Uneasy lies the Head that wears the crown!

Slogans don’t seem to be working!
Lifting bans on opposition journals don’t seem to be working!
Even releasing detainees held without trail don’t seem to be working!

It seems whatever approach Malaysia’s new PM Najib seems to be making is falling flat!

This is because all of the above and more are actually meant to be and are being seen as nothing but a political spin.

Public cynicism towards the political establishment is at an all time high……..right since the election results in which Barisan National lost 5 states to the opposition and Mr Badwai finally loosing his job in the bargain as well.

And now whatever the Najib Administration is doing or at least seemingly doing is not working.

To me it seems the Malaysians are finally, consciously learning how to differentiate spin from sincerity over the last few years, to the extent that any further spin will merely aggravate public cynicism further.

I have had the honour of meeting PM Badwai last year in September at his office in Putrajaya. An amazingly soft spoken humble man with phenomenal knowledge but sadly no political acumen…….he seemed to be a little too honest for his job!

He came into power in his first term on a surge of hope following the retirement of the authoritarian Dr M.
Mr Badwai brought a sense of freedom in 2004. Many wished to believe that Mr Badwai would reform the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) – people were generous then.

At that time it was not obvious to people how badly the institutions of the State had deteriorated over the last two decades of Mahathir rule.
People were just too euphoric that the Dr M era was over……..but then the cracks began to show and people no longer wanted remain generous. And the cynicism was being fanned by none other than resurrected Anwar Ibrahim.

Mr Badwai was just too careful about how reforms would undermine what he saw as the mainstay of his power and this tentativeness led him no where but out of his job.

Cut to March 09 – the slogan by the Najib Administration of ‘One Malaysia’ – people first – has been causing a fair share of confusion by a great measure of disparagement.

After the Mongolian model episode, the cynicism is so high is that the ban that was lifted on the two opposition journals was viewed orchestrated and to be taken away immediately afterwards.
Similarly, the release of the ISA detainees was considered a superficial gesture – Internal Security Act is one of the most controversial and contentious issues in Malaysia today.

The fear that reforms carried out too fervently could capsize the boat shared by so many power-holders is very strong in the system.
If the idea of Mr Najib is to convince the people that he means business, then he should carry out serious institutional reforms instead of just talking about them.

Nothing worth doing can be without a backlash, and nothing worth doing can protect all interests. That is the point of reforms.
I think the Nike slogan of “just do it” will surprise the public and the opposition and save the Umno and BN – leaving no time for anyone to react.

With the Malaysians not in a mood of being generous anymore, Mr Najib cannot be authoritarian like Dr M and nor can he afford to be tentative like Mr Badawi.

Then what is PM Najib left with? – Fate? – indeed he has very little choice.
He has to do to the establishment what the opposition threatens to do – reform the system, no matter what, without hesitation.

The trend is towards greater openness in Malaysia today.
Today, the Petronas Board can find fault with a Oxford educated PM nominee, and reject him!

The Malaysian people (not the power holders or brokers) are feeling empowered like they have ever felt before.

Mr Najib has to act – not against society – but against his own system – that he leads – and that put him where he is!
And he has to act fast!