I FIND it amusing that the former law minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim (main pic, left) thinks that the Barisan Nasional (BN) offers the most credible alternative to govern the country.
He remarked that BN’s election manifesto is not only impressive but provides a way out of the entrapment of poverty and economic malaise.
Zaid is confident that BN can become the government of the choice of the people. Its victory in the 15th General Election (GE15) is something to look forward to.
The other political alternatives, Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) are not really the choices taking into account the well-being of the country. In Zaid’s view, the BN coalition’s pragmatic political formula is much more impressive than the other two coalitions put together.
For a man who has jumped few political parties before making a full circle to go back to UMNO, that says much about his substance and credibility to comment on the future governance of the country.
Just few months back, he staged a drama in trying to rescue the former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak from going to jail for charges of corruption. In fact, he even had the audacity to raise questions about the judgment of the federal court.
But he was just a namesake legal representative of Najib given the actual defence was done by other lawyers. The fact that he could not admit the fact that Najib had engaged in a major corruption was something mind boggling to the legal fraternity and to the general public.
Party hopping tendency
Anyway, nobody takes Zaid seriously anymore because of his dramatic shifts in political loyalty.
One moment he is with one party and another moment with a different party. The ideological and epistemological divide in the political aren, do not make any difference to Zaid.
Like the proverbial frog, any political party could be temporary shelter for him. It is natural order of things that frogs move from place to place by leaping.
But politicians like Zahid leap from one political platform to another for sheer opportunism and publicity. Thus, given these political fluctuations, how can the future prognosis of Zaid be taken seriously?
He might have been the former law minister, but there is nothing to suggest by way of his performance that he excelled in his job.
May I ask what his achievements were other than not staying in that post for too long. He resigned after some time.
Was it because he was unable to perform or was it related to his culture of constant mobility? Having ruined the country for more than six decades of governance, UMNO/BN is hardly in a position to offer a good governance to the country. Its heyday is all past and gone.
The BN coalition under the leadership of UMNO cannot be re-invented in the fast movement of history. History is not sympathetic to the corrupt and greedy.
The breakaway coalition of PN is no better as it has the same DNA as UMNO or BN. It is nonsensical to talk about how the decadent coalition of BN is poised to offer something meaningful for the country.
Like other UMNO leaders, Zaid wants to remain relevant in the tide that is sweeping aside the forces of debauchery and political decadence. – Nov 11, 2022
Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is the DAP state assemblyman for Perai. He is also Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main pic: Agenda Daily
