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Sakmongkol ak 47

ariff.sabri@gmail.com

Saturday 4 April 2009

Challenge and Response- PM Najib

In the coming weeks, I will be consulting with people around our country, as I begin to reshape the leadership and priorities of the Government. I am mindful that we should build on the successes and lessons of the past. It must be a government with new approaches for new times – a government that places a priority on performance, because the people must come first.

We must reach out to all parts of Malaysia…to all our diverse communities. In our national discourse and in pursuing our national agenda, we must never leave anyone behind. We must reach out to the many who may have been disaffected and left confused by political games, deceit and showmanship.


The above passages were extracted from the maiden speech of DS Najib as the 6th PM of Malaysia. Sakmongkol joins the rest of the nation (minus the 81 MPs and some petition signers) in welcoming our PM.

The ascension of DS Najib marks the beginning of a government and leadership which are achievement oriented. It will be a government with a 'will this work' approach. It will also be a government which will be inclusive leaving no one behind.

It will be a government moving with quiet confidence eschewing political gamesmanship, deceit and showmanship.

I think DS Najib will agree with anyone who says it is too early to judge and generalise his approach in government. It will also be on the other hand, a reflection of goodwill on our part, to give him a chance to prove himself in what he does.

The release of 13 detainees and lifting the ban on opposition papers cannot be total reflection of what the PM and our country's leadership will do. One swallow does not make an Indian summer. For now though, his initial actions are pleasantly sufficient to indicate a leader who moves to establish his imprimatur.

A few days before the UMNO General Assembly when Sakmongkol had the opportunity to talk to him( no, I am not his adviser nor do I mention this episode to suggest that I am close to him or whatever other things detractors may wish to interpret), DS Najib appeared very serenely confident and mentally geared to step into the PMship.

One of the things DS Najib mentioned was factoring in Tun Dr Mahathir. I am beginning to realise and I hope this will be so, that factoring in TDM does not necessarily mean that TDM must be physically present in the present government makeup.

A more relevant thing to do, as a mark of factoring in TDM, is to infuse a decisive leadership. A decisive leadership in turn does not necessarily mean a repressive and dismissive ruling approach. DS Najib has already shown an early indication by stating that he wishes to be inclusive. He is committed to strengthening the institutional foundations of a democratic society. The release of the ISA detainees and the lifting of the ban on opposition newspapers are early indicators of his leadership desirous of engaging diverse viewpoints.

The factoring in of TDM may mean being respectable of TDM and his 22 years of accomplishment. It may mean honouring his ideas and most relevantly by adopting a decisive leadership. It will not mean however an absolute and flattering acquiescence and obeisance to what TDM wants.

DS Najib has started on a promising note by posing some big challenges. These include his commitment to strengthen the institutional foundations of a democratic society, to be inclusive and insistent on being judged on performance. The last challenge appears to be a pragmatic stance of a leader who refuses to be absolutely tied to the past.

I hope the creation of challenges in a Toynbeean setting will evoke the necessary responses. I join many of us likeminded citizens in hoping DS Najib will be a leader of a creative leadership minority. Once again, I join millions of others, in wishing him well and Godspeed.

12 comments:

Anonymous,  4 April 2009 at 11:19  

Sak,

Now that Najib is top dog, he must, at some degree, break away from the usual boring way of picking leaders. Be it in the administration, the GLCs etc, etc.

He must pick QUALIFIED, forward thinking individuals to head the GLCs. The usual way of giving chairmanship of GLC to UMNO ketua
Bahagian
should be stopped. If he is qualified and competant , it is OK.

Sak, I see you as a dynamic and very forward thinking man. Your
reasoning on various subjects impressed many people. Yet, why you end up being a one-term ADUN
puzzle me. Pahang lost a chance to leap forward.

Many Shell-trained individuls, like you, were inticed to join
various org. as the market recognize the value of their training and experience. Most proved themselves. Idris Jala (MAS), Harun Johari (TPP), Tengku Mahaleel (Proton), Aziz Bakar (Telecom), Zainir Amiruddin (Astro), Rashid Din (Modenas) to name a few. But surely the most glaring example is Richard Hu who was picked by Lee Kuan Yew as the Spore Finance Minister at one time.
He did magic to Spore economy.

No doubt, your career in ADUN was killed by UMNO leaders who are
threatened by young forward-thinking leaders like you.

If Najib is looking for changes, then change this.

Avalion

Anonymous,  4 April 2009 at 11:29  

Avalion...

How do u define "qualified n fwd thinking?"...isn't Azmam Mokhtar qualified?fwd thinking?

Is there any ex-Shell guys u know who are successful businessmen?

Anonymous,  4 April 2009 at 13:14  

Avalion.
I believe that God has His reasons.Sak may have had his imperfections in many other ways.
And God may have destined better things for him..InsyaAllah.
You're an ok guy sak!

Anonymous,  4 April 2009 at 18:26  

Dato,

I have closely followed your postings, mostly reading them and, once in a while, attempting to say something worthwhile.

You are someone who will call a spade a spade and argue your position rationally and succintly. Government need people like you, and politicians too, at least to tell the latter in the face what you may think of their policies, practices and the way they conduct themselves.

Why you are not in government escapes me. Although I may not have agreed with your support of KJ, I believe you can contribute a lot towards "intellectualising" government, towards creating a thinking government. I am also unasahmedly impressed by your quoting Arnold Toynbee.

I hope DS Najib will help to see what BN has missed and see to it too that you come back to government in a most effective capacity. Insya Allah.

AYAH

Anonymous,  4 April 2009 at 18:42  

Lets hope he doesnt become a puppet to the puppet master by factoring in former puppet master.

Lets face it, former puppet master wants it his way, if he doesnt get his way, he will blog, cry in the media, and run out of party again.

Lets hope he applies changes in the system that is required that was 'made' by the former puppet master.

Lets face it, if the former puppet masters' system that needs adjustment doesnt change, people will not change, party will not change, country will not change.

Lets not be hypocritical and adopt a holier tha thou attitude.

Lets face it, former puppet master is a good adopter of that calling.

Anonymous,  4 April 2009 at 18:48  

vocal chap like you dato' wont last long in party. party needs people who can spend most times in kenduris and visiting dying folks rather than attending to other important agendas. perhaps that answers to question of your short stint as adun.

that too reflects najib's mentality.

zooky 4 April 2009 at 19:58  

I too wish DSN well.

1) First and foremost, I hope he doesn't want to be Mr Nice Guy.
What for if you are popular but can't achieve anything?
2) I ask that he be firm when it needs be, tough when the circumstance requires.
The strong leader needn't be popular, but that doesn't mean being repressive.
I am the Mahathir generation and I see him as a strong leader. To my mind, a weak leader cannot promise reforms, as we have seen.
3) Please give full attention to the economy and development of the nation.
4) Please, please do not get sidetracked by your political opponents. No foolish knee-jerk reactions to opposition antics. Eg, to not allow opposition at ceramah to mention a certain name. This is absurd. Tak payah layan lah semua kerenah. Just focus on the bigger picture.
Congrats, DSN. May Allah guide you.

Are You Gonna Go My Way,  4 April 2009 at 20:29  

Im going to Bukit Gantang tomorrow, be there until Tuesday. Hope to catch TDM there too…

Too bad Wenger J Khairy aka the cyber voice of KJ could not join us there.

He even deleted his own Blog…..and his reason:-
Taken from http://the-antigonist.blogspot.com/

Wenger J Khairy

“I deleted my blog because I cannot accept a Prime Minister with all these scandals.

This is the darkest day in our country. You'll say that Anwar Al Juburi is using his international media to hammer najib.

What rubbish
We are talking about the New York Times, the London Times, The Times of India, the Kompass, CNN, BBC, the Australian, the Korea times - even Obama is not that powerful.

Allegations of Corruption is one thing, allegations of murder is another.

Thats why all your moral posturing rings hollow, as hollow as the vacumn between your ears.

Good luck to your new idol. As Soros once told that mahadirt”

……………………………………………………………………………………….

Well if he doesn’t believe in Najib as our new PM, why the hell that he supported and campaigned for KJ as the KP for UMNO……

Unless of course they were planning something in the last minute to deny Najib the PM post but failed to materialize.

Can we make assumption here that KJ also doesn’t support Najib as the new PM.

Macamana UMNO nak berkerja ni………

Anonymous,  4 April 2009 at 21:04  

Let's all wish DSN well in his new post and responsibilities.

I myself wonder if he would match his father but am willing to give him time to prove himself. Right now, anything is better than his predecessor.

I'm going to hold him to his words at the GA that the UMNO Constitution would be amnded to allow more democratic and clean party elections, abolish the quota system and hold divisional meetings simultaneously. Of course, not only the protection, but also the furtherance of Malay interests.

He had made attempts to reach out to the non-Malays by visiting the Chinese press and releasing Hindraf ISA detainees. Let's see how he would bring about a united Malaysia with vernacular schools, etc. His cabinet selection would give us some indications.

Some may say his GA speech was political talk, posturing and the like but but that would be the measure of whether, politically speaking, he could really be his father's son.

Wah Al-Subangi 4 April 2009 at 21:40  

dato sak,

the nabi2 have always always met and beat the toynbee challenge to push society to a higher level. these nabi2 without exception are exemplary characters.

i think this goes deeper than what the fire and brimstone religion offer, so to me we can forget pas. a scholar of ghandi does not make a ghandi.

on a more practical level taking a leaf from these, i think najib his past notwithstanding, from now on must make sure his character must be exemplary and he must elect a clean cabinet to start with.

he already set the toynbee challenge berubah or rebah, 1malaysia to bring malaysia to a higher level.

just my 2 sen..

Wah Al-Subangi 4 April 2009 at 21:49  

if i understand the toynbee thing at all..

Anonymous,  5 April 2009 at 15:39  

In his first act as premier, Najib announced Friday that he was revoking a controversial ban on two opposition newspapers and releasing 13 people held under internal security laws that allow for detention without trial.

6 hours after that Suara Keadilan printers were raided (checked anil neto web)

well2 aint it following the script of TDM as a start.

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