Ibrahim Ali gets something right
The Perkasa chief is spot on in pointing out that nothing will change if Najib’s successor is incapable of cleaning up the PM’s mess.
Scott Ng, FMT
Will Malaysian politics ever cease to amaze us? Many of us never thought that Ibrahim Ali of Perkasa and self-proclaimed champion of the Malays, would actually get something right after years of misguided rhetoric and bombast. Those with some intimate knowledge of the man may attest that Ibrahim is far from the jaguh kampung bigot he appears to be, but a recent utterance of his has given the general Malaysian public a glimpse of his saner side.
Some of you reading this may find it incredible that the word “sane” could ever be juxtaposed with Ibrahim’s name. He has certainly not endeared himself to the public beyond the conservative Malay spheres, and his habit of shooting inflammatory sentiments at whoever happens to be irritating him at the moment has caused many eyeballs to be rolled in consternation. The idea that Ibrahim is right about something is just as novel as the idea of Prime Minister Najib Razak getting something right.
So what did Ibrahim Ali, at one point Malaysia’s most despised man, get right? Well, like most of us, he has been watching the running battle between Najib and former PM Mahathir Mohamad and he is certainly aware that the Prime Minister is overwhelmed by an avalanche of scandals. Unlike some of us, however, Ibrahim has grasped an essential truth – that even if Najib were deposed, nothing would change unless the successor manages to tackle the problems surrounding 1MDB, GST, Malaysia Airlines, Felda Global Ventures and a host of other headaches.
Ibrahim recognises that there is a very real chance of Barisan Nasional losing power if Najib or his successor cannot address these issues before the next general election, which PAS’ Mahfuz Omar suspects will be held in a year and a half. In all fairness, who indeed could possibly address all the issues besetting Putrajaya before the general election? The scandals around 1MDB alone could take a decade to resolve, and that’s before anyone even gets hauled into court. And let’s not even talk about the general state of our economy despite the revised Fitch ratings.
