Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Who Briefs our PM?

I believe our PM is a man with good heart. Intellectually several notches below Tun but deep down a decent, caring and loving person. Amongst the elligible honchos in the UMNO hierarchy at the material time to appoint a successor, I was glad Tun picked him. In my mind, he was less likely to be evil. Probably one who actually takes our interest at heart.

In his career as a politician and executive of the country, I dont recall him helming any lucrative ministry. There was no contract of significant value to dish out. Neither was there money printing licensing/permit issuing authority.

So when he launched his election manifesto and promised a clean government, independent judiciary and efficient bureaucracy, I told myself our country is set on the right track - sharing the same feeling as the majority of Malaysians at that time.

However, soon after winning the landslide election victory, I began to see signs to the contrary:

  • he ballooned the size of executive and along with it the countries administrative budget by creating new ministries rather than reduce them (more efficient??)
  • personally chair numerous working committees which cannot possibly be an efficient way to run the country (better delivery? empowerment of people?)
  • repeating the same sound bites in his speeches with little follow through (honesty? integrity?)
  • apart from the pre-election dismissal of Kasitah Gadam (he must now wished he was an UMNO member!), other ministers were tacitly proclaimed "clean" and protected with extension of service
  • No follow through on the AP scandal (was evidence really lacking?)
  • plead ignorance in the ECM-Avenue deal that was approved by his ministry (who pushed the deal if the minister himself is not aware of it?)
  • had to intervene to deconstruct an illegal deal (sale of Pantai) done by people close to him (I am still waiting for action on accountability, who push this deal through in the first place? what law was broken, who is culpable?)

At this point in time, I still think he is a man with a good heart. A good heart alone is not enough to run the country. As a man who is humble by nature, I can see him relying on men he trusts to provide him advise.

The integrity of these men have absolute impact and enormous effect on the way Pak-lah functions as PM. The PM needs to surround himself with men who are not motivated by greed and personal gain.

Reading Pak-lah's comments on the lawsuit against bloggers here, I have a feeling the men who brief him are less than honest.

In this case, the ethical ones are the bloggers and those who lie and attempt to hide are your own advisors, sir.

Your trust in them has been betrayed more than once - in ECM-Avenue and Pantai deals. The more worrying thing to me sir, you bestow so much trust on these men, that you are not even aware of the trickery they pull in front of you.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You mean one can be use "ignorant is bliss" for all the mistake they made?
Especially politicians and gahmen officer?

Don't tell me that the PM need to attend course to learn his responsibilities. Some issue is common sense. For example, he should NOT comment on the case. Worst,he even make his own allegation.