Gunslinger shooting off same old drivel

By Maclean Patrick - Free Malaysia Today

COMMENT Knowing everything under the sun does not make one wise. Neither does position nor rank sanctions one to be leader. It is the goodness of one’s heart that wins people over.

It is by the fruit that one knows the tree. And from what comes out of a man’s mouth, one will gain an insight into what goes on in his heart.

So, it is sad when leaders are resorting to name-calling and mud-slinging that only serve to mirror their own inability to accept, debate and resolve matters as intellects.

Politicians make the worse intellectuals and intellectuals make poor politicians. And it is rare to find a politician who is also an intellectual. And you would agree with me, in Malaysia such intellectually adept politicians are a dying breed.

Instead, Malaysian politics is much like the old wild west of America – an era when it was each man for himself and the gun proved the only authority. A time when outlaws make the best in-laws and surviving each day was a mini miracle in itself. And there is no bigger Malaysian gunslinger than that brute call Perkasa.

Crack goes the gun and the self-proclaimed sheriff of Malay rights comes riding into town again. This time the discontented posse is ready to tear apart the PKR president. Rehashing the same issue it has been nagging us about from its very inception – Ketuanan Melayu – Perkasa has learnt to use big words. “Political prostitute,” says its Youth chief, who is apparently unhappy that such “tactic” was being used to gain support from the Chinese and Indians. He even went further to call for the banishment of those who went against “Ketuanan Melayu”.

It’s funny and ironic – politicians and prostitution seem to go hand in hand.

Just ask Cleopatra when she dealt with Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony in order to remain monarch over Egypt. After the assassination of Caesar, Cleopatra aligned herself with Anthony in direct opposition to Caesar's rightful heir – Augustus. Anthony lost out to Augustus and eventually committed suicide. You could brand Cleopatra a “political prostitute”. Such is politics when the need to remain in power overweighs all else.

And, by the way, Cleopatra was not banished for going against Augustus. Instead, when Anthony committed suicide, Cleopatra followed him via death by snake bite.

Attention-deprived nag

Banishment is indeed mild compared to what the rulers had to endure in the wilderness of Malaysian politics. The idea of “Ketuanan Melayu” was never on the everyday mind of Malaysians until Umno made an issue of it – to gain the Malay vote or to remind others of its hold on power.

Perkasa has clearly forgotten Umno’s role in reducing the overall authority of the monarchs in Malaysia during the tenure of Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Yes, Perkasa “mudah lupa” (easily forgets).

Rather than behave like an attention-deprived nag that it is, isn’t it time for Perkasa to prove its mantle and serve the Malay community? Have we heard Perkasa do anything else except hurling insults and accusations at political parties? The closest Perkasa ever gets to any form of social involvement is in the form of making police reports, playing the role of the jealous neighbour who just needs to complain.

If Perkasa wants to start calling people “political prostitutes”, then please broaden your scope and cast your eyes over the whole of Malaysia. There exist “political prostitutes” in all the State Legislative Assemblies. Ask those sad politicians in Perak, who jumped shipped at a whim or the foul-mouthed partisan jokers in Terengganu who insulted the monarchy.

Better still, Perkasa should look at itself as a “political prostitute” – stirring fear and resentment among the Malays to ensure its own survival.

Here lies the greatest “political prostitute” of them all. Perkasa’s very survival depends on ensuring the Malays maintain a healthy dose of inferiority complex. As long as the Malays live in fear, resentment – with the mindset of a victim – Perkasa remains strong. Perkasa thrives as long as the Malays remain angry at anything and everything around them and this manner of rage is not only levelled at PKR but also at society in general.

Perkasa is prostituting itself by clinging to the idea that the Malays will never be able to raise themselves out of the rut. It holds on to the belief that Malays will never be able to compete against the Chinese and Indians. It hides its motives by playing a small town sheriff and law-giver.

Malaysians should reject such thinking and ideas. It is time Malaysians – politicians or laymen – learnt to question, for themselves, all that is happening around them. Malaysians are not dim-witted individuals who cannot live together in harmony. Malaysians have learnt not only to tolerate (tolerance alone is not good) but also to accept their differences and inherent uniqueness.

True wisdom does not lie in finding answers but in asking questions. And the question Perkasa really needs to answer is, “What are your contributions towards Malaysia?”

Maclean Patrick is a webmaster based in Sarawak