Communal emotion eclipses 20 years of good deeds
JOHOR BAHARU: Several days before the 13th General Election, former Johor menteri besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman booked a space in a mainstream newspaper to publish his letter titled, ‘ My concern for Johor’.
He reminded the readers, whom he addressed as ‘ friends’, on the ‘Johor Way’, namely moderation, practised in the state among the multi-racial communities, which was the secret of the harmony and prosperity in the state.
He used the principle of moderation when administering Johor, which he emulated from two Chinese characters, ‘zhong yong’, to give attention to the needs and requirement of all communities.
The letter, which was signed, ‘ Your old friend, Abdul Ghani Othman’, was addressed to the Chinese community because he was contesting against DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang for the Gelang Patah parliamentary seat.
He realised that Lim and several opposition leaders who were campaigning in several areas in Johor, were using an aggressive approach, and words which agitated the sentiments and raised the emotions of Chinese voters to become dissatisfied with the government.
“The voters know my style in the past two decades which stresses on moderation and non-polarisation,” said Abdul Ghani, who strongly believed his performance record and solid achievements in Johor proved his credibility as a leader.
“If disunity and polarisation could win the general election, to me the victor still loses,” he said in the letter.
Abdul Ghani lost on Sunday on a majority of 14,762 votes and his four terms as menteri besar was simply forgotten by voters in Gelang Patah, who were clearly mesmerised by the racist sentiments played up, and dissatisfaction which should not have existed in Johor, which all this while was a state renowned for development and harmony enjoyed by all communities.
As a leader, Abdul Ghani, who was the 14th menteri besar of Johor, accepted the decision of the people in Gelang Patah and regarded the defeat as due to the attitude of the voters who were emotional and irrational.
Former state housing, local government, public works and utilities exco Datuk Ahmad Zahri Jamil views Abdul Ghani’s loss in Gelang Patah as being overwhelmed by Chinese sentiments which surfaced with Lim’s presence.
He admitted that Abdul Ghani practised moderate and considerate leadership, regardless of race.
“Whatever action he took, it was full of moderation and whatever planning he wanted to implement was scrutinised. As such, we saw it took time for us to see their efficacy.
“This could be seen in the last two terms when more and more high impact projects were implemented in the state such as the Iskandar Malaysia development project which recorded a committed investment of RM105.1 billion in the six-year period since 2006, exceeding the estimated RM100 billion for the period,” he said.
For the record, the Iskandar Malaysia development project began in 2006, covering an area of 2,217 sq km and encompassing five local authorities, namely Johor Baharu, Johor Baharu Tengah, Kulaijaya, Pasir Gudang and Pontian. It was capable of providing almost half a million employment opportunities for up to eight years.
Abdul Ghani’s leadership, prior to this, did not only focus on the issue of industrial and economic development alone. In fact, the leader who hailed from Sungai Mati, Ledang also stressed on human capital development by setting up community colleges in every district in Johor since 1995.
They were created to give a second chance to youths in Johor who were not successful in furthering their studies at higher institutions of learning by upgrading their skills, and obviously, it was well-received and implemented at national level.
For the Johor- born taking the UPSR, SPM and STPM examination, the state government under his leadership, through the Johor Education Foundation, also took the initiative to introduce free additional classes since 1996, until yesterday.
Towards this end, the state government allocated RM4 million a year for the programme which was created for families which could not afford to send their children for tuition.
According to a political analyst in Johor, Dr Kasim Tukiman, the former menteri besar could be regarded as the architect responsible for shaping the state’s development.
Abdul Ghani, he said, had a moderate political approach or the ‘Johor Way’ and was close to the Johor Royal Family since the late Sultan Iskandar Ibni Sultan Ismail, and the current Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Sultan Iskandar.
“Perhaps, he did not notice the development changes and migration into Johor, especially involving many Chinese, which caused the thinking of the people to become more aggressive as compared to those of Johororigin.
“These are among the factors contributing to his defeat in Gelang Patah,” he said.
Abdul Ghani may be vanquished, but for the other people of Johor, he will always be remembered as a menteri besar who was approachable with his moderate style or ‘Johor Way’. — Bernama