WikiLeaks’ revelation about how Singapore leaders view PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak is only the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Simply put, you can’t immediately erase conditioned thinking quickly. Malaysian leaders in general, and not just Najib alone, are regarded as “deficient” in many aspects. So, as BG Yeo, Singapore’s foreign minister, said “let’s not take this out of context.” Perhaps, this general patronising impression about Malaysia’s leaders is making the rounds as cocktail circuit bitchy talk only. Our diplomats and the well-heeled are making the same bitchy remarks about the PM and his wife. So what is new?
I shall leave out some of the more damaging remarks Singapore leaders have on Najib. My source is not WikiLeaks but from some source that is well connected to Singapore leaders on a first-hand basis. It’s better than WikiLeaks.
Singapore’s rather condescending assessment on Najib must have accentuated at the time over the way Malaysia handled the issue of KTM land and related matters some time ago. Earlier on, of course, the way we handled Batu Puteh more or less confirmed Singapore’s belief that Malaysian leaders from the information minster to the third-class honours A-G are mentally deficient.
But at this moment, the story of the hour is that Malaysians are more interested in accepting as true what WikiLeaks reported on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Anwar did it, but did it because he was entrapped. If there is any possible means at damage control, it lies in the spin that can be manufactured around the term “entrapment”.
Anwar and his people will, of course, take the revelations as lies and conspiracies and allegations which are not true. Well, if they say what WikiLeaks said about Anwar is not true, THEN they will also have to say the assessment on Najib is also not true. PKR people can’t say that what was said about Anwar isn’t true but then insist what WikiLeaks said about Najib is true, can they?
But Anwar’s people can also say that if what WikiLeaks said about Najib is not true, THEN what it said about Anwar is also not true. WikiLeaks’ revelations about the two leaders cancel each other out then.
But I think Najib’s worries about being assessed unfavourably cannot be as disquieting as having him being more worried about whether his NEM and his economic initiatives will succeed. If he isn’t focused there, his NEM could easily turn out to be his NAM (American GI slang for Vietnam). This could be his Waterloo.
Quite apart from the perception of Singapore’s leaders of him, the perception of OUR people of his various economic initiatives is even more important. So let’s forget about what Singapore thinks of us, forget about WikiLeaks and instead let’s concentrate on what OUR people think of his policies.
So far, the talk that is making the rounds is that the PM has only been announcing this and that. None has been implemented yet. Meanwhile, corporate manoeuvrings facilitated by dubious interference and manipulation by people close to the PM are creating deep disapproval from people. People have not shaken off this mistrust that all his economic initiatives are just means whereby some privileged and well-connected groups of individuals are making a killing.
The owner of Pavilion, for example, has been awarded a RM 1.8 billion deal to supply coaches for the KTM commuter services. The project had been stalled for over a year when they found that the coaches couldn’t run on our tracks. Why did KTM abandon its tender exercise calling for the supply of the coaches halfway and then, suddenly, the owner of Pavilion, who has no experience in the railway, was given this sweetheart deal? How much is the loss at KTM?
As another example, how could YTL Communications be so brazen as to announce that it has been given the 700 MHz spectrum? The talk going around is that YTL got an endorsement from one of the Malay Rulers who then passed the proposal to Najib. Najib’s minuted remarks on that proposal were misconstrued as approval. YTL was absolute confident, given the endorsement from a Malay Ruler. And the eventual written remarks from the PM, probably open ended as usual, convinced YTL it had the 700 MHz in the bag.
First and foremost, Najib should ignore the snide asides from Singaporeans and concentrate on the No. 1 scourge of corruption that has reached endemic levels. — sakmongkol.blogspot.com
* Sakmongkol AK47 is the nom de plume of Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz. He was Pulau Manis assemblyman (2004-2008).
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