Mr Nice Guy or not in control?

Categories: Malaysia

Recent events had raised questions regarding the authority of Prime Minister Badawi. No doubt he is Mr Nice Guy, but even Mr Nice Guy must be seen to be in-charge. He has made calls for accountability and transparency as the platform of his government. However his actions had shown otherwise.

After the Balai Polis saga, he had set up a Royal Commission to look into the setting up of a panel to look into police excesses. The IPCMC was eventually recommended by the Royal Commission and the PM had accepted the recommendations. However this was rejected by the Inspector-General of Police and the PM said he would look into the matter further. That was in March. Until today, there is no news on IPCMC and the subject of insubordination by the IGP, a civil servant, to the Prime Minister had not been addressed.

Then comes the scrapping of the scenic bridge. Rightly or wrongly is open to interpretation. However, as the leader of the country, when his government is criticised and humiliated by the highly respected former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir, he should have at least address the controversy himself. He should not have appoint other people to counter Tun Mahathir's criticisms. Even Mr Nice Guy has pride and honour. When Tun Mahathir condemned his government as "half-past six with no guts", shouldn't he defend his government? Why let his minister rebut Tun? Does he think that by not directly answering to Tun, he has gained the moral high ground? Unfortunately not! No matter how much respect one have, one still have to defend one's honour. It seems this is not the case here.

The most recent case involves the Jasin MP who asked senior Custom official to "close one eye" and not to seize the logs. Initially he claimed that he was only helping out a constituent but eventually he admitted to be the owner of the forwarding company. Whether there is a conflict of interest and abuse of power is not clear. However if a lawmaker asked a civil servant to circumvent and break laws, then something definitely wrong. Putting a good word for a constituent is acceptable but to blatantly asking a civil servant to bend the rules is another matter. After saying that Datuk Shahrir has broken party rules by supporting an opposition motion, he has now taken up the matter and will investigate to see if the MP has broken any rules. Why waste time to investigate? The Jasin MP has already admitted to have told the senior Custom officials to close one eye. Whether this is abuse of power is immaterial. The fact is he had try to use his high office to influence a civil servant to allow illegal activity. This is definitely wrong in the eyes of the law. If he professes accountability, then the MP should have at least been suspended first pending outcome of investigations.

Wormie is not sure what the PM stands for. Is he really for accountability and transparency? If he is then he should show his mettle. Make a decision and then stand by it. Don't use the public as an excuse for his decision. Don't let civil servants upstaged the office of the Prime Minister. Use own judgement to make a decision and stand by it. This way at least the PM can account for himself and earn his just respect. Otherwise, Mr Nice Guy will loose his appeal.