Don’t swallow the politician’s spiel — Ali Kadir
JULY 19 — How do you know when a politician is lying?
Answer: when his lips are moving. This line came to mind when I read the numerous statements made by Prime Minister today.
First he said that Bersih 3.0 had tarnished the image of Muslims. I suppose padding the electoral rolls and allowing foreigners to vote and corrupting the electoral process should make Muslims beam with pride.
One of the most repressive regimes in the world is Saudi Arabia and therefore they are not qualified to pass judgement on Malaysia or Malaysians. I get what Najib is trying to do: he is the white knight who had to urge the Saudi Arabian government to keep Malaysia's haj quota.
Therefore, Muslims here must be thankful and give him their vote. This whole wayang is stage-managed.
Then there was this wonderful statement that pensioners should not consider him the "Bodek PM". It's true. He is the Teflon PM and the Elastic PM and Money can buy support PM.
Pensioners or for that matter Malaysians should be under no illusion why money is being thrown at them. It is purely vote buying and has little to do with compassion or doing the right thing. He urged pensioners to support him based on his track record: this is the track record of using my money and yours to give us some crumbs.
This is also the track record of allowing Perkasa and other right-wing elements in the country to thrive.
Also the track record of favoured friends and businessmen and children of Cabinet ministers to get plum contracts.
For goodness sake, take the money and the handouts but let us not for a minute swallow the rubbish and doublespeak. (Sandwiched between the speeches was a bribe to 400 imams, free haj packages by 1MDB)
* Ali Kadir reads The Malaysian Insider.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.
