COMMENT BY YB PROF DR P.RAMASAMY, DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER II, PENANG
Incompetence is not confined to Tajuddin Abdul Rahman, senior Umno leader from Perak and the former chairman of Prasarana.
He was sacked from being the chairman of this transport agency for his terrible and unpardonable faux paus on the LRT accident where more than 200 passengers were injured, a few more serious than others.
Whether Tajuddin was sacked for his incompetence in handling the accident or he was sacked for some other reasons, the public will never know, but speculations will be there.
I don’t think Tajuddin was the only person who was incompetent to be deserved a sack.
The countless members of the present government, ministers, deputy ministers and heads of GLCs might be no different to Tajuddin.
Is the present PN government going to identify these persons to be sacked?
If the PN government moved so rapidly to sack Tajuddin, why are they waiting to sack or take actions against other incompetent ones?
I am not saying that sacking of Tajuddin was a bad decision.
But why appoint him in the first place knowing his calibre in managing GLCs?
For a long time, nobody took him seriously, whether in parliament or outside. He was used by Umno for their political activities. His performance in the parliament bordered on comedy most of the time.
But Umno needed him for reasons best known to themselves.
Even if we agree that sacking of Tajuddin was a blessing in disguise, the question is when is the government going to get rid of other irresponsible and incompetent officials, most those who were politically appointed.
The present government needs to open its dragnet widely to terminate other incompetence officials of the present government.
What was started with Tajuddin cannot end with Tajuddin.
If this is so, then I suspect that Tajuddin might have been sacked for reasons other than his management or mismanagement of the train accident.
As the collision of the two trains was not the work of a single person, the driver, the removal of Tajuddin might cannot remove the main problem, which goes beyond his termination.
The problem is the system of administration that is managed by the PN government.
The inability of the government with large number of ministers to manage the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic is indicator of something is seriously wrong in the country.
After a year, even with benefit of hindsight, the PN struggles in effectively to control or to stem the tide of pandemic.
Blame could be cast on the lack of the procurement of vaccines, financial constraints and even lack of public apathy and so on.
The fact, glaring one indeed, is nothing else rather than the incompetence of ministers and heads of agencies who cannot implement government policy decisions.
I don’t think you need major calamities to take action against ministers and others for their irresponsibility or incompetence.
Or how many terrible accidents you need to take action against those who cannot discharge their responsibilities.
Tajuddin might not be a good example of person who is incompetent or lacked responsibility.
There others who have been appointed for various reasons other than competence or for their skills.
I doubt the spineless PN government can go beyond the termination of Tajuddin.
From a broader perspective, would the PN government have taken against their own member?
In other words, Umno members are dispensable!
