Serving Without Conscience
Datuk Sri Mohd Najib Razak’s first budget as Prime Minister was nearly shot down in Parliament very late last night in what could be said as the confirmation with the narrowest margin in Malaysian history. The vote scored a pathetic 66 ayes to 63 nays. Reliable sources say that Najib, Muhyiddin and Ong Tee Kiat had to come to Parliament from their official functions to save the night and a very embarrassing situation for Barisan Nasional. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Minister in charge of Parliament himself was absent, otherwise he would have done his job by ensuring the seats were occupied by the BN MPs.
A rejected budget and one tabled by the Prime Minister himself in his capacity as the Finance Minister would have implied a no-confidence move against the Government of the day and would have made world headlines within the hour.
On my last count, Barisan Nasional had 137 seats out of 222 in Parliament. That would mean there were 71 absentees from the BN bench on a night when the reputation of the newly minted Prime Minister and his RM191.5 billion budget hung in the balance. What could be said about these 71 BN Parliamentarians? Are they:
A) Irresponsible B) Reckless C) Stupid D) Complacent E) Lackadaisical F) Tired G) Careless H) Out to embarrass the Prime Minister I) Morons J) Serving as our envoy to Washington
Damn straight! The answer is all of the above. Barring the honorable gentleman serving us in Washington D.C., the rest should be hauled up and given a dressing down for not being in Parliament where they were assigned to and elected to remain when it is in session. Talk about KPIs, this particular incident should stick out like a sore thumb on the record of these MPs.
The Prime Minister should begin to evaluate them, and those who do not have an acceptable excuse should be downgraded while quietly pin pointing their successors in their constituencies to ensure that they are properly groomed and ready to be nominated and received well by the people in the next general elections.
Prime Minister Najib Razak should plan well ahead to ensure that the people who are ready to work to achieve his aspirations will be accepted without much opposition within his party. He can do so by informing the candidates well in advance in strict confidence so that they too can prepare themselves well instead of jumping for joy like they struck the winning number in a lottery, being nominated at the eleventh hour at the MB’s residence, but hadn’t done much base touching with the people at large.
The telephone call I received this morning informing me of yesterday’s nightmare almost gave me a nosebleed. Let’s hope the fresh candidates for Parliament in the next general elections can be groomed early and trained by the BTN from now to condition their minds and political culture to avoid possible hemorrhages for BN in the future.
6 comments:
Salam Tengku
I'm wondering who among the Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers now can be considered A-listers, scoring high in their report cards?
It would be good to know.
Actually, december should be a holiday season since many would have gone on holiday with their families to overseas.Those who went to Haj are still not back yet.
I feel the parliment should not convene in december to table serious issues after the normal budget in October. Why should they bulldoze through everything in December when many MPs are on holiday mood? Deputy PM,MITI and many others are on official visit to other countries too.Let's give everybody a break. The KLSE would also be lacklustre in December due to the same reasons. Corporate decisions are not made in December.It's not fair to ask for full attendance in December when it coincides with year-end and school holidays.Parliment should reschedule their sittings.Let's be fair to our MPs so that they too be able to spend the holiday season with their families.
Salam TPJ and Ms. Fauziah Ismail,
Looking back, with... Democracy and NKRA, we actually have a system for politics and key performance indexes for the cabinet ministers, invented by man. But being invented by man, it is not free from imperfections. It works only if you know these imperfections and their limitations.
So its best to savour this opportunity for meticulously exclude the dubious characters in the cabinet as to line up the A-listers... don't ya think?
So who needs to go... are those who doesn't meet the core substance of “people first, performance now” slogan and the utmost crucial criteria in PM's code of ethics- to inculcate noble characteristics in performing duties so as to improve the quality and productivity of work! Our PM even took the trouble to line up 10 principles and noble values merely to emphasize on its importance!
Having to vet through just the first 5 noble values...
1. Respect for one another
2. Humility in interaction
3. Full co-operation in implementing duties as a team
4. Fairness, sincerity, consideration and courtesy at all times
5. Possession of good manners and ability to accept criticisms
I think we can come up with a “good A-list of whose to go!”
So come Friday @ the Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre, the people will have a say...
As TPJ would put it , “Change the guards to those who are ready to realise the PM's aspirations with full conviction instead of having to clean up the aftermath that would cost us votes and big money!”
So here's looking at 28 ministers for 25 ministries and 40 deputy ministers which went down to 39 yesterday...may the NKRA bring out the best in them! Drink up before your time is up!Cheers!
Salam Cik Fauziah,
I'm afraid I'm not in the loop as regards to the A-listers making high grades in the KPIs, but I got a shock two days ago when someone told me that Nazri's scoring high in his KPI. It must be a CROSS-EYED MUTE who's grading him.
I was also told by another source that Noh Omar is on shaky grounds.
Umar,
Aslamualaikum WBT.
Parliamentary sessions are not all year round but run for only a few months in a year. Instead of it working around the vacation whims of 222 different parliamentarians, the latter should schedule their holidays around the sessions which concerns National interest and should be Paramount. Unlike the PAS politicians, the UMNO ones usually go for the exclusive Haj packages and do the minimum required rituals enough to qualify them for the Haj. Most of them including the Honourable gentleman from Rembau is back in town with his head shaven bald.
Having said that, you may have a point if they can reach a consensus on a different date for the budget to be discussed and rummaged through, so that all including the Muslims can celebrate Christmas in London, their second home. When I was a stock-broker, the KLSE used to have a good run from Thanksgiving to a week before Christmas for liquation avoiding holdings through the long holiday.
Sir, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you a very happy Awal Muharram 1431. I thank you for your continued support and contribution to The Patriot and pray to Allah for his Blessings on you and your family with good health and much wealth in the coming year.
Wasallam.
Salam Anonymous 3:43 AM,
Indeed, people are not perfect and there is always a price for everything. In other words, unless we take a total outsider with no vested interest to make evaluations on certain people, we cannot get the true and honest assessment.
If we follow your “ theory of exclusion ” , then attitude, behavior and character should be taken into consideration first and foremost. You’d be dead right, considering that it would be the first impression people get from the politicians, before they are judged by their work, quite like before a gentleman courts a lady, he must be pleased with her looks first before discovering whether she has the brains to match the looks to remain intrigued.
Based on your 5 criterion alone, Nazri Aziz should be the first to be counted out of the Cabinet but how far the principles would be upheld will lie on the conscience of the Prime Minster.
I think Najib should make a major reshuffle and get cracking coming to the final stretch before the Gen Elections. He only has this chance to secure his position further, giving him another 5 years to realize his dreams for Malaysia, not to mention the perks and privileges of the RMAF 1, Secret Service and Triple VIP treatment that comes with it. If he misses the cut, he will be cursed and known as the Last Prime Minister From UMNO.
I thank you for your kind partiicipaton. Please have a wonderful Awal Muharram 1431.
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