All Alone Now

By Zainal Epi

KUALA LUMPUR: Najib Tun Razak needs help. Najib is all alone. The prime minister cuts a lonely figure at the top as he surveys the dismal scene below: his coalition forces – the Barisan Nasional – are not backing his pet projects and concepts. Neither are the Malays. He is carrying his causes on his shoulder and walking a solitary path while all about him his “soldiers are going in different directions”. They are not following his orders, they are deviating from the targets.

Najib needs support for his ambitious goals but so far, nothing is coming his way. He has pulled many rabbits out of his hat but two are close to his heart: 1Malaysia and the New Economic Model (NEM).

The NEM is a bold plan to “transform the Malaysian economy to become one with high income and quality growth by 2020”. Najib was all fired up with this mission and thought he would receive unqualified support from all, especially the Malays.

But a Malay right-wing NGO led by a firebrand named Ibrahim Ali shot the down the NEM. He simply told Najib to his face that the Malays have rejected the NEM for its perceived threat to their special economic rights. The maverick politician was not a voice in the wilderness. He commands wide support among the Malays who loved his extreme pro-Malay views. Even Umno members have drifted to his camp in droves.

If the Malays did not fall in love with the ugly NEM, they also did not swoon over the 1Malaysia beauty. At first the concept was greeted with a roar of approval, mostly from the non-Malays. But soon its beauty faded as the Malays turned against it, seeing it as an insidious attempt to destroy the the interests of the Malays while championing the causes of the non-Malays.

The other races read nothing sinister in 1Malaysia and were quite enthusiastic about it, even calling for equal opportunities for all. They believe the call to unity also means giving all races access to opportunities in the various fields of endeavour.

Testing the waters

Maybe Najib was testing the waters to see if his beloved 1Malaysia would be embraced wholeheartedly when he introduced it to the public. To his dismay, the response from the Malays was not encouraging. Perkasa especially smelled something fishy about the whole show. It did not like all this talk about unity since this can translate into equality for all to the detriment of the Malay status.

His isolation continues to grow. Even former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had distanced himself from Najib when he questioned the 1Malaysia concept. Matters didn't help when Najib's second in command Muhyiddin Yassin himself seems to put his Malayness first and Malaysian identity second.

Najib is caught in a bind: the Malays do not share his message of unity when the underlying theme is equality which they feel will sound the death knell for their special place in the country. By degrees, the Malays are becoming cynical: If 1Malaysia treat all races equally then why the need for vernacular schools since 1Malaysia calls for a united Malaysian race with one language? But then the Chinese and the Indian communities will not give up their vernacular education.

Are the other BN leaders helping out to translate NEM and 1Malaysia into reality? The consensus is that even Najib's partners are not doing enough to get the message across to their communities. The MCA is only pushing for a level playing field while the MIC is pressing for more rights. The two are drifting away from Najib.

Najib is all alone even among the civil servants – the backbone of the country. Their chief Sidik Hassan had recently issued a memo directing all civil servants to report to their superiors any recommendation letters from politicians for favours.

Najib appears unable to intervene or put the number one civil servant in his place. It has been the practice ever since independence for politicians who are MPs or assemblymen or ministers to submit recommendations to the government on behalf of their constituents.

As elected representatives, they are looked upon by their voters as the link to the all-important civil service force. Without their recommendations, voters will find it difficult to get civil servants to approve their application for, say, scholarship or a place in public universities for their children.

A recommendation is more often than not a passport to success. With a recommendation, civil servants can verify the applicants' background. But now with the directive from Sidik, civil servants will not dare entertain the applications.

For Najib, the Sidik directive can only spell more troubles ahead. The directive has effectively diluted the role of elected representatives as the link to the voters who are party members and supporters of the ruling coalition.

Forlorn battle

Najib had more bad news with Felda as he is fighting a forlorn battle to explain the plantation's financial position to allay fears that it had gone bankrupt. It appears to be a losing case.

Umno information chief Ahmad Maslan, who is also Deputy Minister in Prime Minister's Department, had said Felda would sue Suara Keadilan for making the allegation but until today no action was taken.

Words have it that Felda is collecting all the data before bringing the case to court but bloggers and some Malay observers are sceptical that this would happen.

“I spoke to several people in Felda and until today, I have not seen anything in the court,” said one blogger.

Several other issues are pushing Najib into a corner. His attempts to get back the states lost in the 2008 general election are turning out to be a one-man show – his allies are too busy squabbling among themselves to join forces with him.

Instead of conducting programmes to help party members and supporters understand Najib’s new policies, the fractured coalition is more interested in seeking equality for all races from Najib.

In their haste to champion the cause of their respective communities, they fail to see that they are supposed to enhance Najib’s position by strengthening his policies.

They failed to work alongside Najib to explain his policies that could enhance and strengthen unity and the economy.

In Umno, Najib is alone trying to strengthen the party while division heads continue to advance their own agenda to stay on in their posts.

With just two years to go to the next general election, Najib is still walking alone in the corridors of power. He alone is struggling with a heavy baggage filled with many unresolved issues –Altantuya Shaariibuu, Scorpion submarines, Sime Darby, Felda, cronyism... and the list goes on.

Indeed, Najib is all alone at the top.

FMT