Never have a I read an article published in the usually not-so-democratic Malaysia press albeit in Sabah as contemptible of an UMNO man in power as the one written by Ariff Sabri Aziz. Could it be that this former UMNO Assemblyman is expecting UMNO's defeat in the forthcoming Sabah elections and has no more qualms about attacking Malaysia's current strongman who, I should add, is also the man who ordered the wholescale murder of people from the Sulu Sultanate group in Sabah last month?
In his article, Ariff Sabri Aziz writes of Najib as "value less", "Fuhrer-minded", one "cavorting with questionable organisations, the underworld and other gangster-like groupings" no doubt alluding to Najib's connection with the murder of a Mongolian woman during his tenure as Malaysia defence minister for which his henchman, a Razak Baguinda, was jailed for a while and then freed when Najib became PM; that Najib's "tenure as Pahang menteri besar was lacklustre", and so forth and so on. (And to think that President Aquino looks up to the Malaysia prime minister so highly that he parroted every word Najib said during the initial days of the Sabah stand-off.)
In keeping with the saying that the 'enemy of my enemy is my friend,' I would have been contented with Ariff Sabri Aziz' piece as he thrashed Najib with one ad hominem after another had he not injected the following remark which, to my mind, served to rebuke the real owners of Sabah, i.e., the Sulu Sultanate and by extension, the Tausugs of Sulu: "There is a breakdown in law and order. The Umno government has failed to protect its citizens from being set upon by other citizens, because the perpetrators are the brownshirts from Umno."
Other citizens? What 'other citizens'? The Sulu Sultanate are the proprietary right holders of Sabah while the Philippine Republic holds the sovereignty rights which is carved in Philippine law under Republic Act 5446.
Perhaps, there is a need to remind Mr Aziz that following the transfer of sovereignty rights over Sabah to the Republic of the Philippines by Sultan Esmail Kiram on 12 September 1962, Suluks, Tausugs, citizens of Sulu, displaced Moros and even Filipinos of different ethnic origins became the natural citizens of Sabah. Fortunately, Arriff Sabri Aziz redeemed himself after he asks some questions which neutralised his otherwise slanted remark.
For example, he asks, "What exactly did Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak offer Jamalul Kiram III?"
Ariff Sabri Aziz, to his credit, also makes an eyebrow raising remark over which I think Jamallul Kiram III may be able to shed light: "I will not be surprised to learn eventually that Najib made some offers to the Sulu Sultan in exchange for political support." Does Aziz, a former UMNO man know something we don't?
And his other two questions if answered by any of the protagonists, i.e., Najib, Jamallul Kiram III or even his brother Esmail Kiram II, should help greatly in understanding where we are all at with regard to the Sabah claim: "Were these people promised land and the promises reneged? Did Najib turn down a request from the Sulu Sultan to meet up with him when Najib was in Manila recently?"
On the whole, it is rather 'refreshing' to read a straightforward anti-Najib and anti-UMNO piece from a Malaysian UMNO politician (because that's who Mr Aziz is in reality.) It tells me that perhaps, not all Malaysians are devoid of sense of discernment after all.
~~ By Anne de Bretagne For the Defenders of Philippine Sovereignty 10 April 2013
Why’s Najib on a witch-hunt?
Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz | April 9, 2013
Did Najib Tun Razak renege on a deal with Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III and is now worried that the truth will see light?
Trust must be earned, Mr Prime Minister, and right now we don’t see a leader. What we see is a slumlord with wads of cash in hand, doling out moneyed kindness.
What exactly did Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak offer Jamalul Kiram III?
I will not be surprised to learn eventually that Najib made some offers to the Sulu Sultan in exchange for political support.
The government has not been forthcoming in its explanations to reveal what is the true story behind the Lahad Datu tragedy.
Were these people promised land and the promises reneged? Did Najib turn down a request from the Sulu Sultan to meet up with him when Najib was in Manila recently?
So Najib and his government go on a McCarthy-like witch-hunt victimising people like Tian Chua who was charged with politically motivated legal action.
And the spiritual adviser of Umno is up to his usual despicable, dirty and utterly unethical tactics of imputing the Sulu invasion was financed by some party.
Suddenly you hear the spiritual adviser of Umno – the man who made the edict “better to be friends with the devil you know than the angel you don’t” – dishing up homilies and simplistic advice meant, unfortunately, for Umno simpletons.
Are we surprised? No!
We are not surprised to see Umno cavorting with questionable organisations, the underworld and other gangster-like groupings. Why? Because befriending bad people is second-nature to Umno and its leaders.
Value-less Najib
Values and mind-set, people say, are formed before one is 40 years old.
From then on, one draws down from the reservoir of accumulated knowledge and value system that one has.
What has Najib accumulated before his was 40?
Did he spend his young years burning the midnight oil to get through his MCE and HSC?
Did he go through years of deprivation that shaped the character of most of us?
His years as Pahang menteri besar were embroiled in the wholesale plunder of Pahang’s forest.
I can remember in the early 1980s, he appointed his cousin to head a state-owned timber company. At that time the fellow earned RM40,000 per month and was driving a Porsche or a Ferrari.
The regional manager of Shell, based in Kuantan at that time, an employee of the second biggest company in the world, was earning a salary of RM11,000 a month.
Najib’s tenure as Pahang menteri besar was lacklustre. His mediocrity was only exceeded by his pursuits of other nocturnal distractions.
Najib didn’t come into office with stellar academic achievements.
His first job was as personal assistant to then chairman of Petronas, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. He was more of a bag carrier for Tengku Razaleigh then.
‘Fuhrer’ Najib
Between then and now there’s been nothing exciting except plunder and pillage.
The main players in the economy remain a chosen few friends and cronies, making Najib’s boastful pledge of implementing a New Economic Model entirely hollow.
There is a breakdown in law and order. The Umno government has failed to protect its citizens from being set upon by other citizens, because the perpetrators are the brownshirts from Umno.
Umno is behaving almost Nazi-like and Najib, well, he’s the Fuhrer. Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Furhrer: One People, One Nation and One Leader! The Fuhrer looks the other way as his brownshirts intimidated and assaulted fellow citizens.
Nothing personal, it’s just business and I am asking what many more people are asking: What has Najib got in common with us, common people?
In terms of accumulated experience and formed values system, Najib is sorely wanting.
He has the least qualities that we can identify with and yet, people, unschooled and brainwashed want him to lead this nation?
Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz is a former Umno assemblyman and is now a DAP member. He is a FMT columnist.
Link to article: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2013/04/09/whys-najib-on-a-witch-hunt/
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