The morning after Psy

The thought on everyone's mind is this: after all the BR1Ms and Psys and whatnots thrown all over, how deep is the hole that will be left behind by an outgoing BN?

COMMENT

By Stan Ch Lee

What now? Psy has packed up and left with his reported RM3 million cheque. Smartly refusing to get entangled in the politics that was almost shoved down his throat with the yee sang invite.

He left behind a superbly entertained crowd who were treated to his excellent showmanship while they were inadvertently also treated to the main event – the unscripted unravelling of Barisan Nasional’s carefully staged vote-buying exercise.

It started with Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak whipping up the crowd into a frenzy with his question “Are you ready for Psy?”, to which the three enthusiastic responses led him to try slipping in his now famous “Are you ready for BN?” question.

When hit with a resounding “NO!”, he did not know how to deal with it and asked again as if for confirmation he heard it right the first time.

Then he showed how deaf or smart he was by again repeating the same question. Talk about doing the same thing and expecting a different answer!

As if this wasn’t bad enough, he had to stir up another embarrassing moment when, try as he might, he could not get Psy to come “yee sang” with him.

He pleaded, he cajoled, he even tried the “go off stage and come back again encore” stunt with the “yee sang” to appeal to the showman’s yen for returning to the stage in response to fan apppeal, but to no avail, leaving him wringing his hands and helplessly resorting to playing on his cellphone.

Najib looked like he could not find a hole big enough to crawl into.

Najib and his entourage have dug deep into the “yee sang” and the nation’s coffers to wage Psy-chological warfare on the rakyat, seemingly drunk on the power that the act confers on him.

As Najib nurses this hangover of monstrous proportions, we must be sober enough to realise that when the music stops and the party is over, someone has to clean up the mess and pay the bill. And it won’t be BN.

The sea of red that littered the venue floor must surely symbolise all the broken promises made by the BN government. Full of hot air. A flash and a bag and it is over.

The mess behind

As we clean up the mess, reflect on the following. Like the “ang pow” packets bearing Najib’s face that come empty, which you have to fill up with your own money, the BR1Ms and other handouts that you get now will ultimately be paid for by you, the rakyat one way or another.

The thought that is on every thinking rakyat’s mind now is – after all the BR1Ms and Psys and whatnots thrown all over, how deep is the hole that will be left behind if or when Pakatan Rakyat takes over?

Even as the mainstream media spins and edits the performance to appear on TV2 showing the crowd had answered “Yes” when Najib asked his BN question, we need to ponder over the tough work ahead that needs to be done in the looming war to win hearts and minds.

And that includes battling phantoms and instant citizens in the process.

This has only been the latest in a long line of the oneupmanship war that Najib thinks he will win by spending more of your money.

From the biggest hoarding featuring himself, to the biggest garland to be draped around any dignitary, Najib has outperformed the Pakatan folks in the big spending department.

He is so enamoured with everything big, he is indeed fortunate to have his lovely wife, Rosmah, to see him through day to day.

We wish him many hugs and kisses on this Valentine’s Day.

Stan CH Lee, a Malaysian at heart, is now freezing off in Toronto.