Pak Lah, Najib are better leaders than Anwar
Goh Wei Liang, The Malaysian Insider
When I read that YB Liew Chin Tong and Datuk Zaid Ibrahim had said Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was a better PM than current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, I felt that the comparison was a lame one. Liew and Zaid must not be shy to compare Pak Lah and Najib with Anwar Ibrahim whose record is like a blank sheet of paper.
Zaid said that Pak Lah’s administration was better than Najib’s purely because of the lack of racial religious rhetoric. This is wrong. Pak Lah and Najib are bankruptcies when it comes to racial religious rhetoric. Only one man was not part of this rally for a moderate Malaysia.
Let me begin with education.
In July 2009, when PPSMI was scrapped, Najib said the government was aware of how important it was for Malaysians to be proficient in English. When asked if the PPSMI was dropped to uphold the use of Bahasa Malaysia as the national language, Pak Lah said the previous policy had not achieved the desired results and he hoped the people would also accept the alternative steps planned by the government to strengthen students’ command of the English language.
Race was not a determinant in the BN government’s education policy for school children.
In the run-up to this policy decision, do you know what Anwar said? On January 15, 2009 in his blog post “Pakatan Rakyat Komited Mansuh PPSMI”, Anwar Ibrahim wrote “Acapkali saya tekankan betapa mereka yang bertindak meneruskan hatta menyokong PPSMI adalah kalangan yang khianat kepada perjuangan Melayu. Justeru bagaimana mereka yang tegar menyokong PPSMI diteruskan saban waktu mengaku pejuang melayu tulen?”
That was in 2009. Are you surprised?
When Anwar was education minister, what did he do? I was still learning how to walk at that time but according to former information minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin, the term “Bahasa Malaysia” was introduced by Tunku Abdul Rahman after the country’s independence to inculcate a Malaysian identity and no one asked for a change until Anwar Ibrahim became the education minister. “Bahasa Melayu” was the official term for our national language.
In 2007, under Pak Lah, the government decided that “Bahasa Malaysia” would replace “Bahasa Melayu” as the official term for the national language.
Clearly, Pak Lah and Najib are leaders of Malaysians first and politicians second.
If you remember, when Pak Lah was acting prime minister in 2003, he lifted the ban on the Bibles that were published in the indigenous Iban language. Back then, Pak Lah said, “I was told that the word has been used by the community as a reference to God for a very long time. Since the word is found in the Iban Bible only, I don’t see the reason why it should be banned.” Pak Lah was attentive and listened to the views of all religious leaders.
Under Najib, the government is committed to the 10-point solution. Bibles in all languages including Bahasa Malaysia can be imported into the country, and Bibles can also be printed locally in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.
When Pak Lah and Najib were needed as Malaysian leaders, they delivered.
