Zaid slams Najib’s administration
By Deborah Loh, The Nut Graph
In a blistering speech last night, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim attacked Datuk Seri Najib Razak on almost every score of the prime minister's100-day administration.
The former minister and former Umno member said Najib should have acted in his first three months of office "as if he has only 100 days before his reign comes to an end".
Zaid Ibrahim (file pic)
Among others, Zaid said Najib should have enacted far-reaching policies to give back the judiciary its independence, and to reform institutions like the police, Attorney-General's Chambers and the Election Commission.
"He [should have shown] the people he was prepared to sacrifice his neck if that is required of him," Zaid said in his speech titled Preservation of Democracy and the Rule of Law in Malaysia at the Oxbridge Malaysia Dialogue Dinner Series, hosted by the Oxford and Cambridge Society Malaysia.
Najib was sworn in as the nation's sixth prime minister on 3 April 2009. His 100th day in office is tomorrow.
All equal?
Zaid said Najib should have started his term by pushing through a Race Relations Act to punish racism and racist speeches and writings "from all quarters, even if it's from leaders of his own party and from Utusan Malaysia". Zaid was referring to the Umno-owned Bahasa Malaysia daily.
"The problems in our country are not race or religion-based, but BN has worked very hard to make them so."
Zaid, who was sacked from Umno in December 2008 and joined Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) on 13 June 2009, also questioned the 1Malaysia slogan as to whether is really meant that all Malaysians were equal.
"The acceptance of equality of rights as citizens is central to the success of our Malaysian journey.
"When the PM announced his 1Malaysia slogan, I asked if that meant he would make a declaration that all Malaysians are equal. The answer was not forthcoming till today. All he said was rights must be understood in the context of responsibilities. Another fuzzy reply."
What Najib should stop doing, Zaid said, was to "always refer to the deprivation the Malays suffered under the British. No amount of wallowing in the past can change history". In the same vein, Malay Malaysians should stop telling other races to be "grateful", Zaid said.
He said racist politics was the "single greatest impediment" to Malaysian unity, adding that while different from the kind of racism that involved skin colour, Malaysian racism was "driven more by ethnic distrust and ethnic rivalry for the economic cake".
Zaid also went on the stump for Pakatan Rakyat (PR), saying it was the only viable alternative to the "self-indulgent and delusional sense of self importance" of Umno and Barisan Nasional rule.
