he timing of the 13th general election is still anybody's guess. But however fickle and indecisive Prime Minister Najib Razak's government is, the sands of time are fast slipping away. GE-13 must be held by April 2013, but due to Umno's internal polls next year, snap national elections are likely to be held within 6 months. And like it or not both, Najib and his deputy have begun to court voters in their own styles.
Showy and lavish as ever, Najib chose to give football fans a treat at his official residence recently. It was a clever move to garner much needed support from the Malaysian middle ground. The aim was to give an image of a prime minister that is a huge Manchester United fan, who tweets and attends rock concerts. Words like “cool” and “awesome” seem to be the by-word with the PM when addressing his many 'adoring fans'.
However, it was a different scene with his deputy, Muhyiddin Yassin. The stodgy DPM has been busy fixing a leaky boat, and he seems to be more concerned about the political survival of UMNO and BN. Also the BN depuy chairman, Muhyiddin said he has begun meeting parties in the coalition regarding their preparation to face the next general election. So far, he has met with six component parties. "I fear that if they take their own sweet time to resolve the problems, it may pose a problem for us," he told a news conference.
In an awful mess
Back in 2008, it was due to internal bickering within UMNO that BN lost its grip on 5 states. And this problem may continue to dog UMNO and BN in the runup to the 13th General Election, which is expected to be called within the next few months.
MCA and Gerakan continue to fumble and create bad images of themselves with their obvious lack of direction, while the silence from MIC is too deafening. As for coalition boss UMNO, it has taken to demonising Christians and it is strange that none of its BN 'partners' have spoken up at all, especially considering that Christians from 10 per cent of the population.
BN is a mess, and they know it. They also know that Malaysians know it too. The recent released Auditor-General's report has drawn comments in a big way, from netizens who have taken the initiative to download their own copies from the AG website and to read for themselves the misconducts of various agencies and ministries under Najib’s watch.
Najib's legacy
The abuses are rampant and in most instances, it is a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing. And this is the government that Muhyiddin may inherit if Malaysians vote BN back to power again in GE-13.
This is Najib’s legacy. A broken and inefficient government that is more hype and glamour but in reality is nothing different to a sinking ship. There is clear disconnect between the Executive and the reality on the ground. On one hand the Executive is saying that Malaysians will enjoy cheaper food stuffs - for example a RM3 meal, but in reality it is closer to RM6.
The Executive also talks about a high income society but how can this be accomplished when we can’t even decide on the use of English for education, plus various schools as indicated in the Auditor-General's Report have no access to filtered drinking water because there is no electricity to run the water pumps in the schools.
Imagine, our institutions of learning lack the basics of water and electricity and this is in peninsular Malaysia. We have yet to touch on the deplorable conditions of the schools in rural Sabah and Sarawak!
Time for BN to take a vacation
And as Muhyiddin busies himself with meeting the component parties and trouble shooting their problems so as to keep the BN in power come GE-13, Najib is busy garnering support from middle Malaysia. The emphasis is on winning and winning big but reality is not addressed by either men.
Muhyiddin said much remained to be done to ensure that the people understood the determination and sincerity of the BN in wanting to help them. This is a moronic statement from Muhyiddin. BN has had 50-over years to prove itself, and it is time Malaysians get some credible service at last. Perhaps, it is time Malaysians give BN leave to do some soul searching and allow another to take charge of government.
