When people complain that Rafizi is not meeting their expectations as the economy minister, Rafizi decided to respond to them by saying that he is going to start a podcast to roast everybody that are complaining about him. If that is not bewildering enough, now he is saying that he is not Santa Claus, as if that explains anything.
Why is it so difficult to communicate with Rafizi? It is so difficult to get through to him, that if someone were to ask him where he is going, he is apt to answer that he doesn’t think it is going to rain today. The things that people say to him and his responses often don't correspond. It is like we are saying one thing to him and he is hearing something else.
Why can’t Rafizi ever answer the question that we ask him in a straightforward manner? Why must he always beat around the bush before finally giving us an answer that we didn’t even ask or can use?
We know you are not Santa Claus, Rafizi. What we don’t understand is why you want to be a podcaster and why can’t you just be our economic minister.
Instead of telling us who you are not (Santa Claus) and become something that we don’t expect you to be (podcaster), why can’t you just be who you are (the economy minister) and become the person we expect you to be (also the economy minister).
We didn’t force you to be the minister. You are the one who wanted to be the minister. Since you are the one who wanted to be a minister, why not just be the bloody minister that you yourself wanted to be?
We know that the job of the economy minister is not about ““handing out free gifts to the people.” Stop saying stupid things like don’t buy chicken if chicken price is expensive or don’t eat out if you can’t afford eating out or that the job of the economy minister is not to be a Santa Claus and hand out free gifts to the people.
Not only do we know all this even before you said it, it is irritating to hear . Hearing you give these stupid answers is like hearing Marie Antoinnette say “let them eat cake” when she was told that the people didn’t have bread to eat. Please don’t prod the people to start a revolution like the aforementioned former queen of France foolishly did by irritating the people with stupid answers at a time when the people are already stressed.
Instead of telling us what your job is not about, why not tell us what the hell is your job about.
You are saying that your main responsibility as economy minister is to repair the country’s economy and not dole out handouts. Great. Now can you please tell us how is it that you are intending to repair the economy?
If you think that the economy needs to be repaired, it surely means that you think that the economy is somewhat broken, right?
Maybe you can start by telling us what it is about our economy that you think is broken? Do you think we have too many monopolies and cartels? Do you think that we have too many foreign workers or too few foreign workers? Are we concentrating too much on industries that we shouldn't be focusing enough on or are we concentrating too little on industries that we should be more focused on?
After you tell us why our economy is broken, maybe you can tell us what you intend to do to fix it. If we have too many cartels or monopolies, for example, how do you plan to break up these monopolies and cartels? If we have too many foreign workers, what have you got planned to reduce the numbers?
If you tell us these things, at least we will be able to patiently wait for things to get done, even if they cannot be done at once. It is because you don’t tell us anything that we suspect that you don’t know what you are doing.
If you can’t state the problem and list out the potential solutions, at least listen to what we are saying and show that you understand what we are saying to you. When people say that chicken price is expensive, instead of saying don’t eat chicken , why not at least acknowledge that you heard us say that chicken price is expensive, and you and your people are brainstorming to address the matter. When young people tell you that they can’t find a job that they studied for and have to settle for whatever job that they can find, instead of saying that the economy is seeing “unprecedented” growth under your charge, as if you are indirectly saying that it is people’s own fault that they are not doing well in such a wonderful economy that you have created, why not say something that will make us feel that you have received the complaint, so that we can at least hope that someone up there is trying to solve the issue.
Please don’t be another Lim Guan Eng and sabotage your own government by not understanding that a minister is an executive position. When you are a minister, people expect you to take action, not just cross swords with your tongue and fire salvos with your words.
When he was the finance minister, Lim Guan Eng said that Malaysia was bankrupt because the national debt had exceeded 1 trillion, but instead of doing anything to lower the debt, he decided to forever blame Najib for anything and everything. That he kept kicking Najib even when Najib was already down and out, is part of the reason why people did not make a fuss when the old Pakatan government was unceremoniously booted out after just 22 months in power. If Lim Guan Eng did his job, instead of forever quarrelling with Najib unnecessarily, nobody would have dared to topple the government, because they would have known that the people would have made a fuss if they tried to topple a government that is doing its job.
If you say that the economy is broken and needs to be fixed, we expect you to identify which part is broken and use the executive power that we have given you to punish and discourage whichever sector that is causing the economy to break down while rewarding and encouraging whichever sector that is rejuvenating it.
What we don’t expect you to do is moonlight as a podcaster and keep talking back to us as if your feeling has been hurt by people calling you a lousy minister.
People will talk and complain la. We talk and complain because we have no power. If we had power, we would stop complaining and do whatever it is that needs to be done to solve our problem.
You, on the other hand, have power, so why are you always talking and complaining?
Why are you attacking a strawman by saying that you are not Santa Claus when nobody is even accusing you of being a Santa Claus in the first place?
Why are you charging at critics and cybertroopers and even the public, like a modern-day Don Quixote, and make yourself look like a buffoon of a hero who slays imaginary dragons?
Just take action and do your job Rafizi. Have you considered the possibility that the reason your feeling is hurt when you hear the criticism levied against you, is because deep in your heart, you yourself know it is true? Instead of trying to silence the truth by displaying a buffoonish bravado, why not listen to the truth, and change yourself for the better?
Look at Anthony Loke. Do you see people complaining about him? Do you see Anthony Loke wanting to roast anyone who complains against him?
Maybe Anthony Loke does it a bit, like when he crossed swords with Wee Ka Siong over the issue of flight charges to East Malaysia being too expensive during festive seasons, but for the most part, he just does his job. Instead of forever quarrelling with everyone who complains to him, he takes action and settles the problem that has been brought to his attention. The issue of flight tickets to the east being too expensive for example, has been settled with the ticket price to East Malaysia being set at a max of RM 599.
Why don’t you try to be more like Anthony Loke, Rafizi.
Because Anthony Loke is doing his job, no one really complains about him, and even if perchance, there are some people who complain against him, it is they who look like buffoons, not Anthony Loke.
If you did your job like Anthony Loke, trust me, Rafizi, you wouldn’t feel like an oaf when you are criticised. Instead, it will be your critics who will look like a buffoon for criticising you when you are clearly doing your job.
So do us all a favour, stop being a buffoon and do your job instead. If not for heaven’s sake, just be a fulltime podcaster, and let us have a different economy minister.
Nehru Sathiamoorthy is the author of “While Waiting for the World to end”. He was a columnist at FMT and a frequent contributor to the South China Morning Post, Malaysia-Today, MalaysiaNow, MalaysiaKini and Focus Malaysia.
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