Sunday, March 11, 2012

SUPPORT FOR THE PM = SUPPORT FOR BN?

I sometimes wonder if our leaders think before they speak. They must take the rakyat for fools to assume that we believe everything that sprouts from their mouths. The truth is, more often than not, when they do open their mouth, it's to put their foot in it. Take this report in the NST today - "Najib's ratings 'a boost for party'". Since when does one man's improved approval ratings automatically translate into "positive indication of the people's support for BN'? Mana ada logik?

The PM is constantly in the limelight. Pictures of him are in the papers every day, not just on one page but several pages. Whether it's the removal of toll, the scrapping of the Public Service New Remuneration Scheme, the projects launched under the Economic Transformation Programme or the launch of the My First Home Scheme, it's the PM who makes the announcements. It is also the PM who offered his apologies for the mistakes his ruling party made during the last elections, although what these are he has yet to specify.

Shouldn't the respective Ministers be making announcements on behalf of their ministries? Our ministers hardly get their names or pictures in the media, and if they do, it's more often for the wrong reasons, like the Minister of Defence having to defend the fiasco of his multi-billion ringgit Scorpene submarine purchase. Or the soon-to-be former Minister of Women, Family and Community Development having to repeatedly deny that she has anything to do with the National Feedlot Corporation scandal.

The only other minister who is given some media exposure is the Deputy PM who is also the Education Minister. Unfortunately, his statements often reveal his lack of the Malaysian spirit or his ignorance about the status of English in the public exam system. By the way, can you name the Minister of Housing and Local Government? Or the Minister of Works? Or the Minister of Agriculture? Or the Minister of Foreign Affairs? ....I rest my case.

How do we know if they have done a good job if we don't know what they have done? What will their report card show at the end of their 5-year term in office? Will the people have confidence in them to vote them back for another four more years? The PM alone cannot ensure a win for the ruling party. It's about time his cabinet ministers reached out to the people and find out what they can do for the people in their constituency. Perhaps it's already too late.

The Malaysian Cabinet in 2009. Click here for the latest line-up, 

How many of the above ministers and deputy ministers have you read about in the papers since they were appointed in 2008? Look at the ministers again. Do they inspire confidence in their leadership? What are their academic or professional qualifications? How much experience do they have for their post? Does the BN cabinet stand for good governance? Several faces are no longer there today, and by the time you read this, Women, Family and Community Development Minister, Datuk Seri Shahrizat, will be history when her term ends on April 8. (Pix below: Defence Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, and Women, Family and Community Development Minister, Datuk Seri Shahrizat.)



The Malaysian electorate has grown up since the last elections. Thanks to the alternative media and the new social media, we have become more critical and more aware of our rights as citizens. No longer will we listen to what our politicians say and embrace it as the gospel truth. We want to do our own research, we want to do our own thinking and analyzing of what we hear and read.

Come GE-13, we know which party to support, and who to vote for.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

" ... sorrri...maafkan kami for the mistakes in the past ...u help me then i help u lah ....ok ? tq. "

' HEY, dun list out our repeated kesalahans to those idiots ...@#$%^&* ! '

rm500 sudah taken ... hey, dat's our own duit wat & SURELY i tau wat to do come GE13 !

Anonymous said...

"How do we know if they have done a good job if we don't know what they have done?" - end of quote

Yes, we all know what they have done.
Scams and scandals!
Remember, what the cowgate minister said?
“who in UMNO doesn't have problems” ?
Just read that!!
That came from their own minister!!!
One who is in the know!!
So, judge for yourself what sort of government we have for the past five over decades!!!

Peter Yew said...

I'm a little late having just discovered your interesting blog. I think the fault lie in the way the cabinet is constituted by appointment by the PM himself who himself is appointed PM by virtue of his presidency of UMNO. The danger of the system is that it is based on a culture of patronage, you scratch my back I scratch yours, which ignore choosing a cabinet based on eligibility and capability. Worse, with a quota system based on party representation and the practice that nobody can question the way the PM chooses his team you then have the recipe of a team who is not built to deliver their best to manage their respective portfolio but be apple polishers.

I'm sorry but if the system stays status quo we won't see a better government which must be one elected by the Rakyat and not left to the fancy of one man. If Pakatan succeeds in taking over Putrajaya I hope one of their top priorities is a full revamp on how the cabinet is constituted.