By P Ramasamy
INCOMPETENCE is not confined to Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman, senior Umno leader from Perak and the former chairman of Prasarana Malaysia Bhd.
He was removed as the chairman of Prasarana for his terrible and unpardonable faux paus on the LRT accident where 213 passengers were injured with 47 of them seriously.
Whether Tajuddin was sacked for his incompetence in handling the accident or he was sacked for some other reasons, the public will never know, but speculations will be there.
I don’t think Tajuddin was the only person who was incompetent and deserved to be sacked.
There are countless members in the Government which include ministers, deputy ministers and heads of government-linked companies (GLCs) which is like Tajuddin.
Is the present Perikatan Nasional (PN) Government going to identify the incompetent ones and sack them?
If the PN Government could make such a quick move to terminate Tajuddin as Prasarana chairman, with immediate effect, why are they waiting to sack or take actions against other incompetent ones?
I am not saying that sacking of Tajuddin was a bad decision. But why appoint him in the first place knowing his calibre in managing GLCs?
For a long time, nobody took him seriously, whether in parliament or outside. He was used by Umno for their political activities. His performance in the parliament bordered on comedy most of the time.
But Umno needed him for reasons best known to themselves.
Even if we agree that sacking of Tajuddin was a blessing in disguise, the question is when is the Government going to get rid of other irresponsible and incompetent officials, in which most those who were politically appointed.
The present Government needs to open its dragnet widely to terminate other incompetence officials in the present government.
What was started with Tajuddin cannot end with Tajuddin.
If this is so, then I suspect that Tajuddin might have been sacked for reasons other than his mismanagement of the train accident.
As the collision of the two trains is not solely one person’s mistake (the driver), the removal of Tajuddin might not solve the main issue; it goes beyond his termination.
The root cause is how the whole administration system is being managed by the PN Government
The inability of the Government – with a bloated cabinet – to manage the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic itself is an indicator of something is seriously wrong in the country.
After a year, even with benefit of hindsight, the PN struggles to control or to stem the tide of pandemic.
Blame could be cast on the lack of the procurement of vaccines, financial constraints and even lack of public apathy and so on. But the fact, a glaring one indeed, is nothing else rather than the incompetence of ministers and heads of agencies who cannot implement proper Government policy or better decisions.
I don’t think you need major calamities to take action against ministers and others for their irresponsibility or incompetence.
Or how many terrible accidents you need to take action against those who cannot discharge their responsibilities.
Tajuddin might not be a good example of person who is incompetent or lacked responsibility. There are others who have been appointed for various reasons other than competence or for their skills.
I doubt the spineless PN Government can go beyond the termination of Tajuddin.
From a broader perspective, would the PN Government have taken the same measure against their own member? In other words, Umno members are dispensable! – May 27, 2021
P Ramasamy is the DAP Penang deputy chief minister.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Photo credit: Mykmu.net
