I refer to Malaysiakini report 81 MPs ask king to put off Najib's appointment .
I am afraid the last ditch attempt by 81 MPs from the opposition front asking the King to put off Najib’s appointment as the new premier of this country was an exercise in futility as the die has been cast. With him being sworn by the King at 10 am this morning,, his appointment as the new prime minister of this country is sealed.
No matter how much allegations are made against Najib, at the end of the day the premier still has the numbers in parliament to claim his stake for the top post in government. Unlike other democratic countries, our aspirants for high posts in the government do not have to go for a rigorous test before they are appointed to their political office.
Never before has a person with so much baggage made it to the top post in the government with ease. In other robust democratic countries, politicians who have too many skeletons in their closet will not make past the early rounds.
Those politicians who are involved in scandals or are caught telling lies have been known to resign from office or they would be voted out in the next elections.
But over here, the standard for political ethics is very low. Politicians whose hands are dirty treat state subsidiaries as piggy banks to fund trips to Disneyland overseas or they received huge commissions for arms purchases by the military. And they still remain in office regardless what the public says.
With less than four years to show results, it will be a tall order for the new premier to perform as graft and abuse of power is fully ingrained in the system. It will be a herculean task for him to reform the government as his two predecessors failed to do that.
The outcome of the coming three by-elections will determine our country’s future. If the opposition front can make a clean sweep of the three seats contested, then it bodes well for their desire to govern the country come the next general elections which should be held l by 2011 at the latest.
An enormous challenge awaits our new premier. Not only is the economy on the doldrums, our political situation is not stable and the people are still angry with the government for its failure to address all the ills that affect society especially the abject poor who find it difficult to make ends meet.
There is also the major layoff of workers in the manufacturing and high tech industries due to the reduced global demand for Malaysian products. Even crime is on the increase as during bad times, jobless people resort to crime to feed their families.
A glimmer of hope is that Najib will tap the best people to lead us out of this malaise and regain our past glory. Much is at stake here and the new premier will be under tremendous pressure to reform for the better.
While other prime ministers had it easy when they held high office in this country, Najib’s will not have it easy when he takes power. The crises which affect our country can make or break any man who wants to lead the nation. Will the new premier live up to the people’s expectations? Only God knows.
The other alternative is to vote him out of office if he doesn’t deliver and get his chief nemesis, Anwar Ibrahim elected as the seventh prime minister after the next general elections.
Yes, our nation is at a crossroads so may a good leader, regardless of whether he is from BN or Pakatan Rakyat - step forth to lead us out of the storm that we are facing now.
Where is the Malaysian Obama who can help us ride out our economic meltdown? So far there is none as our politicians seem to be more interested in bickering among themselves rather than looking at the big picture.
