Move over Larry, Curly and Moe. There’s a new show in town.

Former PM Najib Razak, Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and IGP Abdul Hamid Bador got us shaking our heads when they spoke yesterday, for various reasons.
 
The first to get our attention was the Jibster, for his speech in the Dewan Rakyat where he called for two things, the first being for the gomen to raise the statutory debt limit from its current level of 55% of the nation’s GDP.

To be fair, his reasoning and justifications make sense – and raising the debt limit is something that has also been mentioned previously by Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz (who said yesterday that the debt level is currently at 53.2%). 
 
But really, the Jib’s chuckleworthy comment came when he called for banks to “make sacrifices” by extending the loan moratorium period. This is the time, he said, for banks to sacrifice so their customers are not affected and can still return billions and billions in the future. 
 
Don’t get us wrong. We’re not against the idea. What we’re wondering (and you can call us cynical if you like) is why Najib would make such a call. Is it a genuine concern of his or just populism?
 
Let’s not forget the whispers that have been going around that he is seeking a comeback, perhaps even to head Umno and Barisan Nasional again. Quite a number of pieces – such as this commentary and this article – have been written about this supposed comeback, so much so that it’s hard to not think the worst of his loan moratorium extension call. 

Possibly the funniest thing about all of it though, is that Jibby was able to make his homily on sacrifice after being allowed to end his 1MDB trial early. You know, the trial where he’s being accused of scamming the same rakyat he’s now asking the banks to sacrifice for.
 
Meanwhile, Hishammuddin got us all in a bother when he backtracked on a statement he made in a press conference in Parliament earlier in the week.
 
Before we get into that, let’s have a quick recap. On Tuesday, we learned that the Auditor-General’s Report had stated that there were 89 encroachments of our waters by vessels of the Chinese Coast Guard and Navy between 2016 and 2019. The next day, Hisham said that, due to the fantastic relationship we have with Beijing, there are now no more encroachments. 
 
Yesterday, however, one of H2O’s predecessors, Anifah Aman, called our foreign minister “ignorant or in denial”, as it was only in April that a flotilla of Chinese enforcement vessels had been seen escorting a survey vessel within Malaysia’s maritime borders. 
 
It was then that Hisham backtracked, saying he was actually referring only to one incident in the 100 days or so that he has been foreign minister – the “West Capella incident”. He said this was the only incident in his time as foreign minister and he had managed it through diplomatic efforts, after which the Chinese ships had left and had not been spotted since. 
 
The West Capella is a Malaysian-contracted drill ship which was operating in waters  off Miri when it was involved in a standoff with Chinese coast guard ships in April; this was the incident Anifah referred to.

Which begs the question: why would Hisham say there was no incidents when there was at least one? And it took the Chinese ONE MONTH to leave our waters after the standoff! Does Hisham have a problem with maths? Or was he hoping nobody would call him out? Does it feel to you that the mills in the H20 cranium grind exceedingly slowly, and not particularly small either?
 
Last but definitely not least, we have IGP Hamid, who almost made us fall off our seats with what he said. Our top cop says he wants to sweep away all elements of gangsterism from our hallowed land. 
 
No offence, Tan Sri, but you’re kind of aiming a little high, no? Of course we understand that the job of the police force is to wipe out crime. But let’s face it: this is close to impossible, if not completely so.
 
It’s pretty simple. Gangsterism, basically, is the layman’s term for organised crime. That’s the term used by law enforcement agencies, anyway. And organised crime means any crime done by gangs or syndicates in, well, an organised manner. Just take a look at the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s definition of organised crime. 

Eradicating gangsterism means taking down the drug trade, prostitution, extortion, protection rackets, bribery and gambling, just to name a few. It’s fine to say you want to combat it, but saying you want to sweep it all away just makes a person sound deluded. 
 
So, is this a brag or a real target for Hamid? OK, you may call us cynics again, but our IGP turns 62 early next month, so is this his way of justifying an extension to his service, perhaps?

Perhaps the biggest thing the higher echelons of the force need to do is, besides solving and preventing crimes, focus more on kicking out corruption within the force. And if that can be done, perhaps talk of wiping out gangsterism may hold more credence.