{"id":4138,"date":"2010-12-19T15:25:21","date_gmt":"2010-12-19T07:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buletinonline.net\/v7\/index.php\/2010\/12\/will-rakyat-reprimand-najib\/"},"modified":"2010-12-19T15:25:21","modified_gmt":"2010-12-19T07:25:21","slug":"will-rakyat-reprimand-najib","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/will-rakyat-reprimand-najib\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Rakyat reprimand Najib&#8230;&#8230;.."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>not to call for a Snap Election?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Last week Najib has warned the Malaysian electorates not to gamble their future voting the opposition in the 13<sup>th<\/sup> General Election (GE). Najib and his BN leaders are not making it  secret that the GE is going to be held soonest. How soon will have to  depend on their intelligence report whether the BN will have a chance to  secure victory, regain their lost 2\/3 majority in the parliament and  perhaps wrestle back their lost states.<\/p>\n<p>That the BN-controlled media is on a frenzy to inject the \u2018feel-good\u2019  factor for the embattled PM is an understatement. Likewise any chance  of depicting the Pakatan leaders and Pakatan-led states weren\u2019t spared.  Any opportunity is turned into a huge political meal. The spins, on  numerous occasions, have inadvertently boomeranged back on them very  adversely and painfully too.<\/p>\n<p>The latest is about the infamous Wikileaks\u2019 expose by the  Umno\/BN-media, of the Singapore intelligence\u2019s \u2018report\u2019 to their  Australian and US counterparts, whose damage on Najib arguably far  surpasses the intended harm on DSAI.<\/p>\n<p>Umno\/BN-controlled media is now frantic to reverse the fallout. They  no longer could decide which way to go as the \u2018revelation\u2019 has a life  and momentum of its own.<\/p>\n<p>As they say it, you can\u2019t pick up one end of the stick without  picking up the other\u2026 a collateral damage of sort, where you can\u2019t  select the real outcome. They wanted the people to believe Wikileak when  it involves the Opposition Leader and yet they don\u2019t want the people to  believe Wikileaks when it pertains to the PM.<\/p>\n<p>If that wasn\u2019t enough to dent Najib\u2019s bullishness to get an early  mandate for his premiership, this small piece is now reminding Najib and  more importantly encouraging the Malaysian electorates, especially of  the civil liberty movement, to not allow Najib, at his whims and  fancies, conduct a snap election. This piece will now argue why Najib  shouldn\u2019t take the Malaysian electorates for a \u2018ride\u2019, again.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, this writer is willing to admit that Najib has indeed vouched to  do a lot of things. Yes, the list gets longer by the day. The fact  remains, however, that he hasn\u2019t delivered as yet.<\/p>\n<p>The rakyat shouldn\u2019t fall into the rut twice, ie when giving to his  immediate predecessor a big mandate when he called for a snap election  of the 11<sup>th<\/sup> GE, 6 months after assuming the premiership. All he had before the GE were promises.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, he was Mr Clean, at least prior to taking office. But many  argued that he was later proven to be neither clean nor reliable on  delivery. War against corruption saw Kasitah Gaddam and Eric Chia being  dragged to Court. The rest were history. Are all these about to again be  repeated with the same story line?<\/p>\n<p>If Najib has unashamedly reminded the rakyat to not gamble their  future with opposition, the rakyat should now likewise ask Najib why  they should gamble their lives with him. Yes they might be willing to  believe his story and all his good-wishes but they should insist that he  proves himself and complete his term.<\/p>\n<p>His too many rherotics and big-sounding acronyms of the NKRAs, NKEAs,  SRIs, NEM, ETP and EPPs etc, should be given enough time to yield  results. His penchant for flip-flop on numerous instances deny him the  right to be given the \u2018goodwill\u2019 Pak Lah was granted as a new PM.<\/p>\n<p>Najib must be again told that he is the only Prime Minister in our  political history that came into office carrying a huge political  baggage which might have disqualified him and derailed his dream of  becoming the Right Honourable PM.<\/p>\n<p>Bluntly put, he is less than deserving of being granted that \u2018goodwill\u2019 as a new PM embarking his first GE.<\/p>\n<p>Worse still, Umno\u2019s penchant for selective \u00a0amnesia and arrogance are  notorious especially after victory is achieved. The rakyat now fear  that Najib will \u2018badawied\u2019 it again in much worse style than his former  boss \u2013 in a legacy of lost opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>Najib must moreover not be allowed to recklessly place state  governments and their rakyat, the Pakatan\u2013led states included, into  jeopardy. State governments especially of the Pakatan\u2019s, \u00a0have planned  their reform programs and crafted their budget to serve and undo the  many sins of omissions and commissions of the previous governments.<\/p>\n<p>Against numerous odds, that surely requires time and hard-work to get  to be executed. Arguably they do need the full term or closer to one,  for a proper execution of their programmes and to carry their stated  intentions to fruition.<\/p>\n<p>Their contention of not wanting to condone Najib\u2019s snap election,  hence early dissolution of their state assemblies is understandable much  as it is commendable.<\/p>\n<p>Najib must not be allowed by the rakyat to get off the hook so  easily. As the seating government of the day, they must firstly assume  full responsibility for their policy advocacy.<\/p>\n<p>His subsidy rationalization has now urged Research Houses both  locally and regionally to predict an increase of inflationary pressure  by mid 2011.<\/p>\n<p>CIMB Research\u2019s report released last Monday anticipated that the  subsidy cuts add pressure to the consumer price index (CPI). The report  added that although the direct impact on the CPI appears manageable for  now, one should also be mindful of the indirect spillover effects.<\/p>\n<p>The government has increased in the latest round on subsidy  rationalization the price of RON95 by five sen to RM1.90\/litre, while  diesel price was also raised by five sen to RM1.80\/litre. Sugar price  rose by 20 sen to RM2.10\/kg, and LPG price went up five sen to  RM1.90\/kg.<\/p>\n<p>They opined that the estimate of the combined price hikes will result  in a 0.2% point rise in the headline inflation (fuel price adds 0.18%  pt, sugar +0.03% pt and LPG +0.01% pt).<\/p>\n<p>The CIMB head economist also raises the CPI forecast higher to 3%  from 2.5% previously involving retail prices of food and beverage and  the transportation sectors..<\/p>\n<p>In its report, RHB Research Institute also came to the conclusion  that the latest hike\u2019s impact would be manageable but inflation would  likely trend up next year due to the government\u2019s gradual move to reduce  subsidies every six months. This in turn would lead to higher retail  fuel and food prices.<\/p>\n<p>RHB Research also said that rising global commodity prices due to  monetary easing in developed countries would likely result in higher  food prices and inflation.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile the rakyat must be weary of the rising household debts  which rose to 77.9% (RM420 billion) of GDP at end of July this year and  that Najib must insist that that the central bank ought to introduce  measures to curb this troubling trend. Incidentally, up to 87,583  individuals were declared bankrupt up to October this year, with 4,651  or 5.1% due to unpaid credit card debts.<\/p>\n<p>The non-performing loans ratios (NPLs) in Malaysia is expected to  come under pressure next year as the country faces a more challenging  global and domestic environment. Malaysia as open economy would not be  insulated from any shocks related to the external environment.<\/p>\n<p>There is general concern over the direction of the world economy as  the United States struggles to prop its economy via further \u2018quantitatve  easing\u2019, while China comes up with a string of measures to cool its  economy.<\/p>\n<p>Given the anticipated troubling and uncertain environment, it is all  the more important that the rakyat should put Najib and his government  to task. Najib might have been (ill-) advised by his intelligence and  international consultants, not the least is his APCO Worlwide, to  quickly conduct a snap election before scenario deteriorates.<\/p>\n<p>The Malaysian electorates and the rakyat should now stand to resist  this. No longer should the rakyat be shortchanged and hoodwinked by the  Umno\/BN regime. Najib must\u00a0be fully\u00a0committed to transforming and  reforming his government, before rushing to seek for another mandate.<\/p>\n<p>Will the rakyat now reprimand Najib not to call for a snap election?<\/p>\n<p><strong>** Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, Member of Parliament for Kuala Selangor.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>not to call for a Snap Election? Last week Najib has warned the Malaysian electorates not to gamble their future voting the opposition in the 13th General Election (GE). Najib and his BN leaders are not making it secret that the GE is going to be held soonest. How soon will have to depend on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"better_featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4138"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}