NOV 30 — The “1 Malaysia. People First. Performance Now.” tagline must have had something to do with the Federal Cabinet’s recent decision to overhaul the notorious Biro Tata Negara (BTN).
Pakatan Rakyat leaders and some attendees have accused the bureau’s programme — ostensibly to promote unity and patriotism — of instead promoting racial propaganda and hate, especially for the opposition.
Things came to a head when the Pakatan-ruled Selangor last week decided to bar its civil servants and state-sponsored students from attending the mandatory courses. Another Pakatan state, Penang, is also considering the same move.
Umno-controlled Malay dailies, however, stoutly defended BTN’s programmes, quoting Umno leaders who insinuated that the opposition were politicising the patriotic nature of the courses to cover their own weaknesses. And some said it was unpatriotic to knock the courses.
Despite news today that the Cabinet had decided to revamp BTN, several senior Umno ministers spent the weekend defending the courses and denying that it was racist in nature. Among them were Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, vice-president Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and Wanita chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.
The trio — respectively the Deputy Prime Minister, Home Minister, and Women and Family Development Minister — have taken great pains to paint a rosy picture of BTN, claiming nothing is wrong with the programmes in its current form.
What gives? Why the pathetic defence when they knew it would be overhauled.
These are the kind of weak-minded leaders that Malaysia can do without. If something is indefensible, it would just be better to say it and not parrot the party line.
Perhaps they have been fed with reports that say all is fine with BTN programmes. Perhaps they don’t know any better as their children do not attend the course. Perhaps it is because they believe there is indeed nothing wrong with what BTN is doing as it is the party line.
Well, perhaps they are wrong. They should have checked further, notwithstanding that Pakatan leaders might have politics in mind when slagging off courses to paint them in bad light.
And they should know there is a difference between what the party does and what the state does. The entire state is not moulded in the image of Umno or Barisan Nasional. The once-proud notice board in construction sites that say “Another Project by the Barisan Nasional” is now a memorial to failure rather than a monument of success, if one looks at a list that includes collapsed stadiums and the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ).
And these projects use public funds, not party money. These ministers should remember that.
Just as with Biro Tata Negara, which is a division of the Prime Minister’s Department that uses public funds — not a unit within the Umno president’s office.
At the very least, the Umno president knows that. At the very least, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is actually following his 1 Malaysia tagline of “People First. Performance Now”. These ministers, his fellow Umno leaders should follow their “first among equals”.
Otherwise, like the BTN, they should be overhauled too.
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