PM: Opponents of 1Malaysia are power-crazy and a cynical bunch
(The Star) – PETALING JAYA: Opponents of the 1Malaysia concept are only driven by power and a habitual need to provoke controversy.
“They dismiss anything and everything we have done as being not enough,” said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. “And, instead demand a revolutionary programme of change.”
He said there were two types of opponents to 1Malaysia the first believing there should be no change in approach to the New Economic Policy of 1971.
“I can understand why some are fearful; many of the historic imbalances in our society still need addressing, and we will.
“But we must also have an approach that encourages all who can contribute to Malaysia to stay here and also recognise that widening ownership of the economy will not, of itself, fight poverty at its root,” he wrote in his blog on Tuesday in a posting entitled “1Malaysia is a Commitment to Transformation.”
“1Malaysia is about a dynamic strategy to fight poverty in our country and will, I believe, achieve much more than if we refuse to change,” said Najib.
However, it is the second group of detractors that worries him more, the Prime Minister revealed.
“To different audiences they say different things; motivated only by a lust for power and what seems like a congenital need to provoke more and more controversy,” he said.
Slamming his detractors’ programme as a “mess” and “impossible”, he said they promised to abolish toll, write off RM40bil in National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loans and cut the budget deficit all at once.
“Very quickly one of these promises would fall apart leaving a lot of angry people and an economy in free fall,” he said.
Calling on the public to choose leaders who are committed to change they can trust, Najib expressed hope there were politicians who would address the real choices faced by the country.
“That is what our freedom from colonial rule was all about; that is what we preserved from the moment of Merdeka and we should all be proud of – a Malaysia where Malaysians decide,” he said.
