Good in principle or just an expensive vote-catcher? Two, how much will it really cost the exchequer incrementally per year?
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has weighed in favour of the NFSB. His ideological rivals, the equally eminent Columbia University economists Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya, have argued caution, pointing out that, like the Public Distribution System (PDS), the NFSB will be leaky and benefit corrupt politicians and middlemen.
Ku Nam con man seeking revenge against Mahatir teams up with a master of the big con Najib to help to win UMNO PRESIDENT POST
But if the voting public recognizes that it is being burdened with Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s choices for his new Cabinet named today appear dictated by elections – the Umno polls later this year and concern that Sabah and Sarawak will not tolerate any more snubbing in the government.
Including both minister and deputy minister posts, the prime minister rewarded Umno with 18 posts (including the party’s lawmakers in Sabah) and also gave East Malaysia 13 posts.
But with the exception for Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaludidn and technocrat Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar, it’s the same old, same old.
There were no exceptional faces, unless you count Transparency International chief Datuk Paul Low as a minister, the only Chinese in the Cabinet. Or Hindraf chairman P. Waytha Moorthy as a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department to reward the Indian vote.
Fact is, there was too much consideration given to rewarding those who gave victory to Barisan Nasional (BN), i.e. Umno and East Malaysia. The MCA had given up their seats although one, Transport, has been reserved for them.
Najib could have experimented by putting in new faces rather than those like Umno and BN secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor and Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili; or non performers such as Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah and Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.
The other non performers in the past Cabinet include Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
Like Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi before him in 2004, Najib appears to have stocked the Cabinet in order to secure the Umno presidency.
The prime minister better known as Pak Lah of course never did much with the Cabinet even after winning the top Umno post, which led to the Election 2008 massive losses.
But Najib is better than Pak Lah.
Muhyiddin’s power has been halved by sharing the Education Ministry with Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh and all the senior ministers are Najib’s men.
Also, Johor only has Muhyiddin and Hishammuddin in the Cabinet now when they used to have six before. That will count for something if there is a race for the top Umno post.
And what is Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim doing in the Cabinet? It is disappointing and unlikely to inspire confidence that things will change in the country with such a Cabinet.
For sure, one Khairy does not a summer make… not with this Cabinet.
“I regret the various allegations made against BN, even after we kept our mandate as the federal government.“All activities and duties carried out in the war room were secret, and internal discussions were carried out with integrity and precision,” he was quoted saying today in the Umno-owned daily.
Tengku Adnan was responding to an earlier accusation by Perkasa information chief Ruslan Kasim who had said that BN’s war room strategists had failed in their bid to win over the hearts of voters.
The Malay rights leader had also reportedly accused the ruling coalition of failing to respond to the various allegations made against it in the social media.
Tengku Adnan pointed out that despite the accusations, BN had not only kept Putrajaya but also recaptured Kedah and Perak, two states that the federal opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat (PR) had won in Election 2008.
The Putrajaya MP reportedly added any data or information released by these “irresponsible persons” were untrue.
“We in BN will not be traitors to the people, but instead, we will proceed with implementing all our election promises,” he was quoted saying.
The Malaysian Insider reported yesterday that questions are being asked about BN’s war room strategists whose plans with a substantial budget did not appear to stop the ruling coalition from losing more federal and state seats in the May 5 general election.
The BN war room was tasked with selecting the candidates and advising various strategies to win the polls. It counts Rompin MP Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis, PWTC chairman Datuk Seri Dr Alies Anor Abdul, Petronas director Omar Mustapha Ong, Tengku Adnan, Umno information chief Datuk Ahmad Maslan and former minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh as among its members.
“It was just a crapshoot. Their ideas didn’t work and their white list predictions were wrong,” a senior Umno divisional leader told The Malaysian Insider on condition of anonymity.
The war room had stuck to its prediction of BN winning between 145 and 150 federal seats and also getting back Selangor in Election 2013 although some senior BN leaders were privately doubtful of the figures.
And by noon on Polling Day, the war room had issued its “white list” of 118 federal seats it was sure to win, but some like Pasir Mas, Shah Alam and Lembah Pantai were lost, which some Umno divisional leaders said reflected the disconnect between the leadership and the ground.
The Malaysian Insider had also learnt that Jamaluddin was behind BN putting Perkasa vice-president Datuk Zulkifli Noordin as their direct Shah Alam candidate despite his controversial remarks that offended Indians about their Hindu faith.
It was understood that Jamaluddin felt that Zulkifli’s candidacy would not be too much trouble as the latter had already apologised to the Indians for his remarks which he claimed were made when in PAS.
But sources said the strategist did not consider that Zulkifli would become the poster boy of Umno’s disregard for sensitivities of non-Malays.
PR lost its bid for Putrajaya in the May 5 polls last week by a small margin, polling 89 seats to BN’s 133, a good seven seats more than it scored in Election 2008.
But the federal opposition pact cried foul when the overall results failed to reflect the popular vote trend, which saw PR polling 51 per cent to BN’s 48 per cent, an outcome they blamed on gerrymandering and vote-rigging by their political foes.
