Recyclelables (Our New Cabinet)

Dear Bloggers,



Was browsing through the Malaysia Insider today (14th April 2009) and came across an article entitled " An Untalented Team Lacking In Intergrity " by Tunku Aziz, formerly of Transparency International. As usual,he was scalpel-sharp and forthright and it was a joy to read his thoughts on Najib's recycled cabinet.

<An Untalented Team Lacking Integrity strong>APRIL 10 —

If you want my honest opinion, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s People’s Cabinet is totally uninspiring and insipid to boot. And that is being charitable. What a sad commentary on the paucity of proven talent and integrity within the ranks of Barisan Nasional that all Najib has succeeded in putting on offer is a team of recycled political expendables, many with personal records of integrity that will not bear close scrutiny.

Najib has done nothing more than a bit of tinkering. Is this the clean and honest team that he has promised the nation? Instead of calling it a Cabinet, a more accurate and honest name for it is surely “baggage room” because most of those who are our new ministers, including Najib, unfortunately, are perceived to be carrying oversized baggage into office. If this had been a team chosen by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, I should not have been surprised.

But subjecting his ministers to the discipline of the KPI or key performance indicators is an idea whose time has come. However, the danger with management tools like Long Range Strategic Forecasting and Management by Objectives, now long forgotten, and the new panacea, the KPI, is in the distinct possibility of their being more honoured in the breach than in the observance. That being said, let us see whether the new broom can keep up with a mountain of bureaucratic trash that has been generated in the corridors of Putrajaya.

As part of his whiter-than-white government, he should have said something, when he announced the Cabinet yesterday, about revamping the declaration of interests/assets regime for all those holding elected public office in his administration, i.e. his ministerial colleagues. The present arrangements are as effective as using a pop gun when confronting an armed robber. They are hopelessly inadequate and the whole exercise is a total waste of time. No one is fooled by it. I speak as someone with some practical experience in this area.

I was responsible in 2006, as Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the Establishment of the United Nations Ethics Office, for putting in place the Declaration of Interests (assets) and the Whistle Blower Protection programmes. It is interesting to note that when Dr Mahathir was prime minister, he proudly proclaimed that all his Cabinet colleagues should declare their assets to him.

To whom did the prime minister declare his assets? In the interest of curbing grand corruption in the Najib administration, I will be happy to share my knowledge with him notwithstanding the fact that I am a DAP man. Corruption should not be politicised. Anyway, if it is good enough for the UN, it should be good enough for the Putrajaya Mandarins.

The nation wants Najib to succeed in his “1 Malaysia” vision. He will if he keeps an eagle eye on key institutions such as the police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the criminal justice system, including the office of the Attorney-General, not to interfere with their work, but to ensure that they do not abuse their power and authority.

Stupid police behaviour in dealing with public order, for example, can unravel any good the administration has tried to do. Najib must implement without delay the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission that Pak Lah did not have the stomach to put in place simply because the police top brass did not like it. Will Najib be prepared to put public interests at the forefront of all his actions, or will the police be allowed to dictate terms to our citizens?

Najib as part of his reform agenda must listen to what people are saying about the office of the Attorney-General. Rightly or wrongly, it is seen as having compromised its professional independence. Its decisions have in recent years lost the stamp of moral authority in a number of cases. Najib should consider seriously making the Attorney-General a ministerial and, therefore, a political appointee acting for the government on purely political issues.

Najib should, in the interest of greater public confidence in the criminal justice system, create a position, that of Director of Public Prosecutions. A decision whether to proceed with a case or not should not be made by the director alone, but a panel of his senior legal officers.

The problem with the present office of the Attorney-General is that the A-G enjoys what amounts to absolute power, and as we all know this can lead to abuse. Ours is a parliamentary government based on the Westminster model, and Britain has found a system of checks and balances to be absolutely vital to protect the citizens from arbitrariness in matters involving public prosecutions.

Najib can yet redeem himself by showing, by word and deed, that we have misjudged him. Has he the intellectual honesty and integrity to do what is right by the people of this country?


Following is my two-cents response to the said article:

RECYCLELABLESwritten by S.S.Seelan, April 14, 2009

I dont know if I got the spelling right but what the hack...the entire nation knows the status of the supposedly trim and vibrant cabinet with a magic wand that was supposedly going to transform "Banyak Malaysia-Malaysia" into "Satu Malaysia". And what a way to start by the DPM..... blaming the Chinese ( its the racial card as usual) as being ungrateful for voting the opposition in the recent Bukit Gantang bye-election.

Hey what else is new??????? In fact, to complete the picture, you might as well draft in Samy Velu.

The poor guy has been whining n whingeing for so long from the sidelines of the political turf that I am beginning to feel sorry for whim despite the monumental injustice that he is alleged (yes, got to be careful in what I say even in cyberspace. Shucks!!!)to have inflicted on the Indian community. Remember the scandal of the RM 96million(?) Telekoms shares,for instance?

What? Did I hear something about rebranding the MIC? How? By the same old laggards continuing to cling on to power? Sounds more like overhauling an old junk than even a semblance of rebranding of any kind!!

I read somewhere that throughout his political career, Najib has not done anything spectacular that he deserves to sit at the zenith of his political career today. Hey, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt and I, like so many Malysians out there, sincerely thought that at last he would come out with something spectacular in the form of a sterling cabinet at least.

How does he have the heart to continue to disappoint and crush the hopes and aspirations of well-meaning Malaysians who are clamouring for a change in the political landscape in substance and not by shouting a few "ear-catching" slogans? And like a total dunce, the Deputy PM continues to complain like an old fart that we are ungrateful by running in droves to the waiting arms of Pakatan Rakyat? Don't you guys get it? I mean, are you guys so out-of-sync or as kids say nowadays... are u soooo der?

Now did I also hear someone say " Change or be changed"! Like so many other slogans strung across government departments across the country, do they really know and understand what it really means? And are they aware of the consequences if they don't? Or are they in such a state of denial that they think that form over substance would suffice to hoodwink the Malaysian elctorate in perpetuity?

Violence perpetrated by the Police Force today is unprecendented. But does any one in authority really care? Has a single Minister voiced his concern over the large number of deaths in Police custody?

Have you also ever wondered that every time an alleged criminal is shot dead,the Police will invariably allege that the alleged criminal (now deceased, of course ) opened fire first and by some strange phenomenon, he ends up dead and the Policeman(men) who were shot at, again by some strange phenomenon, escapes without a scratch. And guess what, hey presto!!! miraculously about 20 or 30 criminal cases are immediately solved.

Are our politicians so beholden to our Police Force that none of them have the courage of conviction or testicular fortitude ( have balls la! ) to ensure that the IPCMC is set up and set up with haste, for God's sake! Must some serious calaminity befall some politicians' loved ones before they can see the legitimacy of the clarion call of the rakyat to set up the said Commission?

It was reported that CM Lim Guan Eng"s response after the recent by-election was " Thank God for Mahathir". After the next General Election, when a new government sweeps the country, I hope I will be able to say, " Thank God for Najib"s New But Bloody Old Cabinet".