The era of repression is over

What a clown Najib was.

Not that long ago people lived in fear because you could get arrested just for making a clown drawing of Najib, tweeting something critical or dropping balloons as a sign of protest.

Well, Fahmi Reza has been acquitted (clown drawing case) and so have Zunar (tweeting case) and Bilqis Hijjas (balloon dropping case).

That was the kind of repressive regime Malaysia had becomes under Najib. There were plenty of  repressive action taken during Mahathir's time as PM and even during Badawi's time but Najib took it to a whole new, ridiculous level.

Ok, so Malaysia wasn't quite as bad as North Korea but man, it sure felt like we were fast heading there. Say something "wrong" and you might get a tweet from the IGP informing you that you are about to be arrested. Yes, that's how ridiculous it was.

Thank goodness BN was overthrown by Pakatan. Not a day goes by when I'm not thankful for the change in government.

Najib maintains it's a donation

He sure can attract donations and gifts!

Najib maintains the US$681 million (that's a whopping RM2.6 billion) is a donation from some mysterious Saudi royalty. He also maintains that the over RM100 million in cash found in his home and all the luxury items including handbags and jewellery were gifts from heads of governments and royalty abroad. Right.

You don't have to be an auditor to debunk all of these silly claims.

Firstly, all banking transactions have a digital trail. The US Department of Justice has determined that the US$681 million is not a donation but from IMDB. How difficult would it be for the Malaysian authorities, with the help of Bank Negara, to trace where that money came from and prove it in court?

As for the more than RM100 million in cash found in his apartment, which is supposedly donations certain quarters made to UMNO for election purposes, all the authorities have to do is ask him to provide the list of donors. Who actually gave the money? The authorities will need their names to interview them and find out if it's true they actually gave all that money in cash.

Surely they didn't just dump wads of cash into a bag and say, "We don't know how much we've actually dumped in there but it's all for UMNO to use for election purposes".

Even if it were true that the cash donations were from corporations and individuals sympathetic to UMNO, surely they would know exactly how much they donated. So let Najib prepare a long list of names so that the authorities can verify it.

As for the luxury items, again, let him make a list of exactly which head of government and which royalty from abroad gave which items. Surely there would be a record somewhere of who gave what. Let him produce that list if that's what he claims it to be. I don't know whose a worse liar, Donald Trump or Najib Razak, but I can't wait for the court case to begin.

Nobody wants a 3rd national car except Dr M

He's determined to have a third national car.

Dr M seems intent on setting up a third "national car". This was one of the first few things he announced after becoming PM again. That goes to show how much he prioritizes this. But Lim Guan Eng assured the public that government funds can't be used for this.

So, it would seem like this has to be a private sector initiative. Then recently Dr M made the bizarre claim that Khazanah, the government investment arm, is not the government.

Yes, it's true, Khazanah is not the government but it's a funds are public funds. None other than Khazanah's MD Shahril Ridza Ridzuan has pointed this out.

This shows two things. Firstly, even though Dr M is intent on creating a 3rd national car, he's not going to have it his way very easily. During his first tenure as PM he could have bulldozed such a project through but not this time. Not when the most of his Cabinet (basically every MP who is not from Bersatu and probably even a few who are from Bersatu) and practically every working adult in Malaysia doesn't want it.

It's not that people are against "Made-in-Malaysia" products. It's that generations of Malaysians have had to endure high car prices because the government had to protect Proton. Presumably that would still be the case with a third national car.

What's the point of having a national car if it's more expensive than what an imported car would normally be? The result of having a national car has been high local car prices and even higher imported car prices. Which consumer would want that?

Dr M's rationale is that it's important to have a national car industry so that we don't remain a country of consumers. We should be creating things, not just buying things. We should be entrepreneurial.

Well, there are plenty of small countries in the world where high tech industries have blossomed and where the people are entrepreneurial -- but they don't have a national car. In fact most countries don't have national cars.

There are so many economic activities the government could be supporting and promoting which would not require protectionism. We are tropical country with lush flora and fauna. Why can't we develop a dynamic eco-tourism industry? We have some of the best food in the world. How about developing that further and exporting our great food to the rest of the world? We should be working on really developing an ICT sector. And maybe even a film industry (New Zealand, a much smaller country, did most of the work for the Lord of the Rings series).

We don't need or want a third national car. That much is apparent but will that stop Dr M from trying? No. But that doesn't mean he will get his way. Even if he wants it badly, there are certain things his Cabinet will not approve and I don't expect they will agree to any government funds being used to create a third national car. It's just not going to happen.

A constrained Dr M is what the nation needs

Gobind announces that Cabinet has decided to suspend the Sedition Act.

Some people think Dr M is going to revert back to his old (authoritarian) ways but the political reality of today is different from when he was PM the first time around. Back then, UMNO was super dominant and the feudalistic culture in UMNO meant everyone kowtowed to the chief. He could do what he wanted and there would be no opposition from his Cabinet members.

It's different now. Let's be frank about this. Everyone knows Dr M's natural inclinations are to keep repressive laws like the Sedition Act. He even kinda wavered when first asked about doing away with the stupid Fake News Act. That's why it's not surprising that he says the Sedition Act will continue to be applied for now and that there's no timeline for its repeal.

But he has a Cabinet full of former Opposition MPs who despise the Sedition Act. Today, Gobind announced that the Cabinet has agreed to suspend the Sedition Act.

“A decision was made by the cabinet yesterday that since we are going to abolish the Sedition Act, action under that act should be suspended temporarily,” Gobind said.

How does Dr M feel about that? He probably doesn't like it but he's a realist. He knows that he needs to continue to have the support of his Cabinet for him to continue being PM for the next two years or so. If they want to suspend the Sedition Act, he's not going to get in their way.

This final two-year term Dr M's last chance to cement his legacy and to shape the lasting perceptions of him for generations to come. There are many things he wants to do and he won't jeopardize this by quibbling over things like the Sedition Act, although if he had his druthers, he'd probably want to retain it.

Heck, he would probably privately support the reintroduction of the ISA if that were possible. But these things are not important in the big scheme of things. Like I said, there are many things he wants to achieve before his time is up. So, he will let it be.

Anwar is right that Dr M is the right man for the moment to run this country. We need someone strong and determined like him to push through prosecution of people like Najib, Rosmah, etc. We also need someone like him to keep the religious authorities in check when they go overboard. But at the same time, we need the Cabinet to ensure that Dr M doesn't have everything his own way. Yes, a constrained Dr M is the right leader for this country in this crucial transition period.