It’s time to end the blame game

Philip Golingai, The Star

IF you can’t fulfil your promise, who do you blame? Blame it on Barisan Nasional.

Here’s one example of how the Pakatan Harapan government, when unable to fulfil its election promise, blamed Barisan: We are told it is difficult to make good the pledge to defer the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loan repayments because Jho Low had taken RM50bil.

The blame game is tiresome.

We have heard Pakatan criticising the Barisan government throughout the long run-up to the 14th General Election. Now, although Pakatan is in power, we are still hearing the same thing.

What happened in the past is history, said the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) chairman, and the new administration should stop pointing fingers at Barisan, which ruled the country for the past 61 years.

“Six months is enough. Now the government needs to concentrate on delivering,” he said. “People know what happened and that’s why they voted the previous government out. So, it’s important for them not to repeat similar leadership (mistakes).”

I agree fully with Daim.

Since coming into power, some Pakatan leaders have been kicking a nearly dead horse. And some of them are still stuck in opposition mode. It is as if they don’t realise they are now part of the government and they should be in the business of governing.

They should move on and offer solutions on how – to paraphrase Donald Trump’s campaign slogan – to make Malaysia great again.

But I don’t feel like Malaysia is moving back to greatness.

Post-Barisan government, as Pakatan promised, I want my life to be better. I don’t want the government to talk about the “horrible” past. They have been talking about how horrible the Barisan government was and the voters needed to kick them out to save Malaysia.

Now that Malaysia is saved, I’m interested in now. But, now is not an optimistic Malaysia.

Many of my working class and middle class friends and family are worried about the country’s economy. Based on anecdotal evidence, it is bad.

Last week, I was back in my hometown in Kota Kinabalu. I was having tea with a friend at a famous row of coffee shops in Luyang, near the Sabah capital.

I asked the owner of a stall selling Hong Kong dishes – pork ribs coo­ked dim sum-style and rice – about how his business was doing. He told me business was bad after GE14.

“It is 3.30pm now. Before, these tables would have been full. Now there are not many people here,” said the 30-something Sabahan who previously lived in Hong Kong.

He was worried that he could not finish selling the food before closing around 10pm.

“If I can’t sell them, what can I do? Eat them all? Give them away?” he said.

“How come business is bad?” I asked him.

“I don’t know. The government tells me that it is the fault of Barisan that our economy is like this,” he said.

“But why is business bad,” I asked, again.

“I think it is because the government has stopped the projects. Maybe because they stopped the Pan Borneo Highway project. When the project is stopped, the workers have no jobs. When they don’t have jobs, they don’t have money to spend,” he said.

It is also the same in Kuala Lum­pur. Occasionally, my friend who owns a kopitiam, would complain to me that his business was down.

Compared to the same period last year, his sales have gone down by 10% to 15%.

He feels that money is not circulating in the country. Customers have less cash to spend.

“My customers usually spent about RM20, but now it is below RM15. Many order filtered water, which we provide for free,” he said.

To overcome the subdued consumer spending, my 40-something friend offers mini versions of laksa or chicken chop to make the dishes more affordable.

“It is a smaller portion. And my customers appreciate the reduction in prices as they can afford to satisfy their craving for my food,” he said.

It is a nasty spiral effect. When his shop sells fewer drinks, the owner buys less ice, and when he buys less ice, the ice seller sells less ice and therefore makes less money. And the ice seller spends less as he makes less money.

“The ice cube supplier told me that his business has dipped by 30%,” he said.

The kopitiam owner wishes that the Pakatan government talks less about blaming the previous government and instead instils confidence among the people that the government is making Malaysia great again.

However, just like what former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said, he has been made the scapegoat for “everything”.

“If it rains tomorrow and you’re late for work? Najib’s fault,” he said in a Facebook post on Oct 2. “Prices did not go down? Najib’s fault. Manchester United lost? Najib’s fault.”

Pakatan losing GE15? It’s Najib’s fault. Lol!