Anwar Ibrahim tak mampu tadbir negara ketika krisis, begitulah kata Mahathir seperti dilaporkan oleh media. Kenapa bekas perdana menteri itu masih mengeluarkan kenyatan seperti ini sedangkan dialah yang datang berjabat tangan dengan Anwar di mahkamah untuk membentuk gabungan PH sebelum PRU14?
Kenapa kenyataan yang bersifat gelisah, penuh dendam kesumat dan berhati kaldu ini masih diucapkan? Memerhati dengan rapat tingkah lakunya, saya dapat katakan bahawa Mahathir mempunyai sejenis penyakit "Anwar-o-fobia," iaitu sejenis penyakit kronik yang mana pesakitnya hidup dalam ketakutan terhadap manusia bernama Anwar Ibrahim. Pesakit bernama Mahathir ini tidak akan dapat tidur lena selagi Anwar mempunyai peluang untuk jadi perdana menteri, walaupun ia hanya satu peratus.
Kenapa Mahathir takut kepada Anwar? Mudah, kerana dia tak mahu ada orang yang lebih baik darinya memimpin negara ini. Selama ini dia dianggap sebagai perdana menteri yang hebat - sebagai jagoan, wira dunia ketiga dan pemimpin serba maha. Sudah tentu kewiraan itu nampak jelas jika dibandingan dengan Pak Lah, Najib Razak dan Muhyiddin Yassin. Namun jika dibanding dengan Anwar, kemungkinan tidak. Oleh sebab itu, Anwar harus dihalang daripada menjadi perdana menteri selagi hayat Mahathir ada.
Berbalik kepada kenyataan terbaru Mahathir bahawa Anwar tak berkeupayaan untuk mentadbir negara di saat krisis. Maksud Mahathir bahawa dialah orang yang paling layak berbuat demikian. Mari kita lihat sebahagian dari rekod Mahathir mentadbir negara ketika dalam krisis.
Dari segi ekonomi - pada krisis kewangan 1998, seorang ahli perniagaan telah mengalami kerugian besar dalam perusahaan perkapalan. Mahathir telah mengarahkan supaya wang negara berjumlah RM1.7 bilion digunakan untuk bailout syarikat tersebut.
Ahli pernigaaan yang dimaksudkan tidak lain dan tidak bukan ialah Mirzan, anaknya sendiri. Orang yang tidak mahu mengeluarkan wang negara bagi tujuan tersebut ketika itu ialah menteri kewangan, iaitu Anwar Ibrahim. Kerana itu Daim dilantik sebagai menteri khas untuk melaksanakan kerja-kerja tersebut.
Berapa billion lagi wang negara dihabiskan untuk membantu keluarga dan kroni Mahathir? Ruang ini tidak cukup besar untuk mengupas isu Empangan Bakun, Lebuhraya Plus dan Perwaja yang mempunyai cerita hampir sama. Apakah ini kriteria seorang kepala negara yang pandai mentadbir ketika krisis? Untuk selamatkan anak dan kroni?
Dari segi politik - pada 1988, ketika krisis kempimpinan Umno yang menyaksikan Mahathir hampir-hampir kalah kepada Tengku Razaliegh sebagai presiden dalam pemilihan Umno, dia menggunakan kuasa kuku besi untuk bertindak ke atas hakim-hakim yang mahu membicarakan kes tersebut
Ketua Hakim Negara keitika itu, Salleh Abas bersama lima hakim - Azmi Kamaruddin, Eusoffe Abdoolcader, Wan Hamzah Mohamed Salleh, Wan Suleiman Pawan Teh dan George Seah telah dipecat oleh Mahathir. Tindakan Mahathir tersebut menyebabkan kehancuran parah kepada sistem kehakiman negara dan ia gagal dipulihkan sampai hari ini. Hakim-hakim tersebut dipecat untuk menyelamatkan kedudukannya sebagai presiden Umno dan perdana menteri.
Apakah memijak kedaulatan undang-undang bagi menyelamatkan kedudukan sendiri dianggap sebagai kemampuan mentadbir? Sebelum itu, Oktober 1987, Mahathir juga menangkap 119 aktivis dan ahli politik di bawah undang-undang tanpa bicara ISA dalam Operasi Lalang. Dua akhbar bebas ketika itu - The Star dan Watan juga diharamkan.
Selepas itu, ISA terus digunakan Mahathr untuk menutup mulut pengkritik-pengkritik pemerintahannya. Tidak perlu jadi saitis roket untuk menyatakan cara kekuasaan kuku besi ketika krisis bukanlah ciri-ciri seorang pemimpin yang bagus untuk negara. Semua diktator di dunia menggunakan cara ini untuk mengekalkan kuasa
Dalam usahanya untuk menyingkirkan Anwar pada tahun 1998, Mahathir turut menyeret semua institusi negara untuk terlibat ke dalamnya. Jabatan Peguam Negara, hakim-hakim, polis, institusi pendidikan dan hampir kesemua jabatan kerajaan dikerah. Akhirnya institusi-institusi yang dulunya sangat bebas dan berwibawa bertukar menjadi lemah dan kehilangan jati diri. Ia menyebabkan mesyarakat turut menjadi lemah.
Siapa yang menjadi tukang menghancurkannya? Mahathir sendiri. Apakah Anwar tidak layak mentadbir? Jawapanmya mudah saja. Beri peluang Anwar sebagai perdana menteri dan biar rakyat menilai. Noktah. - Zunar.mk
We've bent backwards but
Zafrul's dropping threats...
DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang has not taken kindly to Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz's warning that civil servants may go unpaid if Budget 2021 is defeated. Lim saw that as a threat against the opposition which he said has bent over backwards to offer the government ways in getting Budget 2021 passed.
"Opposition MPs have been bending backwards so as to support Budget 2021 but the Finance Minister has taken advantage of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s repeated advice for MPs to give full support to the Budget 2021 and to heal the economy in the midst of the 'once-in-a-century' Covid-19 epidemic," Lim said in a statement.
The Iskandar Puteri MP said Zafrul's action was the "height of irresponsibility".
"Yesterday, Zafrul even went to the extent of warning that salaries for civil servants, health workers, and cash handouts would be stalled unless Budget 2021 was approved.
"I agree with the opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim that Zafrul's statement is an unacceptable threat and an attempt to ignore or sidestep valid and legitimate criticisms regarding Budget 2021, which had not been considered and approved by the cabinet," he said.
Lim said it was "not good enough" that Zafrul earlier met with the opposition but did not eventually incorporate their proposals when Budget 2021 was tabled in the Dewan Rakyat. Lim called for another meeting with Zafrul for him to properly consider the opposition's proposals.
"As there had been a week of debate on Budget 2021, he should now meet with the opposition leaders on how he is going to incorporate their views and suggestions so that the Budget 2021 is truly a 'unity' budget," Lim said.
He said voting on Budget 2021 is expected to start on Nov 25 when the last speaker winds up the debate. He questioned if the budget bill can pass a vote in Parliament based on the current trajectory of how things were going.
"There will then be a vote on the second reading of the Budget 2021.
"If the Budget 2021 is defeated in the second reading policy debate, then there is no need for Parliament to continue with the committee stage of the budget to examine each ministry’s budget," he said. - mk
Risks of Budget 2021 being voted down...
The country's largest-ever budget, at RM322.5 billion, has been tabled. It is no coincidence the unprecedented proposed mega-spending comes at one of the most critical junctures in the country's history. The Covid-19 pandemic, and the trail of economic turmoil it left behind, has necessitated fiscal and monetary interventions unlike any we have ever seen before, whether in quantum or approach.
In healthcare alone, a whopping RM31.9 billion has been allocated. This will go into buying some of the most critical items in the fight for Covid-19, whether personal protection equipment (PPEs) for frontliners or kits to test for the coronavirus, just to state a few.
For cash aid to the B40 group, some 8.1 million Malaysians stand to benefit from the RM6.5 billion allocated under the Batuan Prihatin Rakyat (BRR) programme. This is up from the 4.3 million beneficiaries under the Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH), the predecessor to the BPR.
In terms of jobs creation, the Human Resources Ministry has been allocated RM4.134 billion for a social safety net, skills training and recruitment incentives. With unemployment rate climbing, these measures are set to provide relief to tens if not hundreds of thousands fired or retrenched due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The list of people-centric initiatives under Budget 2021 goes on and on. From jobs to healthcare to welfare and women's and entrepreneurship development, just about everyone gains from it, whether directly or indirectly through the spillover effect.
Be that as it may, it is not a given that Budget 2021 will enjoy a smooth passage through the legislature. Already, there are threats to vote down the bill unless amendments are made, such as redirecting the proposed RM85 million allocation for the Special Affairs Department (Jasa) to other more critical agencies.
Regardless of whether tweaks are made in the bill before it is put forward to a vote, here are some of the things that would happen if Budget 2021 fails to be passed:
a. Federal civil servants will not be paid salaries come January, including for many of the frontliners battling Covid-19
b. The various cash aid allocated to the B40 and M40 groups would be withheld, robbing them of an economic lifeline during such hard times
c. Vulnerable groups such as the handicapped and single mothers would be deprived of aid promised in Budget 2021
d. Retraining and re-skilling programmes to help Malaysians who lost their jobs would be put on hold
e. The cabinet would need to resign
f. A snap general election may be held, significantly elevating the risk of Covid-19 transmission, going by the Sabah polls experience
g. Capital flight as jittery investors, including foreign fund managers, look for more politically stable markets
h. The stock market will nose-dive, exacerbating the already weary economy
Are the above necessary, especially at a time when we need to rally around efforts to put the country's economy back on track? Do we really want to see the intended beneficiaries being deprived of the economic and social lifelines? Are we so heartless to let politics cloud our morality?
Much of the grouses on social media on Budget 2021 surround the allocation for Jasa. Of the RM322.5 billion in Budget 2021, the RM85 million allocation for the department is only 0.026 per cent. How would you feel if you are fired because of a 0.026 per cent deficiency in your KPI?
By all means, tweak the budget before it is put forward to a vote because that's what the legislature is there for. But there is really no need to cut our nose to spite our face just because we fail to see the big picture in what the most critical budget in recent times entails. - Julian Chia,mk
cheers.
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