By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, March 3: Santubong MP Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said Barisan Nasional’s (BN) victory in the Semenyih by-election yesterday manifested the voters’ disappointment with Pakatan Harapan (PH) government for broken promises and denial of the importance of its manifesto.
He said the PH government, in general, had let the people down in many aspects.
“People would like to see PH keep its words, fulfil its promises and not to deny the importance of their manifesto in the 14th general election (GE14). They would like to see the PH government reduce politicking and start to know their work and functions as a government.
“The ministers should behave like ministers and not to behave and act unintelligently and naively like unschooled lots. Do your ministry’s work, make your legacy there, not a rojak minister or rojak deputy minister.
“Practically, since assuming power, PH ministers have discredited themselves to the brink of ridiculousness. The honeymoon is over and the euphoria is fast diminishing, the reality is setting in,” said Wan Junaidi.
He reckoned the rakyat, apart from wanting to see PH kept their promises, also wanted to see PH make their principle struggles — the rule of law, democracy and transparency — become a reality.
“Instead, PH abuses its authority and use the instruments of the State for its political ends.
“Let the office of the Attorney General, the judiciary and all the enforcement agencies be totally free as they have promised,” said Wan Junaidi, citing it as one example that PH failed to keep up with its promises.
Wan Junaidi also pointed out that the PH government should address the people’s problems, such as rural infrastructure, public amenities, roads, bridges, water, electricity, schools and clinics that PH had brought up against the previous government before winning GE14 on May 9 last year.
He said there were six by-elections since PH took over the government. In the first three by-elections, there were low turnout and BN were dispirited and demoralised.
“At the Port Dickson by-election, we saw a little enthusiasm because of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and PKR elements, notwithstanding the infighting simmering and sometimes imploding therein.
“But the euphoria of PH’s unprecedented victory was still being felt strongly and people still believed that given time, PH would deliver what they promised.”
Wan Junaidi said the feeling of disenchantment and disappointment against PH, however, started to seep in and felt by the rakyat during the Cameron Highlands by-election.
“Then came the Malu Apa Bossku. It is not just a theme, a brand or a logo. It is a new dynamic articulating people’s feelings, frustration and anger in a simple and, sometimes, humorous but easy to understand approach.
“It became the symbol of ordinary people’s struggles against the lies, deceits, falsehood and broken promises. It attracted not only the supporters, fence-sitters but also the nemesis, the old, the middle age and youths alike.
“It’s almost a DS Najib (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak) phenomena. For once, people forgot about the 1MDB and all its implications, rightly or wrongly.
“For those in the peripheral of the political divides, people want to see the government start governing the country. People just have had enough of the ‘finding fault regime’, the 1MDB, the Najib and BN badnesses (sic) in whatever brand names being called,” said Wan Junaidi.
He opined that BN winning in all the Malay areas in Semenyih showed that the Malays in the constituency were angry with the PH government for disrupting Malay interests in Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund such as Lembaga Tabung Haji, Permodalan Nasional Berhad and Khazanah Nasional Berhad.
Another factor, he added, was due to the collaboration between BN, Umno and Pas, which worked well together to deny PH’s victory in the election.
He said the PH government’s policy of giving priority to the third national car, flying cars and twisted bridge while ignoring diseases such as dengue, tuberculosis and rabies that are now plaguing the nation was also one of the reasons that voters, especially those in Semenyih, were losing faith in the PH government. — DayakDaily
