannya oleh LKY dahulu sememangnya amat sukar untuk dicapai kerana kita masih terkial-kial untuk menentukan identiti kepimpinan yang baik untuk negara. Kita terlalu jauh kebelakang walaupun dentuman ucapan kata-kata pemimpin kita sejak tiga dekad dahulu tidak lekang dari memuji kehandalan kepimpinan masing-masing.

Negara kita masih dikuasai oleh kepimpinan yang ‘feudal’ dan ‘warlords’ dalam parti kepimpinan negara masih mahu melihat negara dipimpin oleh mereka yang boleh mereka kuasai dan pengaruhi walaupun tanpa kepimpinan yang sejati dan mempunyai ‘moral’ yang secukupnya untuk diletakkan harapan untuk kemajuan rakyat dan negara.

Blog ini pernah memberikan pandangan yang selagi kita dikuasai oleh ‘greed, anger and foolishness’ selagi itu kita tidak akan ke mana-mana kerana pergolakan dalam pemikiran rakyat akan bertambah mengusutkan lagi dari masa ke semasa.

Kita perlukan penyelesaian terhadap masalah kita yang begitu sulit dahulu sebelum kita hendak membezakan pimpinan kita dengan Lee Kuan Yew. Tangan kita tidak tercapai untuk memeluk gunung dan bukit yang besar. Mungkin kita boleh membuat perbandingan dengan pimpinan banyak negara-negara Afrika.