It is most sad and deplorable that the Rukun Negara has become the greatest casualty during its Golden Jubilee celebrations

The Parliament session that just ended yesterday showed that the Perikatan Nasional Ministers have the scantiest respect for Rukun Negara and are the greatest violators of its principles.

There is a great and urgent need to educate Malaysians about the meaning and purpose of the five Rukun Negara principles, starting first with the Cabinet Ministers and the Members of Parliament.

Will every Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament declare support and commitment to abide by the five Rukun Negara principles?

It is no use asking students to memorise the Rukun Negara principles when every day, the people see Ministers and Members of Parliament violating the Rukun Negara principles.

If Ministers are guided by the Rukun Negara principles, then the following things would not have happened:

• The Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz releasing a list of 101 projects allegedly given through direct negotiations worth RM6.61 billion and suggestion corruption during the 22-month Pakatan Harapan Government when it was a catalogue of lies. The short-lived Pakatan Harapan Government should have been praised and applauded for honouring its 14th General Election Manifesto to promote open tenders and cut down direct negotiations for government contracts.
• The Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali violating the Covid-19 quarantine SOP on his return with a personal delegation to Turkey on July 7, and responsible for several lies, e.g.
1. That the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had given authorisation for the Turkish trip;
2. That there was a “special test” for Ministers and VIPs leaving and returning to the country, exempting them from quarantine; and
3. That Turkey is a “green country (zone)” for Covid-19 pandemic, which is a downright lie as Turkey was at the relevant time (and still is) one of the hotspots of the Covid-19 epidemic.
• The Minister for International Trade and Industry, Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, making the outrageous statement that there would be more Covid-19 cases and deaths in Malaysia under a Pakatan Harapan Government when actually, the truth could be the opposite. All over the world, countries are preparing themselves for the second wave of the Covid-19 epidemic, but in Malaysia, the second wave occurred under the watch of the Perikatan Nasional government and we are hoping to escape a third wave of Covid 19 pandemic.
• The Minister for Communications and Multimedia Saifuddin Abdullah defending the Perikatan Nasional’s decision to withdraw the Constitution (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2019 related to two-term limits for the prime minister, saying it was because of “different philosophy” – a most shocking statement from the architect of Pakatan Harapan government’s ICERD mistake without preparing the ground in the country for its ratification.

But two great “shockers” of contempt for Rukun Negara happened outside Parliament, (I) the claim by the UMNO Youth leader, Asyraf Wajdi Dusuk, that UMNO was now “cleaner” than Bersatu, after Bersatu was hit with two support letter scandals in two weeks; and (ii) and the call by the newly-minted Bersatu youth chief, Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal, calling for vernacular schools to be phased out - bearing testimony to the truism that a short-cut in Malaysian politics is for irresponsible politicians to polarise Malaysians by resorting to extremist views on politics of race and religion.

With such solar plexus blows, can Rukun Negara retain its essence, purpose and usefulness in nation-building – a question which all Ministers should answer.