To save the PM or the Party?


umar mukhtar

Umar Mukhtar

Consider these: A Prime Minister whose wife loves Birkin handbags, yet would let his son-in-law pay for his only daughter’s lavish wedding. A Prime Minister whose only statement on 1MDB in Parliament was challenged as untrue, with no reply. A Prime Minister who is silent about serious allegations against him except for the occasional yells of deny, deny, deny.

A Prime Minister who doesn’t address critical issues but spend energy galvanising party support instead. A Prime Minister with as if in a seige mentality trying to attract sympathy. A Prime Minister who allows half-past-six cyber troopers to defend him in gibberish in cyberspace. A Prime Minister whose pockets of earnest support is diminishing by day.

Something is rotten in the Federation of Malaysia. The only reason business is as usual is because right-thinking Malaysians see to it that there should be no interruptions that will enable anti-national elements to prevail. Not because they agree to whatever is going on. They want to see an end to it.

Impeachment proceedings would have been the order of the day if we are in the United States. But not in Bolehland. We wait and watch the cat-fights and wait for who will be exhausted first. Sure, we have PRU14 to to look forward to for our say on the matter. By that time, however, issues of race and religion will hold sway and we will be the end-losers in the fog of one-upmanship. Such is Malaysian politics.

Asking the Auditor-General to investigate without known Terms of Reference for the Rakyat to monitor progress and direction of investigations is lame governance. His hardcore supporters are beginning to invoke inappropriate sentiments such as saying that 1MDB is a small matter to be ignored, that somebody else did worse in the past and got away with it. As if two wrongs make one right.

Time does heal. It also makes one forget. Who controls the pace of investigations? He holds sway unless we continuously to speak up and remain focused on the relevant issues at hand. We must remain united as Malaysians against crime. Meanwhile, we watch our beloved country regress decades of progress and eventually we will be made to hate each other over other people’s transgression.

Time also brings consequences not completely under his control. Skeptical non-believers that the alleged transgression did occur are themselves beginning to wonder at the stone-walling, the weird statements, the idiotic ministers. These skeptics will eventually migrate to the other side. Especially when there’s a limit to the goodies you can give for them to remain quiet.

Do you save the Prime Minister at the expense of the party or do you save the party at the expense of the Prime Minister? Sounds profound and heavy, thrust on people who rarely think. Why has it got to be either? Because the proponents of both sides lead you by the nose to think these are the only choices. Things can be confusing because pots and kettles are all black.

Prime Ministers come and go and can be replaced, they say, but the party is irreplaceable. Really? Where’s the original UMNO? You don’t save the party by sweeping things under the carpet either! Wow, so complex matters, when the issue is simply if you let people steal your money under your very noses, even the party is not worth saving.

It will take many days to sort things out. But Najib would do well to also count his last days as the PM. His timing may be the difference between graceful withdrawal and forced dismissal. The latter has unpalatable consequences.

 



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