Media Statement by Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Monday, 8^th June 2009: 

Najib made a great analysis about BN leaders too obsessed with positions and failing to “learn and change” after the political tsunami electoral defeat last year – except he did not realise he was describing himself as such a foremost BN leader

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has made a great analysis about Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders too obsessed with positions and failing to “learn and change” after the political tsunami electoral defeat last year – except he did not realise he was describing himself as such a foremost BN leader.

Speaking at the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) annual assembly opening yesterday, Najib scolded BN leaders who were too obsessed with party posts, saying they should focus on the people and regain support for the ruling federal government coalition after its dismal Election 2008 results.

This is the Malaysian Insider report of Najib’s speech yesterday:

Najib said the fight for posts was a problem within the Barisan, which has been in power for so long and has not realised that “nostalgia, sentiment and even kindness” can be forgotten.

Instead, Barisan must “feel the pulse of the people” and “not think it is business as usual.

“When will we learn and change? Losing two-thirds of parliament and four states should be lesson enough,” Najib said, adding that Barisan parties must accept the reality that it was the ruling coalition’s worse ever performance in its 52 years in power.

He added that a “tsunami” was an accurate description for the last general elections as “it is a phenomenon where you do not see the waves until it is too late.”

“Do not underestimate the Malaysian public, who can smile and shake your hand but inside they say wait until elections and I will show my power,” he warned.

It is a great irony that Najib is not aware or conscious that he is most guilty of the malady among the Barisan Nasional leaders he diagnosed yesterday.

It is also an indictment of the “business-as-usual” mindset of the Barisan Nasional leaders, who have failed to “feel the pulse of the people”, that there is not a single Barisan Nasional leader, whether from Umno, MCA, Gerakan or MIC, who dare to point out to Najib his own great failure to “learn and change”!

If Najib had followed his own edict to constantly “feel the pulse of the people”, he would have realized that the biggest Achilles heel in the credibility, integrity and legitimacy of his premiership is the unethical, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grab in Perak.

As Najib himself warned, “Do not underestimate the Malaysian public, who can smile and shake your hand but inside they say wait until elections and I will show my power”.

This is precisely the current thinking of voters, not only in Perak but throughout the country, waiting for the next 13^th general election to teach Najib and Barisan Nasional a lesson for the illegal coup de’tat in Perak.

It is not too late for Najib to make amends for his greatest political blunder on becoming the sixth Prime Minister – orchestrating the unethical, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grab in Perak – by dissolving the Perak State Assembly and returning the mandate to the Perakians to elect the government of their choice in a state-wide general election.

Is Najib prepared to practise what he preached at the PPP annual assembly yesterday – not to “underestimate” the voters of Perak and Malaysia?

*Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary leader & MP for Ipoh Timor