Johari Ismail
Kuala Lumpur: Ongoing efforts by the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition to maintain its status quo come the 13th General Elections (PRU 13) needs to take into dire account the much-promised but scarcely-fulfilled political transformation program.
In what is being increasingly perceived by the party stalwarts as political transformation taking a back seat against socio-economic ones, the Najib-Muhyiddin leaderships are in a danger of alienating the coalition members at the grass root levels, come the crucial national elections.
Evidently, such a weakness is caused by one fundamental flaw: a lagging political leverage mechanisms caused by a generally weak political leadership within the vast Government bureaucracy at the Federal as well as State levels.
In what can be perceived as a glaring latter-day phenomena, the BN mandarins within the Government are somehow allowing themselves to play second fiddle to the civil servants, especially in decisions relating to development projects.
“In such a relationships now, things are such that credits normally goes to the civil servants whilst criticisms goes to the political leaders, hence the ruling parties they represents,” laments one veteran BN leader from the dominant UMNO.
He adds that such a phenomena is not only rife within the Federal bureaucracy but also within the BN-led states with increasing cases of State Exco members, assemblymen, Members of Parliament and even Menteris Besar and Chief Ministers receiving raw deals not only from the State Secretary offices but also from the lowly District Officers level.
In the run-up to the much-anticipated PRU 13, the writing is clearly on the walls.
The question now is for the Najib/Muhyiddin leaderships to firmly decide which is it going to be, the party, especially the dominant UMNO, controlling the Government or otherwise.
2 ulasan:
When Constitutional Monarchy replaces Absolute Monarchy and created the Westminster system of government in Britain in the 19th Century, collective reponsibility of each and every member of the ruling Cabinet was considered utmost. In 1841, then Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne was quoted as having told his Cabinet:
“Bye the bye, there is one thing we haven’t agreed upon, which is, what are we to say? Is it better to make our corn dearer, or cheaper, or to make the price steady? I don’t care which: but we had better all tell the same story”
This, in its essence, glaringly shows the stress put on collective responsibility amongst members of a ruling Cabinet in a democracy. Each an every member of a Cabinet must not contradict, both in words and deeds, whatever that has been collectively agreed upon. Although such convention on collective responsibility of a cabinet members isn't an act of law but it has since been accepted and recognised of having certain legal standing or effects. There emerges at present, opinions saying that the doctrine of collective reponsibility in Cabinet need not be taken in its totality anymore. Among the reason given for such crusading ideas was that the shape and size of most latter-day governments are undergoing various fundamental changes, including a more comprehensive role being played by the media. There can be no doubt that such doctrine of responsibility is undergoing modifications in the face of changing environment. However, the convention is still relevant both in principle and practice, especially in preventing confusion of government policies or stands on certain issues. Public perception of unity amongst members of the Cabinet in the face of certain policies and stands of the government is utmost in determining the overall credibility of a government. In the absence of unity among ministers in the Cabinet, there arises the danger of the government concerned losing its credibility, hence putting into question its ability to govern. From what that has been explained thus far on the subject, there can be no doubt whatsoever on the need for members of our Malaysian national Cabinet, including the Prime Minister and his deputy, to have a more serious regard for collective reponsibility amongst themselves, if they still have a need for the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition to maintain its status quo in the forthcoming general elections!!
Amongst the leaderships of the present day Barisan Nasional, there seem to be a pathetic self-deluding attitude of looking at things way past popular wisdom, or even intelligence, to the detriment of the reigning status quo body politics. A case in point, of which I had the opportunity to bear witness first hand, was during the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Abdul Razak's meeting with the Johor UMNO Liaison Body in Johor Bahru on Sept. 3rd, 2010.During the special meeting,the PM had unfortunately proven that he's surprisingly capable of pathetic self-delusion; to the silent disgust of a majority of Johor UMNO Liaison Body members present. The PM threw every caution to the wind by proudly saying that he's confident of bringing the BN back to its pre-March 8, 2008 stature when the coalition enjoyed a two-third majority in Parliament following a landslide victory in the 11th General Elections of 2004.As far as me and my colleagues within the Johor BN elections machinery were concerned, such a careless statement went against every political intelligence available to us. The danger in such statement is obvious: it would lead to false euphoria, hence inaction of the overall BN machinery. As it is, the Johor BN machinery are struggling to contain what's clearly seem to be another anti-establishment "tsunami" in the making, come another general elections. I for one would always agree with Deputy PM, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin who believed that BN or UMNO should always hold on to the teaching of Islamic sage, Ibnu Khal who taught on the importance of self-criticism in order for the muslim ummah to flourish and prosper.
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