PRIME Minister Najib Razak has framed the next do-or-die electoral battle between his party, Umno, and the opposition as a contest between the future and the past.

It is specifically between him as a prime minister who will take the country into a gleaming future and former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad of Pakatan Harapan, who will drag it back into a past laced with cronyism and oppression.

This is the message that the Umno president wants his 5,000 grassroots leaders to take back from their last general assembly before the 14th general election (GE14). This is what he wants the public to know as the party contests what he has termed as the “father of all general elections”.

The problem with this narrative, said analysts, is that it obscures the fact that Najib’s administration perpetuates the policies of the past which he claims to revile.

It also distracts from his administration’s lacklustre record of dealing with present-day problems, such as the high cost of living, stagnating income and youth unemployment, said Hisommudin Bakar of the Ilham Centre.

At the same time, he wants the public to ignore the fact that although Dr Mahathir is an old leader, the PH coalition has new ideas.

“There is something inherently old and chronic in Najib’s new pet projects, which is corruption,” said Dr Wong Chin Huat of the Penang Institute.

Ostensibly missing from the entire assembly and the Umno leaders’ speeches were the scandals of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Mara and Felda, all which happened under Najib’s watch, said Hisommudin.

In contrast, although Dr Mahathir is old, he has had to accept new ideas in PH’s reform agenda designed to dismantle the system of authoritarianism and race politics that Najib’s administration survives on, said Wong.

These include a two-term limit to the prime minister’s post, making law enforcement agencies independent of the cabinet and reinstating the separation of power between the executive, legislative and judicial.

Contrasting legacies

Dr Mahathir is critical to win over the Malay vote in GE14. He is still seen as an influential figure among rural, older and working-class Malays who remember him for transforming the country into a regional industrial powerhouse.

Najib is attempting to challenge that image by saying that even though his predecessor built landmarks, such as the Petronas Twin towers, those symbols are bereft of any substance.

“The twin towers are big but they were built by foreign expertise. There was no transfer of knowledge,” Najib said in his final speech at the assembly yesterday.

In contrast, 48% of Najib’s pet project, the Klang Valley MRT, was built by local Bumiputera firms, he said.

“The other side (PH) does not have a Bumiputera economic agenda,” Najib said, that Dr Mahathir’s initiatives were rife with elements of cronyism.

But Najib’s own record is spotty, said Hisommudin, pointing to the 1MBD scandal. The state firm, which is Najib’s brainchild, is at the centre of a six-country probe into allegations of money-laundering and fraud.

The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) alleges that US$4.5 billion was siphoned off from 1MDB to buy high-end property and art work in the US. About US$1.75 billion of those assets have been frozen by American authorities.

About US$731 million was allegedly siphoned off and moved into the personal accounts of a Malaysian Official No. 1 (MO1). In an interview with the BBC, minister Rahman Dahlan said MO1 was Najib, although the latter has attributed the sum to a donation from the Saudi government.

The prime minister has denied that there was any wrongdoing while Malaysian Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali has exonerated him.

At the start of the Umno assembly this week, the DoJ repeated those allegations, saying that 1MDB was kleptocracy as “its worst”.

Umno members and leaders however rubbished those allegations. 

Najib’s focus on his big achievements also obscures the fact that his narrative lacks solutions to the bread-and-butter issues which plague most Malaysians, said Hisommudin.

“These issues were brought up by members of his own party, such as the Wanita and Puteri wings. Their concerns about securing the Malay women’s vote show that these issues could really impact on Umno’s support base.”

Malay Muslims make up about 53% of Malaysia’s 14 million voters. Malay Muslim women make up half that number.

In contrast, PH’s economic manifesto launched in October just before the government’s own budget, spelt out policies the opposition believes will fix the economy.

These include an end to the goods and service tax (GST), which is blamed for driving up inflation and strengthening unions to increase wages.

“In underrating Dr Mahathir and PH, he is ignoring that there is a huge brain trust behind the coalition that can challenge BN’s agenda.” – December 10, 2017.