Country is divided between those who asked “What’s next for Najib” and those who asked “What’s next for Malaysia?”
August 23, 2022 has proved to be a critical day for Malaysia – which divided the country between those who asked “What’s next for Najib” and those who asked “What’s next for Malaysia”?
Those who asked “What’s next for Najib” have pledged that the “Malu Apa BOSSku” movement will fight on, not realising that the “Malu Apa BOSSku” phenomenon is a Malaysian abomination and had actually done a great disservice to Najib himself.
Those who asked “What’s next for Malaysia” see hope and light that Malaysia is not condemned to be a kleptocracy, kakistocracy, a rogue and failed state but capable of returning to the nation-building principles of the nation’s founding fathers as spelt out in the Constitution and Rukun Negara be a “beacon of light to a difficult and distracted world” – constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy, separation of powers, rule of law, good governance, public integrity, meritocracy, respect for human rights and national unity from our multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural diversity where there are no first-class and second-class citizens whether based on race, religion or region.
August 2022 had been a special month for the country, as many momentous events had occurred.
Firstly, a former Prime Minister sent to jail for the world-infamous RM50 billion 1MDB scandal, which a former US Attorney-General had described as “kleptocracy at its worst”.
Secondly, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report and the declassification of the report of the Special Committee on the Procurement, Governance and Finance (JKSTUPKK) and the forensic audit report carried out by Alliance IFA (M) Sdn. Bhd. on the RM9 billion littoral combatant ship (LCS) scandal, which show that it is no more possible to hide massive scandals and kleptocracy in Malaysia;
Thirdly, the vindication that the political miracle of May 9, 2018 in the 14th General Election which ended the UMNO-BN political hegemony was no “fluke” but the first step in a long journey to bring about a New Malaysia, and although the Pakatan Harapan Government it created was toppled by the Sheraton Move conspiracy after 22 months, it ignited a flame which should be kept alive by a new generation of idealistic and patriotic Malaysians.
Fourthly, the death of one of the greatest Malaysians, Dr. Chen Man Hin, the founding Chairman of DAP, who paid a heavy personal price to lead a sublime life of dedication to justice, freedom and dignity for all Malaysians, regardless of race or religion, and left footprints on the Malaysian sands of time and in the company of other great Malaysians like Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Ismail, Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Tun Sambanthan and Tun Fuad Stephens.
In the month of August 2022 three great issues dominated the country – the supremacy of the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary and good governance in the battle against corruption.
Malaysia believes in the doctrine of separation of powers among the executive, legislature and the judiciary.
Over the last half of a century of the nation’s existence, there had been a powerful Executive at the expense of both the legislature and the judiciary, with the country losing out to one country after another in various fields of human endeavour.
I told a former judge at the wake of Dr. Chen Man Hin that the country has come full circle, and it is now up to the judges to save the founding nation-building principle of the country to become world-class great nation especially with regard to the rule of law, the doctrine of separations of powers and good governance.
A few days ago, I met Tun Daim Zainuddin who expressed regret that the report of the Council of Eminent Persons, of which he was Chairman, had not been made public.
Daim is on record as saying that the New Economic Policy (NEP) should evolve into a national development policy that is focussed on a needs-based approach as opposed to race-based.
He said that although the NEP had its successes, its policy is now rife with shortcomings and abuses.
He had said:
“It is time for a new approach, to start afresh and truly change the lives of those amongst us who are not reaping the rewards of national development. The difference is that we must now target those amongst the rakyat who need assistance the most.
“We can no longer allow Bumiputera interventions to continue to enrich those among us who have benefited from these policies, yet continue to take advantage of loopholes in the policies, to continue enriching themselves at the expense of those who need help.
“We must also acknowledge that although Bumiputeras are indeed disproportionately represented amongst the poor, other races too are deeply affected by poverty and low standards of living.”
For the record, I said the very same thing half a century ago in Parliament on Feb. 23,1971.
The former science adviser to the prime minister, Ahmad Zaharudin Idrus, is of the view that Malaysia had been held back by bureaucracy and corruption – with corruption having seeped into Malaysian bureaucracy at all levels.
In the past half-a-century, Malaysia lost out to Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam.
Will we lose out China and Indonesia before the end of this decade in the annual Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) or TI Global Defence Integrity (GDI) Index?
Will we lose out to more countries in economic development, even to Indonesia and the Philippines, come 2,040 or 2,050?
These are the questions which troubled those who ask “What’s next for Malaysia” but not those who asked: “What’s next for Najib”.