1MALAYSIA: Najib’s Camelot?
By Tunku Abdul Aziz
If, by 1Malaysia, the Prime Minister is merely invoking the undoubted virtue of, and the equally vital necessity for all of us to strive to live in peace and harmony, then I believe he is more than a half a century wide of the mark. Living peacefully together, cheek by jowl is something we are rather good at, and frankly we do not politicians, particularly those from race-based parties to tutor us on this.
In the interest of self-preservation, we have been doing just that finding accommodation with our racially and culturally assorted neighbours.. And, so, it is not entirely surprising that the same Malaysians that Prime Minister Najib is so desperately anxious to unite should feel a little peeved, and confused especially when rumour has it that enormous sums of public money – dare I venture to mention slush funds, have been expended to mount a campaign that has all the appearance of a damp squid, with apologies to all the squids of this world.
Malaysians are fed up with being continually bombarded and harangued by Najib on his slogan the significance of which he is not sure about. To the millions of us preoccupied with making ends meet on a daily basis in Najib’s economic haven, 1Malaysia cannot be disguised as anything but what it is; a hellishly wasteful and hollow symbol by any reckoning. And, that is putting it as charitably as I can.
His latest attempt at giving substance to a brain dead concept was on Al Jazeera a few days ago. No rumpled suit for him, but the discomfiture was writ large all over his face when he failed to make sense of what he meant by 1Malaysia. His convoluted response was downright shifty Najib knew that his savoir-faire had just, when he needed it most, deserted him, leaving him looking like a very dishonest second hand car salesman.
