How low the mighty can fall

Now that our country has been taken away from us and those in charge of it are politicians of the worst order, what of our future?

COMMENT

The malaise that dogs our country today is the sum of failures, lapse and abuse by those in whom we have placed our trust to govern us. There is disquiet amongst the general population that all is not well.

They see criminals becoming bolder and more violent in their opportunistic endeavors. A sense of hopelessness pervades our people as income fails to keep up with the rising costs of living.

Ikan bilis is RM48 a kilo. Ikan tenggiri is RM44.00. Ikan kembong in Sugai Petani is RM12 per kilo. Ikan kembong in the Datuk Keramat Market is RM18.00 per kilo and “bukan fresh sangat pon!”.

Our government fears its own shadow and they see shadows everywhere they turn. What holds everything together is deceit, lies and a bravado born out of a sense of desperation that maybe, just maybe, they might be able to bluff and cheat their way out of coming political death.

But this is a feat no longer possible when the people have already tire of corruption and arrogance and made their intent known through the ballot box by taking away Barisan Nasional’s popular mandate and giving their votes to Pakatan Rakyat.

History tells us a little of what Hitler, Saddam Hussein and Ghadaffi went through in their final hours.

We, on the other hand, have a ringside seat to watch Umno and the BN government they lead go through the next few years.

I have watched with much sadness as this Umno-led BN government took our country away from us. I remembered very well how it all started. It started with Dr Mahathir Mohamad even before he became prime minister.

By the end of his tenure as prime minister, Mahathir has effectively lowered the bar on many things. For one, people in politics, in government and in business became acquainted with the premise that “the end justifies the means”, and damn accountability and responsibility.

And greed is good! Mahathir made the acquisition of material wealth respectable because that was how he rewarded those who did his bidding’s.

The culture of materialism became Umno’s own and then it became the Malays and from there it entered the consciousness of the people of Malaysia by default.

When materialism takes center stage, then no longer will family values, religion, honor, duty to country and all that is good and decent in a society – everything that holds the fabric of society – all that no longer matters.

And the chief proponent of this maxim was Mahathir himself.

The future

Now that our country has been taken away from us and those in charge of it are politicians of the worst order, what of our future?

If the last two general elections are any indications, it is evident that our people have already spoken.

The 12th general election saw BN lose their two-thirds parliamentary majority and five states to the opposition. The 13th general election saw BN lose their popular mandate to govern – garnering only 47.38% of the popular vote.

By the natural law of attrition, the 14th general election should see the opposition in government.

But five years in politics is a long time and the opposition is in disarray. Umno is more adept at sweeping out the old to bring in the new when circumstances require them to do so.

Not so with Pakatan Rakyat where a proliferation of aging and ponderous first tier leaders have long overstayed their welcome and usefulness to a coalition that is really a government-in-waiting – if the people’s aspiration has anything to do with its future.

And so the stage is set for the next tier of leaders to come on stage – for Umno and for Pakatan Rakyat – to ready themselves to do battle with each other five years from now.

Like me, the ability of Mahathir, Najib Tun Razak, Muhyiddin Yassin, Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang, Hadi Awang and Karpal Singh to stay relevant are suspect.

Let us now step aside with dignity intact (at least for some of us!) and begin the long goodbyes. This we can do now if we choose to do so or stay and bear witness as time and the ravages of real politics takes away from you anything else you have left of your dignity, your ego and your own self.

You do not need to look any further than in Mahathir himself if you want to see how low the mighty can fall. He knows this himself but what can he do.

He has himself made the circumstances he now finds himself in. Mahathir is more an object to be pitied than anything else for he knows that with each passing day what he seeks for himself, falls further from his grasps.

Age will overcome him as age has overcome so many of us. Amen.

CT Ali is a reformist who believes in Pakatan Rakyat’s ideologies. He is a FMT columnist.