Supporters are for the weak

As I said, it is not that difficult to be popular. All you need to do is to understand what people want and play to the gallery. You only need to pretend and be good at play-acting. You will get tons of supporters. But if I am a prostitute I can at least receive a lot of money. If I am a politician I can garner a lot of votes. Fortunately, though, I am neither a prostitute nor a politician. So I am spared the agony of having to pretend just so that I can get your support.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

RPK reloaded: Running dog or watchdog?

WE HAVE BEEN YOUR DIEHARD SUPPORTERS. BUT OF LATE......YOU ARE ENTITLED TO SAY YOUR PIECE AND IT WILL BE UP TO US IF WE AGREE OR DON’T. I TRULY HOPE THINGS WILL REALLY BE CLEAR AFTER THE ELECTION -- justice seeker

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Dear justice seeker, I am so glad, by your own admission, that you are not my supporter any longer. I am not a politician and will not be contesting the elections so I really would not know what to do with your support.

I mean: your support will not translate to votes since I do not need anyone voting for me in an election I am never going to contest. It will not help pay the rent or put food on the table. It will not reimburse the hundreds of thousands of ringgit I have had to spend on my children’s education from my own pocket -- due to the fact I did not get any government assistance although I am classified a Bumiputera.

So what do I do with your support even if you did give it to me? Can I take it to the bank? Is it a tangible asset that is bankable? Can I exchange it for food to feed my family so that they do not starve to death? Can it clothe us in winter so that we do not freeze from the cold? Can your support put food on the table or a roof over our heads?

In other words, your support translates to nothing.

Last Saturday, I brought my family to visit my late mother’s grave in Surrey (see the picture above). Surrey was where my mother married my father and also where I was born almost 62 years ago.

My mother died at the age of 47 back in 1980. My father died in 1971 at the age of 46. I felt that at 62 I have outlived both my parents by about 15 years so there is every reason I should prepare for my own death although people do live to past 80 and some even past 90. Nevertheless, you normally gauge your life expectancy according to that of your parents and I have certainly lived beyond my self-by date. Hence I wanted my family to see where I should be buried once I die, and I will certainly die, no doubt about that.

So you see, I am not looking at life or seeking the pleasures of life. I am preparing for my death. And I told my family that I am bringing them to my mother’s grave so that they will know where my final resting place is to be. It was also so that I too can see where I am going to end up in a matter of time, whenever that time will be.

Can I bring your support to my grave? Will it make my ‘life’ after death a more comfortable experience? Will my new ‘home’ six feet below ground under the earth of Surrey be better with your support as opposed to without your support?

So you see, your support comes to naught in the end. It is not worth the paper it is written on, if you get my meaning.

Your support is subject to me saying what you want to hear. If I say what you like to hear then you will support me. If not, you will not support me. If I need your support all I need to do is to say what you want to hear. Then I will get your support.

So it is not that difficult to get your support. Your support comes very cheap. In fact, it does not cost anything. It only involves saying the right things. Hence, since it cost nothing except to say the right words, it is also of no value since the cost is only words, albeit the right words.

This is normal for most humans, and I take it you too are human -- hence this applies to you as well.

Politicians make a living doing this. This is called playing to the gallery. You stand up there on the stage and say what the gallery wants to hear. The spectators would go wild and acclaim you. You will be the darling of the crowd. The secret to this is you must not say what you think, what you believe, or tell the truth. You must say what the crowd wants to hear, even if it is a lie.

Prostitutes also make a living doing this. They moan, groan and scream and pretend that you are fantastic in bed. They will tell you that that was the best screw they ever experienced. If they keep quiet, read a book, or munch Menglembu groundnuts while you grunt, huff and puff, they would not be very popular prostitutes. No one will ever want to ‘book’ them again. And for sure they would not receive a generous tip.

As I said, it is not that difficult to be popular. All you need to do is to understand what people want and play to the gallery. You only need to pretend and be good at play-acting. You will get tons of supporters. But if I am a prostitute I can at least receive a lot of money. If I am a politician I can garner a lot of votes. Fortunately, though, I am neither a prostitute nor a politician. So I am spared the agony of having to pretend just so that I can get your support.

I trust you now better understand my mission in life. My mission in life is to prepare for my death. And that was the very reason I brought my family to my mother’s grave last Saturday. I am in the midst of preparing to leave this world. So I wanted them to know where to bury me once I die, which may not be that too distant in the future.

Have you ever heard of Raja Haji? Daeng Chelak or Daeng Rilaka? What about Raja Mahdi or Raja Lumu? Sultan Ibrahim Shah maybe? Sultan Muhammad Shah? What about Sultan Musa?

You see, you and probably 28 million other Malaysians have never heard these names before and do not know them from Adam. Well, they were all my ancestors from the early 1700s. Yes, more than 300 years of history over 15 generations or so. But less than 0.1% of Malaysians know who these people are.

But I know and remember them. And I know and remember them because they were all my family. What does this tell you? It tells you that no one cares a damn about you once you are dead. What you were when you were alive is not important any more. The only people who remember you or cares about you is your family. Whatever good you may have done when you were alive is buried together with you when you die and is forgotten even before the grass can grow over your grave.

Okay, maybe some people who remember you ten or 20 years after you die will say nice things about you. Maybe they will say bad things about you and curse you. But will I be able to hear all this from Surrey, six feet in the ground below my tombstone? I won’t even know that the worms and maggots are feasting on my body let alone hear all these praises and curses.

So tell me again, justice seeker, is your support such a big deal? Against the bigger scheme of things, what can I do with your support? Whether I am still living or already dead, can your support be of any benefit to me? Will your support help me in the last leg of my journey here on earth and ease my passage in the Afterlife? Please translate your support into the benefits I would receive.