.jpg)
THE sacking of Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman as chairman of Prasarana Malaysia Bhd on Wednesday was a welcome relief. Since his appointment last year, the Pasir Salak MP had been courting controversies due to his publicly known run-ins with his own senior management.
It was finally his unprofessional conduct in the aftermath of the LRT rail mishap that saw Tajuddin’s swift exit from the Prasarana board.
As we cheer the departure of the boorish politician from a plush job indirectly funded by taxpayers, one just wonders how many more Tajuddins are there in our midst? For the longest time, GLC political appointees like Tajuddin project themselves as undertaking a “national service” for the people.
In truth, such appointments are often treated as stepping stones for personal political career advancements, if not the keys to a war chest. The same applies not just to those who hold top GLC or statutory board posts, but many other sweet-talking operatives, whose ultimate aim is to climb the political ladder.
Tajuddin, may be easy to spot, hence called out, due to his tactless demeanour. But what about those who share Tajuddin’s traits but are more polished, or even backed by a team of spin doctors, to project a predetermined public persona?
Take ex-prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, for example. He has been riding high with his Bossku moniker, pressing on all the right buttons, purportedly speaking up for the people, and positioning himself as a future PM.
Of late, one of his pet topics is the government’s ballooning public debt. Riding on his stature as ex-finance minister, he had expressed “concerns” over the supposed RM115.53 billion debt incurred by the government, and whether the country could afford to service the loans.
But, Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz had come out to clarify that the national debt as of May was only at RM99.3 billion and not as alleged by Najib, who resorted to massaging some numbers. In fact, some RM42.3 billion of the national debt was attributed to 1Malaysia Development Bhd, SRC International, and Strategic Energy Resources Sdn Bhd.
In other words, Najib, who had accused the government of irresponsible borrowings, had during his administration contributed the largest chunk of the current national debt, including government guarantees!
In total, the government’s legacy debt stood at around RM40 billion, of which RM15.5 billion had been paid, according to Tengku Zafrul’s social media post. Just on the outstanding loan of RM24.5 billion alone is enough for the government to buy Covid-19 vaccines between seven to eight times over!
Just as Tajuddin’s “caring for commuters and the public” persona was betrayed by his unprofessional conduct during and after Tuesday’s media conference, Najib’s political posturing about national issues such as the country’s debts do not jive with his track record.
Put another way, Najib is not that different from Tajuddin, although the former is more refined and polished, yet no less deceptive, and it requires more effort to see through his duplicity and wordplay.
There’s an abundance of such characters in our political theatre, some more easy to spot than others. It is our duty as voters to stay vigilant against sweet promises and pleasing rhetoric and match them against the politicians’ track record, regardless of which side of the divide they are from.
It is when we let our guards down that we end up with leaders whom we thought were the light at the end of the tunnel, when they are in fact that of an oncoming train on a deadly collision course that can derail our nation-building efforts. – The Vibes, May 28, 2021
Leonard Tay reads The Vibes
