PM’s ‘children of this soil’ rings hollow for Ambiga

 Vijay47: A correction, Ambiga Sreenevasan: it is not “a perception that the words of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak are hollow”.

The deceit in everything that Najib piously spews is as real and obvious as elephants dancing in the room. That he invariably acts directly contrary to what he promises has become such an established truth, that one actually fears whatever this snake-oil seller pledges.

Assurances to the non-Malays, to the Christians and other non-Muslims, promises to make the public service racially balanced, to remove the Sedition Act and a host of other noble words.

Has he honoured any of these? Has he even once condemned the dangerous statements by Perkasa and similar lunatics?

A spineless man, a worthless prime minister who holds that the best way of executing his duties is to flee the country at the first sign of impending challenge, what confidence can he expect from a nation lost in despair over his silence and absence?

The only thing you repeatedly confirm, Najib, is that good speeches are a dime a dozen.

M Manoharan: If Indians are the “sons and daughters of this soil”, why are Indians still plagued with problems such as their places of worship being questioned, education (many Tamil schools are still partially aided), employment (no job opportunities in both government and private sectors), housing and citizenship (many are still squatters), etc?

Abasir: Ambiga, you shouldn’t take this chap seriously, take him serially, but never seriously.

My sources tell me he has a curious need to mindlessly read whatever his coterie of ‘advisers’ put before him. I believe, however, that they do so at his behest.

Remember that famous speech where he exhorted youth to emulate the bravery of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)? Remember that solemn pledge to build the world’s greatest democracy? And the equally momentous speech when he swore to do away with the Sedition Act?

If there is one thing the Spineless, Feckless One has perfected, it is playing to the gallery.

The Analyser: It’s my opinion that Malaysians are so totally consumed with negativity towards Umno that they have overlooked everything else. This attitude is not helped by the fact that in your almost total insecurity, you fall all over yourself heaping the blame for everything onto Umno.

This situation has been most effectively demonstrated by the performance of PKR. An alternative party had the world at their feet and an immense amount of goodwill at their disposal, but instead of capitalising on all that goodwill, they frittered it away doing what Malaysians do best – complaining and being negative.

When they should have been advancing a philosophy for a new and different Malaysia, they were wasting chance after chance.

Don’t Malaysians ever take any notice of how election campaigns are run in the free world? Or am I being incredibly naive in thinking Malaysians want freedom and democracy in preference to the Islamic or Chinese model of authoritarian governance?

In my opinion, the lessons learnt from the past few years are: (1) A coalition of parties will never work. It won’t work because the egos and ambitions of the ‘leaders’ are the only things that the parties have to offer a coalition.

None of the three Pakatan component parties have any progressive philosophy to offer Malaysians. Who wants an Islamic state? Who wants another Singapore? Who wants another era of Mahathirism with Anwar Ibrahim as the demigod?

(2) You will never beat Umno by playing by Umno’s rules of race, religion and cunning. Umno is a government with no vision – not even short-term vision – and no ethics. They lurch from one project to the next, decisions being made on the basis of greed.

So, there’s your answer: be as unlike Umno as you can be. Start thinking, start planning, start including the people in your plans and get rid of the outdated old men who have been dominating politics. Do that and you will leave Umno floundering.

Headhunter: No matter what, this nation will never be united and great as long as Malaysians are classified into race and religion, while wealth and opportunities are dispensed according to such classifications.

Had this not been so and we were all treated equally, today we would all live as a happy, prosperous and benevolent nation.

Alas, our right to live as one has been hijacked by BN for the last 50 years. Unless the political landscape changes, this unhappy situation will remain as long as BN is in power.

1Malaysia: Ah Jib’s (Najib) speech writers are not in sync with the ground realities, and Ah Jib will proudly read the whole script. Time and time again, another group of Ah Jib’s consultants are busy doing damage control for the wrong reason. History will keep on repeating…

Desperate for Change: MIC fighting. Umno sinking. PM holidaying and golfing. Rakyat suffering. Now we never hear about ‘1Malaysia’ anymore.

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