'When money speaks louder than words'. Demikian tajuk artikel dalam The Star Online 8 Mac 2009. Artikel tersebut menyiarkan catatan temu ramah akhbar itu dengan Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri.
Kata Datuk Seri Nazri,"Another mistake Umno is making is telling the people they must be grateful for what the Barisan government has done for them. That is wrong. What we do for the rakyat, we are duty bound to do. Because when we stood for election, we said ‘you elect me and I’ll do this, this and this.’ So they delivered their part by electing me and I have to do what I promised the rakyat. I can’t turn around and say ‘rakyat, you must be grateful to me.’ I can’t lecture them on that because it was I who made the promise. (Satu lagi kesilapan yang sedang dilakukan UMNO ialah menyuruh rakyat berterima kasih kepada jasa kerajaan Barisan Nasional kepada mereka. Ini tidak betul. Apa-apa yang telah kita lakukan untuk rakyat sebenarnya memang tugas kita. Tatkala kita bertanding dalam pilihan raya, kita berkata 'pilihlah saya dan saya akan laksanakan ini, ini dan ini.' Rakyat kemudiannya memilih kita. Oleh itu kita mesti kotakan kata-kata itu. Kita tidak sewajarnya kembali kepada mereka dan berkata 'rakyat sekelian mesti berterima kasih kepada saya.' Kita tidak boleh berkhutbah demikian kerana kitalah yang mengungkapkan janji tersebut.)
Sebenarnya tindakan UMNO, dan apa-apa parti yang memerintah, menyeru rakyat supaya berterima kasih dan mengenang jasa mereka bukan sahaja satu kesilapan, malah satu dosa.
Pertama berdosa kerana takbur.
Kedua berdosa kerana anggota kerajaan, termasuk pegawai kerajaan, diupah oleh rakyat untuk menjaga kesejahteraan rakyat dan keselamatan negara. Mendakwa kerja buat mereka, sama ada sebagai menteri atau pegawai, sebagai jasa bakti adalah satu penipuan yang sangat besar. Rakyat yang terpelajar bukan sahaja berasa tertipu malah terasa diperbodohkan.
Memperbodohkan orang cerdik amat besar bahananya. Inggeris pernah merasainya di India dan di Tanah Melayu. Belanda merasainya di Indonesia.
Berikut ialah petikan jawapan menarik Datuk Seri Nazri kepada beberapa soalan yang diajukan kepadanya:
A. How is money politics in the Umno elections this time around?
It’s still quite rampant except that it has gone underground. That is the reason we hear a lot of things about the exchange of money but nothing comes out of it. The MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) is empowered to look into all complaints made by Umno members but, as mentioned by the MACC Chief Commissioner, though there were many complaints, what is clear is there is no strong evidence because, as I said, it has gone underground and people are not coming out to say it.
There are two other candidates (Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib aka Mat Taib and Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam) standing for the deputy post and you did not even mention them?
First of all, I cannot support them, not for personal reasons but for real, practical reasons. The deputy Prime Minister will succeed the Prime Minister. We can’t discount the fact that anything can happen and if anything happens to the PM, the deputy PM will take over. For Ali (Rustam) and Mat Taib to take over, it is not possible and is unconstitutional because they are not even MPs.
The March 8 general election was an eye opener as Umno suffered from the loss of support. Why have Umno members not realised this and tried to bring the party back on track instead of engaging in money politics?
Because Umno members go into politics for self-gain and self-interest! They are assuming that the party will never lose! They do not see what happened as a warning of what is to come in the future. They think the public has regretted their decision (to vote the Opposition) and Barisan will get back the support. They think it’s temporary and that elections are like a pendulum that will swing back in their favour, and that we win big in one election and we lose a bit in the next. They say in the 1986 general election the pendulum was on our side and we won big; in 1990 we did badly because of Semangat 46; in1995 we won big again and in 1999 we suffered and lost Terengganu; in 2004 we won big. For them, the 2008 election was a pendulum, so they think they can just sit down and not work because they assume the pendulum will swing back to us in the next election.
Are they right?
Of course they are wrong. We have to work and be people friendly. Umno members must go back to the days when Umno was people friendly. Ikut rasmi padi lagi berisi lagi tunduk (The more you have, the more humble you are). But what we see today is that when you become minister or hold a post, you are behaving like warlords and not people friendly at all. Mana boleh (how can that be)? We have to change. We must accept reality that we can’t behave in the way we behaved in the 60s and 70s when we could shout and say anything and the public still accepted us. It’s different now with the Internet. Whatever you say, people will come to know straightaway. So you have to behave yourself. The public are more demanding now, and rightly so.
Another mistake Umno is making is telling the people they must be grateful for what the Barisan government has done for them. That is wrong. What we do for the rakyat, we are duty bound to do. Because when we stood for election, we said ‘you elect me and I’ll do this, this and this.’ So they delivered their part by electing me and I have to do what I promised the rakyat. I can’t turn around and say ‘rakyat, you must be grateful to me.’ I can’t lecture them on that because it was I who made the promise.
It’s been a year since the March 8 general election. Has there been some effort to repair Umno in particular?
I think there’ll be a change when Najib takes over. Right now, we are still in denial. We all talk about how we have to change but it’s only talk. I have not seen any concrete effort.
As someone who is not contesting, what is your advice to the delegates?
Like Tun Musa (Hitam) said, my advice too is whatever you do, whom you vote, you must not think of just what Umno wants. You must think of what the rakyat wants and then vote. Umno equals the Government so it can’t be just electing a person based on what Umno wants. It must elect a person whom the general public wants and feels confident with.
Are you confident that this time around the delegates would do it?
I hear a lot. So I am not confident. I hear the questions asked when candidates go campaigning. For example, when Muhyiddin goes down, they ask ‘why does he not smile?’ Is that a reason to vote or not vote someone? They ask ‘why don’t you give me a project when you are a minister?’ Is that a reason for you to vote your leader? Or they say ‘other candidates have given me this but you have not given me anything so why should I vote for you?’ Is that a reason not to elect a person? Because of his face? Because he doesn’t smile? Or they say ‘my birthday was yesterday and this other candidate called me up but you didn’t bother to say happy birthday to me’ or that ‘I was in hospital and why didn’t you visit me. The others came.’
So if you look at all this, do you have confidence? I don’t!
And we are not even talking about money yet. Money is another matter.
I am talking about the mindset of the delegates and how they vote their leaders. You are an outsider and I am revealing to you how the delegates’ mindset works. Do you want a leader who first thing in the morning is at his desk – not doing his work – but looking through the birthdays of the 2,000 delegates to see whom to call to wish ‘Happy birthday’?
