Walkabouts, blog define Najib’s work style
By Bernama
PUTRAJAYA: Each walkabout that Najib Tun Razak goes on reminds him of the time his late father traversed the village roads to meet the local people almost half a century ago.
“The walkabouts enable me to get close to the people,” said the Prime Minister, who is determined to get close to the people of the various races in line with his administration’s slogan of 1Malaysia: People First, Performance Now.
He has been working hard since becoming the sixth prime minister on April 3 last year, and has been going down to the ground even under the hot sun to mingle with the people.
Everyone, regardless of whether they are farmers, fishermen, night-market hawkers or villagers, will be greeted by the prime minister during his visits across the length and breadth of the country.
The visits certainly benefit the communities of the areas concerned, regardless of their age, ethnic group, skin colour or religion.
“(From this walkabout) I can not only meet them (people)… I can personally look at their real situation.
“I have actually planned the walkabouts with the hope that when I go on these visits, I can not only meet them but (I can also) resolve their problems and local issues,” he said.
The walkabouts actually give a signal to all leaders of the Barisan Nasional (BN) to go down to the ground to get closer to the people.
Besides the walkabouts, Najib also communicates with the people through his blog and the social websites Facebook and Twitter.
The 1Malaysia concept mooted by Najib has now become a mass operation at the grassroots level and is no longer merely a government concept.
In fact, the prime minister is also thankful and proud that the people have responded positively to the concept, as can be seen from his walkabouts in several places in the country.
Najib’s intention is to invite the people to join in the effort to transform the country into a developed nation.
When tabling the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) on June 10, Najib, who is also the finance minister, stressed the need for the 10MP to achieve the objective of turning Malaysia into a high-income nation by 2020.
Empty promises
Najib does not want to make empty promises. He wants every programme to show positive results so that the transformation agenda that he has drawn up would achieve the desired results.
Thus, he has to work hard himself to ensure that the 1Malaysia concept, New Economic Model (NEM), Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) formulated by him and his team as well as the people proceed smoothly as planned.
It is not surprising that having worked hard for the sake of the people, and forgetting to rest himself, the prime minister had to “go on leave” after being taken ill with chicken pox at the end of October.
However, when advised to rest at home, Najib continued to perform his duties as the prime minister, handling the important correspondence which required his personal attention.
“I feel restless doing nothing. It has become the norm for me to be busy doing something,” he said.
Najib laid the important groundwork this year for further development of the nation with the announcement of the early projects under the 10MP, rationalisation of the subsidy scheme and setting targets for the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for the various key results areas.
In terms of foreign policy, Najib has brought Malaysia closer to many countries, particularly the United States. He met US President Barack Obama in Washington in April.
In the new year, Najib would need renewed vigour to ensure implementation of his programmes and policies as there is still a distance to travel on Malaysia’s road to becoming a developed nation.
– Bernama
