If Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak can blithely break his thrice-repeated promise to repeal the Sedition Act without consulting the Cabinet, can he be trusted to keep his promises to fight corruption, reduce debts and income inequality as well as not close down Chinese and Tamil schools when MCA, MIC, Gerakan, SUPP and PBS are political parasites that are stooges and sycophants of UMNO? In announcing that the Sedition Act would not be repealed but instead strengthened, Najib said that he arrived at his decision after consulting UMNO leaders, UMNO supporters and NGOs.
MIC Deputy President Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam had confirmed the non-Malay BN component parties’ status as political parasites that are UMNO’s stooges and sycophants when he admitted that neither MIC nor Cabinet was consulted prior to Najib’s unilateral announcement. Despite this humiliation by Najib, or MCA and Gerakan’s earlier call to abolish the Sedition Act, we can expect both MCA and Gerakan leaders to obediently support and comply with UMNO to impose even harsher restrictions in the Sedition Act.
If UMNO leaders can pressure the Prime Minister to break his promise, 28 million Malaysians are no longer that naïve to rely on Najib keeping his other promises on preserving vernacular schools, or fighting corruption or reducing debt and income inequality. Now, it is UMNO commitment that is more important and crucial than whatever commitment the Prime Minister may make.
Where is UMNO’s commitment towards fighting corruption or the extraordinary wealth and unexplained wealth of certain individuals when these issues are never raised in the UMNO General Assembly? How come there is no debate about how a young Malaysian Jho Low can afford to donate US$25 million to the United Nations.
Similarly there is no focus on the shocking revelations in the Malaysia Human Development Report 2013 of a vast majority of Malaysians facing economic distress. 53% of Malaysian households have no financial assets while one in three Malaysians have no banking or financial account of any kind Rural households have the highest number of those without any financial assets (63%), compared to 45% of urban households. By ethnic group, about 57% of non-Malay Bumiputera and 55% of Malays have no financial assets, with the figure for the Chinese and Indians at 45% and 44% respectively.
Citing figures from the Household Income Survey (HIS), the same report also noted that nearly 90% and 86% of the rural and urban households, respectively, had no savings, while the majority of households at 88% had zero earnings from their savings. Data from EPF savings as at 2013 showed that 90% of Malaysians nearing retirement age did not have enough funds to sustain a basic lifestyle for more than five years.
The low EPF savings were due to the fact that the majority of Malaysians earned low wages. The monthly wage distribution from EPF shows that in 2013, one-third, or 2.1 million, active members earn less than RM1,000, whilst slightly more than three-quarters (76.8%) earn less than RM3,000, and about 90% earn less than RM5,000 a month.
UMNO Ministers Should Not Blame The People But Take Heed Of Pak Lah’s Advice That Retaining The Sedition Act Is Not The Solution To UMNO Retaining Power In The Next General Elections.
Whilst Najib has sadly disappointed the remaining few who still trusted him as a leader who practices what he preach, what is equally disappointing is the manner of UMNO’s leaders’ reaction towards Najib swallowing back his promise. Urban Well-Being, Housing And Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan even blamed Malaysians for Najib’s decision to maintain the Sedition Act because the rakyat betrayed Najib’s trust and goodwill by not giving Najib the confidence to repeal the Sedition Act.
This is typical UMNO fashion of blaming others for their own wrongdoings and misdeeds, especially bashing up the Chinese community for UMNO losing electoral seats, though it is the Malays that are not supporting UMNO. The latest UMNO lie is blaming DAP for buying over Malay land in Balik Pulau, Penang, and chasing them out to be relocated to Seberang Perai. The ones buying over Malay land and selling to 3rd parties for profit, is not DAP but Penang UMNO leaders.
Maison Heights Sdn Bhd, which is owned by Bukit Mertajam UMNO Division chief Dato Musa Bin Haji Sheikh Fadzir and Bukit Glugor UMNO Division chief Dato Omar Bin Haji Faudzar, purchased 10 acres of land in Kampung Terang, Balik Pulau from 31 Malay landowners on 31 January 2012 for RM8.6 million. They then it sold three and a half months later, on May 16 2012, at a profit of RM5 million for RM 13.5 million to a 3rd party. Instead of condemning the two Penang UMNO leaders for profiting from the sale of Malay land in Balik Pulau, UMNO blamed me even though I did not earn a single cent.
Amid Umno’s jubilation over the retention of the Sedition Act 1948, UMNO should take heed of the warning by former party president and prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that UMNO should not abuse sedition laws to stay in power. Pak Lah is correct to say that only the people’s support, and not the retention of the Sedition Act, can ensure UMNO retain power because “if the people no longer support us, there is no law on God’s earth that can save Umno”.
Malaysians are smart enough to see through the political opportunism of MCA, MIC, Gerakan and SUPP of blindly obeying UMNO’s diktats just to enjoy the perks of privileges of Ministerial office. That is the reason why these non-Malay component parties lost most of their seats in 13th General elections. Similarly Malaysian voters can see the political opportunism of Najib, breaking his promise and contract made with the voters during last year’s general elections, and shall decide in the 14th General Elections whether to support the retention of the Sedition Act to ensure that UMNO remains in power.