Najib Razak has undoubtedly the largest election war chest in the country and has bought over of many operatives to serve his cause to return as 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia in the 15GE

What a contrast – one brother asking for a reset of national policies and institutions and another brother dreaming about returning as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Undoubtedly, Najib Razak has the largest election war chest in the country and has bought over many operatives to serve his cause to return as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia in the 15th General Election.

In the initiative started by Nazir Razak and 54 others for a reset of national policies and institutions to realize the original aspirations of becoming a nation of Malaysians, there is recognition that there had been “negative side effects” of the nation-building policies in the past half-a-century which has led to “heightened corruption, the hardening of identity politics and concentration of power” which “feed on each other and are at the heart of Malaysia’s systemic dysfunction today”.

The signatories for a “Better Malaysia Assembly” said Malaysia suffered more from Covid-19 pandemic in both healthcare and economic terms than their counterparts in most nations – endemic corruption, political instability, slow economic growth, high talent outflow and persistent inter-communal tensions.

Malaysia must reset its nation-building policies if we are to arrest the process where one country after another is overtaking us, whether in international competitiveness or in establishing good governance in the country especially in the war against corruption.

We have lost out to Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam – and if we do pull ourselves up by the bootstraps, we will be overtaken by Indonesia.

Recently, a political analyst wrote about “The Dark Forces Changing Malaysian Society”, and one of these “dark forces” identified is “Corruption”, where 1MDB scandal is described as “only the tip of the iceberg”.

The return of Najib as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia in the 15th general election will be against all ideas of a reset of national policies and institutions – in fact kill all possibility of the country becoming a world-class great nation by before Malaysia’s Centennial in 2057.