FROM starting a podcast to roast those who are complaining about him, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli is now saying that it is not his job to play Santa Claus.
Why is it so difficult to communicate with Rafizi? Why can’t Rafizi ever answer the question that we ask him in a straightforward manner? Why must he always beat around the bush before finally giving us an answer that we didn’t even ask or is useful to us?
We know you are not Santa Claus, Rafizi. What we don’t understand is why you want to be a podcaster and why can’t you just be our Economic Minister.
Instead of telling us who you are not (Santa Claus) and become something that we don’t expect you to be (podcaster), why can’t you just be who you are (the economy minister) and become the person we expect you to be?
We didn’t force you to be the minister. You are the one who wanted to be the minister. Since you are the one who wanted to be a minister, why not just be the bloody minister that you yourself wanted to be?
We know that the job of the economy minister is not about ““handing out free gifts to the people.” Stop saying hurtful things like reduce chicken consumption if chicken price is high or don’t eat out if you can’t afford eating out or that your job is not to be a Santa Claus to hand out free gifts to the people.
This is irritating to the ears. Hearing you give these stupid answers is like hearing Marie Antoinnette say “let them eat cake” when she was told that the people didn’t have bread to eat.
Please don’t prod the people to start a revolution like the aforementioned former queen of France foolishly did by irritating the people with stupid answers at a time when the people are already stressed.
Clueless
Instead of telling us what your job is not about, why not tell us what the hell is your job about.
Now can you please tell us how is it that you intend to repair/fix the economy? Maybe you can start by telling us what it is about our economy that you think is broken?
Do you think we have too many monopolies and cartels? Do you think that we have too many foreign workers or too few foreign workers? Are we focusing too much on certain industries while concentrating too little on industries that we should be more focused on?
If you can provide some clues, at least we will be able to patiently wait for solutions even if they cannot be done at once. It is because nothing solid is forthcoming that we suspect that you don’t know what you are doing.
If you can’t state the problem and list out the potential solutions, at least listen to what we are saying and show that you understand what we are saying to you. Instead of saying eat less chicken when people say that chicken price is high (chicken is after all the only meat that can be consumed for our three main races), why not at just acknowledge that you will look into the matter?
Instead of saying that the economy is seeing “unprecedented” growth under your charge to young people can’t find a job that they studied for – as if it’s their own fault that they are not doing well in such a wonderful economy that you have created – why not just acknowledge their woes by saying that you will get someone to look into the matter soonest?
Don’t emulate Guan Eng
Please don’t be another Lim Guan Eng (DAP chairman) by sabotaging your own government by not understanding that a minister is an executive position. When you are a minister, people expect you to take action, not just cross swords with your tongue and fire salvos with your words.
When he was the finance minister, Guan Eng claimed that Malaysia was bankrupt because the national debt had exceeded RM1 tril but instead of doing anything to lower the debt, he seemed to be forever blaming ex-premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak for anything and everything.
That he kept kicking Najib even when Najib was already down and out is part of the reason why people did not make a fuss when the old Pakatan Harapan (PH) government was unceremoniously booted out after just 22 months in power.
If Guan Eng did his job instead of forever quarrelling with Najib unnecessarily, nobody would have dared to topple the government because they would have known that the people would have made a fuss if they tried to topple a government that is doing its job.
If you say that the economy is broken and needs to be fixed, we expect you to identify which part is broken and use the executive power that we have given you to punish and discourage whichever sector that is causing the economy to break down while rewarding and encouraging whichever sector that is rejuvenating it.
What we don’t expect you to do is moonlight as a podcaster and keep talking back to us as if your feeling has been hurt by people calling you a lousy minister.
Look at Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook. Do you see people complaining about him? Do you see Loke wanting to roast anyone who complains against him?
Maybe he does it a bit like when he crossed swords with his predecessor Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong over the issue of flight charges to East Malaysia being too expensive during festive seasons but for the most part, he just does his job.
Instead of forever quarrelling with everyone who complains to him, he takes action and settles the problem that has been brought to his attention. The issue of flight tickets to East Malaysia being too expensive, for example, has been settled with the ticket price now being set at a max of RM599.
Why don’t you try to be more like Anthony Loke instead of emulating Guan Eng, Rafizi? – Dec 24, 2023
Nehru Sathiamoorthy is a roving tutor who loves politics, philosophy and psychology.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
