Mahathir foisted a Disaster on Perakians

From Malaysiakini:

How is it hapless Ahmad Faizal is still Perak MB?

OPINION  |  MARIAM MOKHTAR

Published: 2 Aug 2019, 8:37 am  |  Modified: 2 Aug 2019, 8:37 am

COMMENT | Remember this! Politicians treat their electorate like mushrooms. They are kept in the dark and fed manure.

The state of Perak is stuck in reverse. Despite his numerous gaffes, and the ease with which he stumbles from one blunder to another, the hapless Ahmad Faizal Azumu (above) is still Perak's Menteri Besar.

If only Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad knew the severity of the situation. Faizal has managed to alienate several groups of people; from the Orang Asli in the interior, to the fishermen in the north of the country. He gives timber barons licences to log, yet declares that the forest dwellers, the Orang Asli (OA) are illegal settlers. He prefers footballers to vegetable farmers.

His breathtaking revelation that there is no such thing as OA ancestral land and his equally puerile boast, made a few months ago, that his greatest achievement was that he was still the MB, are worrying. Equally disconcerting is Mahathir's approval of Faizal's performance.

The MB is very arrogant and displays the taint of Ketuanan Melayu. He is clueless about the environment, from coastal erosion to soil degradation. He wants to create jobs for senior, retired Perakians, but makes no attempt to attract the hundreds of thousands of younger Perakaians - professionals, entrepreneurs and artistes - who have left, because they cannot earn a living in Perak.

He makes up for his lack of ideas and vision, by promoting former Umno-Baru projects, like the new airport and the space centre. 

Ahmad Faizal refuses to sell the Movie Animation Park Studio (Maps), a theme-park which is haemorrhaging money, and is mired in controversy. Constructed during the previous Umno-Baru government, Maps has cost the Perak taxpayer hundreds of millions of ringgits, but the MB has the misguided belief that the state is good at business. No, it is not!

As someone with a keen interest in football, he showed the state's appreciation, when the Perak team beat Terengganu on penalties in the Malaysia Cup 2018 final. The footballers and team officials were rewarded with land in Chemor, just outside the city of Ipoh. Vegetable farmers who had toiled on the land for the past 5 decades were given letters to vacate the area. Footballers are paid huge salaries, but the farmers were kicked in the teeth.

The newspapers splashed reports about the angry vegetable farmers, and as luck would have it, the Perak football team lost to Kedah in the FA final. Will the land be forfeited?

Despite claiming that the state was broke, the MB performed some magic and "found" enough money to purchase a fleet of Toyota Camrys for his administration.

Few people realise that Faizal's appointment was mired in controversy. If he was in a relationship, the best way to describe it would be to say, "It's complicated!"

If there had been no Mahathir, Bersatu would not have existed, and Faizal would still be a fully fledged Umno-Baru Youth leader, his last official position in Umno-Baru Perak.

He is a career politician extraordinaire, and has bounced from a position of relative obscurity, as a political researcher, to the highest office in Perak.

Having once been Mukhriz Mahathir's (above) aide, he can boast that he has the confidence of the son of the PM; but working with Mukhriz does not necessarily mean that he is competent. We know many Bersatu people with dodgy degrees, who have PhDs in "ampu-bodek-ology".

His controversial appointment in May 2018, prompted a flurry of queries from graduates of Edith Cowan University, who raised doubts about his claim to be a graduate. No one looks down on non-graduates, but they abhorred the deception. Faizal made no attempt to correct the boast about his business degree, which was listed on his website and Wikipedia page.

Politics is a family affair in the MB's household. His father-in-law is a former strongman in Umno-Baru, a former head of Umno-Baru Kampar, who is closely associated with the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (Lima) in Langkawi. 

Needless to say, many former Umno-Baru men now grace the corridors of Bersatu. Faizal's sister-in-law was a former Umno-Baru representative, but has since become an independent representative.

Family connections aside, is the precarious situation the explanation for the silence of the PH component parties, Amanah, DAP and PKR? Despite Faizal's various failings, they appear to condone his incompetence. They probably harbour a fear of frogs.

The choice candidate for MB is Amanah's Nizar Jamaluddin, who briefly served as MB in 2008. The role played by a few key people in the Perak coup of 2009 has not been revealed. In 2009, disgraced Najib Abdul Razak removed Nizar, and installed Umno-Baru's Zambry Abdul Kadir as MB, so that Umno-Baru could regain power.

The losers were the people of Perak.

For Putrajaya to continue to ignore Faizal's incompetence says as much about the man, as it does about the few key people who want him to remain as MB.

A word of caution - the scheming Umno-Baru politicians are watching with interest, as are the people of Perak.

Mahathir may say that Melayu mudah lupa (forget easily), but the rakyat never forgets. If nothing is done about Faizal, Harapan will be the loser. GE15 is just a heartbeat away.

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MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO). Blog, Twitter.