Good morning. Here’s our news and views that matter for today.
Key Highlights
‘Destroying bridge after crossing river’
PM walks, talks, but not walk the talk
Najib wins unflattering race, Anwar second last
‘Destroying bridge after crossing river’
Was it 34-36 percent, 43-49 percent or 53.6 percent?
Umno and DAP politicians have been locking horns over the number of Chinese voters who cast their ballots in last Saturday’s Mahkota by-election in Johor.
In the run-up to the contest for the state seat, there had been concerns that Chinese voters, who make up 34 percent of the 66,318 electorates would boycott the polls over their discontent with the government and Umno, particularly youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh.
After the BN candidate Syed Hussien Syed Abdullah scored a landslide victory, Umno has been arguing that it was possible because of Malay votes and that it signalled the revival of the party, which experienced its worst-ever performance in the last general election.
Johor Umno Youth chief Noor Azleen Ambros had questioned DAP’s contribution to the outcome, citing internal estimates that only 34 to 36 percent of Chinese voters had come out.
Johor DAP chief Liew Chin Tong, however, placed the number between 43 and 49 percent.
Then came a thunderbolt from Sarawak in the form of Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) president Tiong King Sing, who had also canvassed for Chinese votes in Mahkota.
Claiming that the turnout was 53.6 percent, he chastised Azleen for poor research, called him an ingrate and threw a Chinese idiom into the mix that it was akin to “destroying the bridge after crossing the river”.
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PM walks, PM talks, but not walk the talk
Mohamed Hanipa Maidin wants Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to stop with the lip service and get cracking on his long list of pledges, including addressing cases of abuse and deaths under detention.
The former deputy minister overseeing legal affairs during the Pakatan Harapan administration has urged the coalition’s chairperson to act on cases involving the police.
“Unfortunately, many believe the prime minister, with the greatest respect, has been good only at making promises but has been relatively bad in delivering on such promises,
“Yes, he walks and talks, but more often than not, he fails to walk the talk,” he told Malaysiakini.
Hanipa was commenting on the custodial death of a 25-year-old Orang Asli man in Pahang, who was arrested in connection with a motorcycle theft.
He also reiterated his frustration over the unresolved case involving a hearing-impaired e-hailing driver who was assaulted by a police personnel escorting Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim.
“The government has miserably failed even to resolve a relatively simple criminal justice case, which is to bring the alleged perpetrator who assaulted a vulnerable person to book,” he said.
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Najib wins unflattering race, Anwar second last
The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) ranked recent former prime ministers on their website Pantau Kuasa based on the number of political appointments made.
Topping the list was Najib Abdul Razak, who is now languishing behind bars, with 301 during his nine years in office.
The two former premiers with the shortest-ever tenures - Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Muhyiddin Yassin - came second and third with 273 and 186 appointments respectively.
Anwar, who became prime minister on Nov 24, 2022, trailed them with 95 whereas Mahathir, in his second tenure of 22 months, had 86 appointments under his belt.
On Ismail and Muhyiddin, Ideas public finance assistant research manager Doris Liew said: “It is also important to note that Ismail and Muhyiddin were only in office for 15 months and 17 months respectively.
“So to have that high number of political appointments is particularly concerning… Whether they used political appointments as an avenue for political support during their administration,” she added.
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