Tsunami to Asteroid – Five Distortions on GE13

 

Justice is like lust. You can analyse it, obscure it, ‘spiritualise’ it, deny it and joke about it but at the end if you don’t deal with it, you’ll end up hating yourself for pleasing yourself. Likewise with GE13. May 5th promises at least as much fun as March 8th.

Alwyn Lau 

1969 was the first wake-up call but powerful folks tore up the alarm clock, burnt the living room, and forced fed everybody sleeping pills for about thirty years. Then 1999 came and, despite Anwar’s Sang Kancil trial, Malaysia decided to continue snoozing, even falling into a total dream in 2004. But thanks to social media, Barisan arrogance, Lingam, HINDRAF, Bersih #1 and maybe even the first Transformers movie, 2008 saw the alarm clock get a life of its own. The country quit their slumber and started throwing clocks at Barisan.

Justice is like lust. You can analyse it, obscure it, ‘spiritualise’ it, deny it and joke about it but at the end if you don’t deal with it, you’ll end up hating yourself for pleasing yourself. Likewise with GE13. May 5th promises at least as much fun as March 8th. We’re seeing the usual whackoes, the weirdoes, the bull-crappers, the liars, the big-talkers, the pseudo-Fascists, the racists and, as always, grown men lifting each other’s hands at press conferences.

If GE12 was a tsunami, this could be a full-blown asteroid. The world’s axis could tilt. And the dudes who profit (literally) from injustice inevitably have their responses to the possibility of real change. Like responding to that burning feeling in one’s loins, these take a few forms: 

1. Denial – reading recent pieces by Tun Dr. Mahathir and Chandra Muzaffar, one gets the impression that their intended audiences are those who shook Tunku’s hand on Merdeka Day. Emphasizing Barisan’s oh-so-unique ability to maintain national harmony and stability and how, say, PAS’ Islamist teachings is responsible for tensions in Kelantan sounds as if the past half-century hasn’t happened. There is a clear echo here of Yao Souchou’s thesis that UMNO enjoys ‘infantalizing’ the Malay(sian) subject i.e. feed the citizens fears and fantasies, subtly hint at how the nasty Other person is a threat and thus keep them dependent on you.

Of course, how Barisan supporters can brag about their beloved party’s ethnic peace-making in the light of PERKASA’s freedom to trample all over the dignity of other races and religions is a mystery ranking right up there with Loch Ness. Or is it? The question to Putrajaya is: Is your inaction against supremacist groups due to the fact that 1) you don’t realise these folks are promoting racist hatred or 2) you want them to do your dirty work for you or 3) you’re scared of the big bad Tun? In other words, are you gullible, guilty or gutless?

Does Malaysia really require Barisan Nasional in Putrajaya, failing which Malaysia will degenerate into the Asian version of ‘Dawn of the Dead’? Are the disagreements and ideological divides of the Pakatan Rakyat parties ultimate proof that the Anwar-held pact cannot itself and the country together? The irony is that if Barisan is the better party to guarantee stability (which is akin to a samseng ‘guaranteeing’ peace in the neighbourhood), this is all the more reason why Malaysia needs to cast them aside.

Justice first, then economic growth. Justice first, then more scholarships. Justice first, then 22,000 helmets. Justice first, then true – as opposed to a manufactured – stability.

2. Normalisation – “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”, this is the French phrase for “The more things change, the less things change”. It’s also the Barisan phrase for ‘Let’s do whatever we can to ensure that we don’t need to do anything seriously important”.

Touting GDP growth and Gini co-efficient numbers when a wealthy elite continues to amass obscene amounts is like a heart-attack victim bragging that his cholesterol level is down 0.3 points but still eats twenty hot-dogs a day. Abolishing the ISA (and other naughty acronyms) is a cute ploy to make people believe that maybe Malaysia has sold all her anti-democracy laws to North Korea. May as well believe McDonald’s has given up on profit-seeking. The Security Offenses Act (the reincarnation of ISA), the Sedition Act, the Peaceful Assembly Act, and most recently, Section 114A of the Evidence Act – aren’t all these in fact window-dressing which make pretty the people’s continuing lack of freedom?

And let’s not even get started on how poh-lite the police were with the BERSIH folks; some of our boys in blue made the Gestapo look like kindergarten teachers. The sauce and packaging are lovely but it’s still baloney.

If denial is the declaration that there doesn’t need to be change, normalisation is the artificial enactment of change in order not to change. On this issue, even Pakatan Rakyat needs to be careful. Because are elections about justice or about the economy? Sure they’re connected – that much everyone agrees on – but should justice be distinguished from how much money the country makes or must every winning party ensure that it’s ultimately ‘pro-business’ and ‘pro-investment’?

On this point, I confess I’m a relatively healthy dude (who can afford insurance and gets free medication) writing on a fancy notebook in an air-conditioned office. I can afford to waste hundreds of dollars monthly getting fat on food I can choose not to finish and watching movies I should choose not to even start. And from what I see, so are most of those nominated. So whilst I obviously disagree with the government’s talk about our country’s economic ‘progress’, I also believe that many (urban) pro-Pakatan-ians simply haven’t a clue about what our rural or much less well-off neighbours are faring.

The elections – believe it or not – are least of all about famous personalities, national statistics and political critiques, and should be most about that single mum who prays each day she doesn’t have to borrow food from the neighbours, or about that older brother who needs to hold down three part-time gigs so his school-going siblings don’t have to join him. Who knows – maybe people like this need to be given two votes or more? Now wouldn’t that shake things up?

It’s therefore important not to make the General Elections nothing more than an occasion for certain classes to continue accumulating wealth whilst the less-than-average rakyat is domesticated into accepting his lot in life. This would be the ultimate normalisation of GE13 i.e. it’s insertion into a wealth-generating machine which privileges profits over people.

To be continued...3) Rejection 4) Extremism 5) Resurrection.