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Tuesday, July 15, 2014

‘Foot in mouth’ outbreak worrying

Our politicians need to think before speaking because a little sensitivity and common sense will go a long way in securing our respect for them.
COMMENT
muhyi kunan bung300While the nation deals with yet another outbreak of the JE virus, and with dengue cases on the rise too, one disease we have had to contend with for the longest time has been that of ‘foot in mouth’ that many a political leader has succumbed to.
The most recent and deadliest strain must certainly be the one Bung Mokhtar contracted. His outrageous remark of ‘Long live Hitler’ is insufferable to say the least and coming from a politician, downright thoughtless and shameless.
Also in the same boat is FT Minister Tengku Adnan whose caustic comments about the homeless reflect the terrifying depths of insensitivity a ‘patient’ can descend to when the disease takes full control of the body’s faculties.
Our Prime Minister has fallen ill on many occasions too. Let’s not revisit the ‘kangkung’ episode or the RM1 chicken that everybody, politicians and the man on the street, had a field day with. Besides showing how out of touch he obviously was with the rakyat’s woes, it clearly showed how even damage control cannot wipe out for good the blunder of those statements.
Now our Deputy Prime Minister has been bitten by the same bug by issuing threats of an impending May 13 if race relations are not checked.
Honestly, how can race relations improve when our Home Minister practically condoned the cow head incident with his ‘big mouth’ statement? This remark however has turned around to bite him as one cannot mention this minister’s name now without the qualifier ‘big mouth’ tagged to it.
Yes, foot in mouth disease is unforgiving because the patients’ lives are forever transformed – for the worse. What happened to thinking twice before speaking? Or counting to 10 as we were told to as a child?
If our politicians want the rakyat’s buy-in on crucial issues that affect us whether economic, religious or racial in nature, they must understand that speaking with compassion, clarity and empathy is key to bringing the message home.
Being cut and dry only distances them further from the public and draws an invisible but impenetrable divide between them – the big, important politicians who want for nothing and us, the cursed masses nobody understands, much less cares for.
To threaten a revival of the deadly May 13 racial riot is unforgivable. After all, the ones who form public opinion with their statements and policies are none other than the politicians themselves.
Why stir up a hornet’s nest with shocking statements that remind us of a grim past we wish wasn’t part of our history? Shouldn’t our politicians be protecting rather than threatening us?
Our opposition leaders are no better. Lim Guan Eng has rubbed many the wrong way and resorted to name calling when in a fit of anger – we all remember the ‘old grandmother’ incident, do we not? So too those in his camp who think nothing of calling municipality workers ‘kucing kurap’.
Someone with a permanent foot in his mouth is the so-called mastermind behind the Kajang Move. Now having backfired spectacularly, at least we can savour the silence from his corner of the room.
RSN Rayer and Teresa Kok are two other big disappointments. There we go again with unfortunate name calling in the form of ‘celaka Umno’ and a silly video that ridicules political figures. Seriously, is this what politics in Malaysia has degenerated to?
Yes, the calibre of Malaysia’s politicians leave a lot to be desired. Many are no more that schoolyard bullies who flex their muscles and pick on others just because they can.
We want more level-headed politicians to lead by example. Maybe it’s time the older (and certainly not wiser) leaders let the younger take over.
Nurul Izzah, MP for Lembah Pantai comes to mind instantly. Here’s one intelligent, dynamic young woman that gives me hope our country can recover from this debilitating disease of racial strife, economic nosediving and rampant corruption.
Khairy Jamaluddin, our Miniser of Youth and Sports is another bright spark. Despite firmly entrenched in the Barisan Nasional camp, his periodic statements about important issues have remained the only ones that make sense, show compassion and lots of guts.
Another example is Saifuddin Abdullah of Umno. A former MP for Temerloh, this man’s thought-provoking, level-headed statements on current issues is a breath of fresh air.
The same can be said for DAP’s MP for Kluang, Liew Chin Tong whose writings are an apt reflection of progressive thinking.
To be able to pick out only a handful of current leaders worth listening to and learning from is in itself a sad prognosis of how our ailing country might never recover from the current state of gutter politics it prefers to revel in.
Good luck, Malaysia…. and the best of health always.
Jasmine Wong is a FMT columnist

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