Though it is more than two months since March 8, the Umno-led BN government has not learnt its lessons as to why they did so badly in the general elections. There are main reasons generally known to all Malaysians for BN’s poor performance in the last elections. However, from the reactions by the BN government up to now, it seems like they are avoiding facing reality and blaming everyone else except themselves for their poor showing. How can they change for better if they react like an ostrich, burying its head in the sand?
One of the important issue which eroded its support during this general elections is the decision by the Umno-led BN government to detain the 5 Hindraf leaders under the ISA for their role in highlighting the injustices done to a large section of Indian Malaysians. The silent majority clearly sent the message to Pak Lah that we Malaysians are against ISA detention of not only the Hindraf leaders but of others, too. Up to now Pak Lah and his ‘Yes sir’ ministers have been sticking to their foolish stand that the Hindraf leaders are terrorists without producing any evidence to justify their allegation.
The only right and creditable thing for the Umno-led BN government to do now is to release all ISA detainees immediately or charge them in an open court if they have committed any crime so that they can defend themselves legally. Keeping them under the ISA any further will only ensure BN will never be able to regain the support they once enjoyed among a significant portion of Malaysians voters.
It seems Pak Lah is trying to project himself to be a brave leader when dealing with issues related to Indian Malaysians. He has shown no mercy over the inhuman manner the ISA detainees have been subjected to since their detention. He continues to refuse to take a softer approach on this matter in spite the overwhelming support from Malaysians that they should be released. All calls for their release have fallen on deaf ears though Pak Lah had mentioned many times that he is ‘listening’.
Now, he is threatening to act against Karpal Singh using another bad law, the Sedition Act, for his justifiable legal opinion regarding the sultan’s stand in Perak. Again, he wants to show Malaysians how brave a leader he is when dealing with an ethic minority community. Malaysians in general see Pak Lah as a weak leader unable to make a justifiable stand on all major issues affecting Malaysians.
Charging popular blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin under the Sedition Act is another foolish act by the Umno-led BN government. This is another subject which has been widely covered by others.
With such a stupid attitude by the Umno-led BN government, Malaysians in general may just accept Anwar Ibrahim’s argument that it would morally correct to accept defections from BN MPs to change the federal government so that all injustices done by BN can be corrected by the incoming Pakatan Raykat government.
Pak Lah should act now to redeem some of his credibility by releasing the ISA detainees immediately. Besides, by doing so he will be doing the right thing by letting the voters of Kota Alam Shah have the services of their elected representative, M Manogaran.
