An evaluation of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s speech at the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Oct 1, 2015
#DearNajb
Congratulations, Mr Prime Minister, on successfully delivering your speech at the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York recently.
And I have just read the full text of your speech featured in the New Straits Times on Oct 3 and listened to you speech online recently.
As the past president of an advanced Toastmasters club in Kuala Lumpur, it is apt for me to give you an evaluation of your speech in order for you, the prime minister of Malaysia, to improve the next delivery of your speech.
I would give you an objective evaluation, rather than an evaluation based on my subjective views of your speech.
My evaluation would be divided into three parts: the good; the bad and the improvement you need to work on your speech next time.
I must say that I enjoy your speech to a certain extent, and I have learned more about you, as a prime minister, and Islam, a religion of peace, moderation and justice, respectively.
First, your speech was well rehearsed, and well-crafted. You possess a clear voice and had near-perfect enunciation of all the English words. You had good eye contact with the audience and your hand gestures were well-coordinated with your speech.
You do have a firm grasp of the English language as the number of beautiful phrases employed in your speech can attest to that: Islam - a religion of peace, moderation and justice; authentic Islam; fertile soil; main drivers of the current migration crisis; you will not enter paradise until you have faith; walk the Earth humbly; our tireless, ever-vigilant security forces; a land where many faiths and ethnicities freely prosper and thrive; a historic achievement; an exemplary display of moderation in action; resonates with Muslims worldwide; that which is hateful to you, don’t do to your fellow human being; the Golden Rule; herald the dawn of ; moderation is key.
If anyone asks me what the overriding theme of your speech is, I would say your speech appeals to the world that people around the world must transcend their faith and race and work together through peaceful means and make the world a better place.
Besides, a clarion call for peace between Muslims and Jews in you speech is a noble goal, a magnanimous gesture, and a courageous act to bridge the divide between Muslims and Jews. And if Muslims and Jews could live in peace, that would be a game-changer.
Finally, you did get five big rounds of applause throughout your speech. Well done.
Suggestions for improvement
Now, I would talk about the flaws in your speech and recommend suggestions for improvement in your speech.
First, when you started to address the audience, and throughout your speech, you just mentioned “Mr President” a number of times, without addressing the audience by saying “ladies and gentlemen”.
It seemed that you were giving the speech to the president of the UN General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft only, but not the members of the audience. But the preposterous thing is that he was standing behind you throughout your speech.
Whereas in Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech, he employed the phrase, “ladies and gentlemen” close to 10 times and he didn’t even mention “Mr President” even once.
Likewise in Barack Obama’s speech, he just mentioned “Mr President” and “ladies and gentlemen” only once. At least he addressed the audience.
Mr Prime Minister, I suppose you are a ‘wise’ man. A speech is delivered to change the world of people, not to a particular person.
I was appalled to observe that during the first two minutes of your speech, you wife, Rosmah Mansor, was seen half asleep, appearing drowsy and the minister sitting next to her was playing on his mobile phone. Clearly, and obviously, the Malaysian contingent just paid scant attention to your speech. Your speech failed to grab the attention of the audience, even your next of kin and ministers.
Comparing your speech to Benjamin Netanyahu’s and Obama’s speeches, I could see the team of ministers in Netanyahu’s and Obama’s camps were listening with rapt attention, spellbound.
Although you had good hand gestures to help articulate your speech, at times your hands or fingers locked together, a gesture only manifested in novices at public speaking. If you observe Obama’s and Netanyahu’s speeches, they never did this throughout their speeches.
I was wondering whether you have a proper speech coach.
Your speech lacked emotion and vocal variety. When you mentioned, “ It’s sickening, and there could be no greater a slur on Islam...” You could have shown stronger emotion, like anger, and raised your voice to drive the message home.
You hardly paused during your speech. In fact, when you uttered “it’s sickening...”, you could have paused a few seconds to let the idea sink in. Powerful pauses in a speech are the hallmark of an accomplished speaker.
Let’s look at powerful pauses deployed by Obama in his UN speech: we have pressed forward (pause 1-2 secs), slowly (pause 1-2secs), steadily (pause 1-2 secs).
And Netanyahu is a master of powerful pauses whereby he paused for almost 45 seconds at one point, staring at the audience in the eye.
Well-rehearsed canned speech
Obama’s and Netanyahu’s speeches looked natural whereas your speech sounded like a well-rehearsed canned speech, devoid of flexibility and spontaneity.
Again, do you have a speech coach to guide you for your speech, Mr Prime Minister?
On two occasions, I saw you use your hand to wipe your nose and face, which was uncalled for in a formal address in the UN.
Mr Prime Minister, I understand that it’s maddeningly difficult to remain perfect in a speech. However, I firmly believe anyone receiving proper feedback could make good progress in his next talk.
After observing your speech, I have an overwhelming feeling that your speech smacks of Martin Luther King, Jr’s legendary speech - ‘I Have a Dream’ as well as former US president Lyndon Johnson’s speech, ‘We Shall Overcome’.
How?
In the conclusion of your speech, “People around the world cry out for our help. We cannot - we must not - pass on by.”
In Lyndon Johnson’s speech, “We cannot, we must not, refuse to protect the right of every American to vote in every election that he may desire to participate in.”
You appealed to the audience, “And I call on the Umma to rise with one voice, and let the world ring when we say to IS.”
Martin Luther King, Jr echoed in his speech:
“From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.”
In your speech, “Only when we look at images of desperate migrants... and see not strangers, but our brothers and sisters.”
In the speech, ‘I have a dream’, “little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”
I strongly feel that your speech lives under the shadow of Martin Luther King, Jr’s speech. It’s incredibly difficult for me to shake off that shadow during the reading and listening of your speech.
Reeking of western style
Mr Prime Minister, you always espouse the idea that the West is out to demonise you and they cannot be trusted. What an irony when your speech reeks of western style!
Are you the champion of hypocrisy?
In your speech, you championed the idea that “moderation is key”. You further said that moderation is showing strength to push for peace and put the people first. You also reiterated that Islam is a religion of peace, moderation and justice.
But back home, you brutally sacked your beloved then-deputy prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin. You dismantled the Task Force. The former attorney-general, Abdul Gani Patail, his service was terminated prematurely. Three public accounts committee (PAC) members were promoted to the cabinet, thus rendering the whole investigation of 1MDB almost meaningless.
And you espouse moderation is key to the international community?
Please walk the talk and speak with sincerity! Mr Prime Minister!
And you asserted in your speech, “That which is hateful to you, don’t do to your fellow human being”.
How about the sacking of Muhyiddin and Abdul Gani? How about the threatened defamation suits against your political opponents, like Dr Ling Liong Sik recently?
Do you like being fired from the prime minister’s post? Do you like being sued by someone?
Also, you gushed about the importance of compassion in your speech, which is a lofty goal.
When the innocent, ‘balloon girl’, Bilqis Hijjas, greeted you with gorgeous, colourful balloons at the Pavilion shopping mall, and later was charged. Have you ever shown your compassion to her by relieving her of the charge?
I was hooked by the story you mentioned in the Quran - when the Prophet Muhammad frowned and turned his face away from one of his followers, a poor blind man, he was chided by God.
I still vividly remember when one reporter asked you about the RM2.6 billion in your account at your Hari Raya open house, you just frowned and turned your face away from her.
Is your life in line with the teaching of Islam as espoused by your speech?
Transcending silos of race and faith
Towards almost the end of your speech, you coaxed the world into transcending the silos of race and faith and urged the world not to see migrants as strangers, but brothers and sisters.
But, Mr Prime Minister, rhetoric is one thing, practice quite another.
Back home, you can’t even treat the Chinese and the Indian as your brothers and sisters, how could you convince the world of the virtue of treating migrants as brothers and sisters?
Back home, you can’t even transcend the silos of race and faith, when you supported the red shirts rally on Sept 16 as peaceful, when in fact they screamed obscenities at the Chinese and were trying to charge towards Petaling Street to cause chaos and were only stopped by the riot police in the end.
I wish to talk about the word ‘silo’ here for a while. Traditionally, ‘silo’ is defined as ‘a tower or pit on a farm used to store grain.’ There is also the metaphorical meaning of ‘silo’ which is often written as plural, ‘silos’, which is defined by the Oxford dictionary as ‘a system, process, department, etc. that operates in isolation from others.’
In the book, ‘The Silos Effect’, the author, Gillian Tett, states that silos exist in our minds and social groups and silos breed tribalism.
I would like to stress that the silos mentality has become endemic in Putrajaya as well as in the Malaysian society.
How?
After the controversial visit of the Chinese Ambassador, Huang Huikang, to Petaling Street, the minister in your department, Wee Ka Siong, said the cabinet had decided not to call Huang up to explain his actions whereas your deputy, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, said in a statement the cabinet had unanimously decided to call Huang again to give an explanation. Clearly, your ministers in your department live in their own silos!
And your brainchild, 1MDB, also seems to have their own rigid silos where most Malaysians, including the rulers, couldn’t even fathom what 1MDB has done wrong.
Recently, the red shirts have seemed to sink into their own deep silos and create more and more misunderstanding with the Chinese.
Mr Prime Minister, Malaysia has become more fragmented than before, and your lofty goal of 1Malaysia has since been missing in action.
Gillian Tett states that the silos mentality was the cause of the financial crisis in 2008 and the downfall of big companies like Sony and big banks like UBS.
Could silos mentality be the downfall of Malaysia, and possibly the ringgit (already freefalling) just because you yourself, the prime minister, couldn’t even transcend the silos of race and faith?
Mr Prime Minister, you need to walk the talk, and speak with sincerity!
I understand honesty is not your best policy.
But, as Michael Josephson used to say, “ Honesty doesn’t always pay, but dishonesty always costs.”
Please, Mr Prime Minister, speak with sincerity.
Period.
Regards,
Chong Beng Lim @ChongBeng
