Zainuddin, or “Zam” as he is popularly known as, said the campaign that depicted Najib eating in stalls and mamak coffee shops with voters during the just-concluded polls, only showed hypocrisy as the prime minister was understandably still flanked by his personal assistants and bodyguards.
Numbers are important in politics. When we get meglomanic leaders whose popularity depends not on their intelligence, competency or policies but on the size of the crowd they attract wherever they go, then they need strategists to get the numbers.
There are many ways to get the numbers. If you provide aircon bus transport, attractivedacing/1Malaysia T-shirts, food and drinks or even accommodation for out-of-town people and pocket money, people can be enticed to attend a rally where the great leader will spew his usual venom.
The other method is to employ the cut-and-paste technique which was successfully used by certain mainstream media to show the huge support enjoyed by our great leader. This involves cutting and pasting pictures of huge crowds, even the ones at opposition rallies, to make a collage and show it over the electronic or print media.
For the third strategy, they need the help of the traffic police. My friend was a victim of this strategy. In 1974 I had an appointment with him in KL. Unfortunately, it happened to be the day Abdul Razak was making his triumphal return after meeting Mao Tse Tung. The ever efficient police closed quite a number of roads and directed all cars and buses to Subang Airport. My friend spent a couple of hours welcoming the then PM.
Next day, both the government-controlled electronic and print media reported that thousands of people came from far and near in cars and buses to welcome the PM back from China!
“His advisors thought that these pictures would show the elitist Najib and his aristocratic family living like regular citizens… but to the people, this is ‘extraordinary’ because they never bump into Najib in places like these.
He also pointed to the sudden clampdown on opposition party organs, calling the move both hilarious and odd as it had only come after the reins of the Home Ministry was passed on from Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
“Are they only illegal because the ministry is now under Zahid Hamidi, and was legal because it was under Hishammuddin previously… or were there ministry officials who were pro-opposition who kept an eye closed before, or was it difficult to control?” he asked.
Zam said an explanation should be given to the people so that they would not be shocked in the future if these party organs again hit the market later.
“It looks as if there are laws that can make things legal in one moment and illegal the next,” he said.
The ministry had last week carted off over thousands of copies of PAS-owned Malay newspaper Harakah as well as DAP-owned The Rocket and PKR’s Suara Keadilan from shops and several distribution centres in was seen as a crackdown on the opposition.
The nationwide raid had come following the string of arrests and court charges slapped on opposition politicians and activists who were involved in the series of post-polls events organised by Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to rally support in its protest against BN’s polls victory.
“Former finance minister Daim Zainuddin called (Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim a clown (King of Comedians would be more appropriate). To me, I call Najib an imitator,” Zam wrote in his blog Zamkata yesterday in a posting titled, “I love PM. It is disgusting”.
His advisors have their heads in the clouds without their feet touching ground. These are the advisor who should be sacked,” he added.
Adding that he had long hid this disdain, Zam quoted from a text message that he received recently from a friend of his from the corporate world, and said it reflected his exact sentiment.
“He said, ‘On Daim’s remark, I agree fully. Najib doesn’t need to compete with Anwar and try to imitate his style. It looks awful. Please tell them to stop showing the banner ‘I Love PM’. It is disgusting. Najib Should present himself as a serious statesman not as a student leader style’,” Zam wrote, quoting from the SMS.
Outraged UMNO members and Disgruntled Malaysians are having a conversation about this guy Najib whom everyone agrees should resign.
UMNO members: This is really too much! It’s the final straw! We’ve put up with him and all his nonsense for long enough and allowed him to hang on to his job for far too long! Now he’s really got to quit, and quit at once!
Disgruntled Malaysians: I couldn’t agree with you more. We should start a campaign to get him to resign!
UMNO members : I’ll be the first one to put my signature to such a campaign! The fellow’s totally shameless. He refuses to go even after.with the result being a worse showing than in GE12 in 2008.
UMNO members: Rosmah? I didn’t know Rosmah also part of the G13 team
UMNO members: G13 team ? What on earth are you talking about?
UMNO members : I’m talking about what everyone’stalking about:Mukhriz Mahathir is in line to take up the deputy prime minister’s post, Mahathir prefers to back Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin pushed for the ouster of Najib.
Disgruntled Malaysians: I’m talking about what everyone in the UMNO is talking about: that Najib should do the decent thing and put in his resignation as PM. He’s been not just a rubber-stamp prime minister, but a photocopy prime minister forROSMAH. His Barisan government has given a new definition to policy paralysis by making paralysis into a policy. And the worst part is he tried to protect those scam-tainted ministers who are buddies of his. He should not wait upon the order to his going but go at once!
Outraged UMNO members: Najib,RosmahWho cares about? It’s the new cabinet who should go, and go at once!
Outraged UMNO members: But with Najib as PM there’s no governance in this country!
Outraged UMNO members : Governance? Who in this country gives a mosquito’s fart for governance ? We’ve long outsourced governance to outsiders, first to the British for a couple of centuries or so, and then to Brits for another couple of centuries or so. After yet another couple of centuries or so we may learn to govern ourselves . Or we may not. In any case, who cares? We can live without governance, in fact that’s exactly what we do and have been doing for years. What we can’t live without is Rosmah. We need Muhyiddin Yassin more than the air we breathe, the water we drink. And Najib is killingMalays, which means he’s killing us. That’s why he has to go.
Outraged UMNO members : Yeah? So what are all you Malays going to do if Najib doesn’t resign?
Outraged UMNO members (in chorus): We’ll do what we’ve always done – we’ll resign ourselves from UMNOI the fact that no one else is going to resign…
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