Najib is up to his tricks again, encouraged by Marcos Jr’s presidential electoral success in the Philippines, spreading false allegation against his opponents by his army of cybertroopers
Former Prime Minister Najib Razak is up to his tricks again, encouraged by Marcos Junior’s presidential electoral success in the Philippines, spreading false allegation against his opponents by his army of cybertroopers.
He accused me of inciting the Malaysian public by questioning whether Malaysia will suffer the same fate as Sri Lanka, when I asked whether the houses of the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Malaysia will be set on fire by angry protestors as happened in Sri Lanka last week.
Having asked the question, I had immediately said:
“This is not going to happen today, this month or this year, but will it happen before Malaysia marks its Centennial in 2057 or 2063?
“Are we following in the footsteps of Sri Lanka, at one time a ‘jewel’ in terms of development prospects in South Asia?”
A bona fide politician will know that I am not advocating violence - the burning of the houses of the Prime Minister and Ministers – but warning that we should learn from the lessons of Sri Lanka and not allow the political and socio-economic conditions in Malaysia to deteriorate to a failed state as happened in Sri Lanka for over half a century.
I had at first used the heading “Will the houses of the Prime Minister and Ministers of Malaysia be set on fire by an angry protesters as happened in Sri Lanka last week?” for my statement but my political secretary and experienced lawyer, Syahredzan Johan, was of the view that the heading could be accused by some irresponsible people of inciting unrest.
I do not agree with this view but I have no objection to change the heading to “Can Malaysia learn from the lessons of Sri Lanka?”, as my intention was not to incite any unrest as clearly stated in my statement, but to warn of the dangers of allowing the political and socio-economic conditions to deteriorate as happened in Sri Lanka for over half a century as to become a failed state, where Sri Lanka defaulted on its debt for the first time in its 70-year history, and where Sri Lankans suffered soaring inflation of over 30% and severe shortage of medicines, fuel, foods and other essentials.
But I expected political desperados and opportunists, through their propagandists and cybertroopers, to twist and distort the meaning and purpose of my statement as one of incitement, but I had not expected a former Prime Minister to head the charge.
I had asked why Sri Lanka, once South Asia’s most promising nation in the nineteen fifties , had come to such a terrible mess and observed that while Malaysia had not fulfilled her potential in economic development, Sri Lanka had done worse.
In GDP growth, Malaysia grew some 90 times from 1970 to 2020, but South Korea grew by over 180 times, Singapore by over 170 times, China by over 160 times, and Indonesia by some 110 times – while Sri Lanka GDP grew by only 32 times.
In GDP per capita terms, South Korea grew by over 80 times during 1970-2020, Singapore grew by over 50 times, China by over 40 times and Indonesia by some 35 times. Malaysia grew only by some 25 times, but Sri Lanka was worse – by some 12 times.
During Najib’s tenure as Prime Minister from 2009-2018, Sri Lanka grew faster than Malaysia, both in GDP and GDP per capita terms.
In fact, during Najib’s premiership, Malaysia was the slowest economy in ASEAN, whether in GDP and GDP per capita terms.
Will Najib’s cybertroopers paint the nine years of Najib’s premiership as Malaysia “golden era” in economic development and growth?
For Najib’s information, I have retired from competitive politics, but not from politics – and every Malaysian, in fact, every human being, must counter the pandemic of disinformation, fake news and lies in the present infodemic era.