 |
|
It is an established principle among humankind that promises should not be made unless there is a sincere intent to deliver. Failure to act as promised leads to loss of credibility. The party in power has made promises. They are largely unkept. They have a credibility problem. Q.E.D.
An example will demonstrate the general situation. On June 23, 2000 it was reported in the news that the deputy prime minister, speaking in the town of Hulu Terengganu, gave repeated assurances that funds collected by the federal government would be distributed to the various states equitably. The two northern states of Kelantan and Terengganu would not be treated as step-children, and their development was of equal importance to the ministers of the Umno-led federal machinery.
Kelantan has for a number of years had a pending application for assistance via a soft loan of RM600 million to improve the existing water system. This loan has not been granted. The government announced today that RM1 billion was spent on armoured vehicles with no apparent function. Yet the development loan to Kelantan languishes.
The deputy prime minister said that the fact that PAS was in power made no difference. Apparently it does. His statement, as quoted, was, "Umno's struggle is for the race, religion and country and assistance will definitely be given to the people, irrespective of their political beliefs." This sounds hollow. Why does he make such statements? Perhaps he is only a victim of the speech writers in his department.
To top off this hyperbole he added a cherry, "Umno and the BN will continue to fulfill its obligation to bring prosperity to the people." The widely observed facts indicate that he means the top officials of the BN political apparatus. He certainly cannot be referring to the promised assistance to the poor people of Kelantan.
When the state of Terengganu was in Umno control there was never a word spoken about the oil royalties. Since PAS won the state, Umno has continued to threaten action designed to break the royalty agreement. Why is this so? If Umno and the BN wish to help the people of Terengganu as the deputy prime minister promises, why is this a continuing issue? Everyone knows that if Umno and the BN won the next state election the oil royalty issue would not arise.
Umno seeks to regain support from Muslims. There are a lot of Muslims in Terengganu and Kelantan who find the actions out of synchronisation with the promises. Perhaps it would be well to remind the leaders of the United Malay (Muslim by constitutional definition) National Organisation that a fundamental principle of Islam is the keeping of promises. The Qur'an states that failure to keep promises is an identifying mark of the unbeliever. If Umno wishes to be regarded as Islamic, then some attention to basic principles is required.