Guan Eng, two wrongs don’t make a right

I must say that this video is one of the cringe-iest I’ve seen in a while.

There would be nothing wrong with the song itself had it been viewed on the Internet in some other context. It is mildly amusing, if not particularly imaginative, but fairly uncontroversial as far as political messaging goes.

However, to see the chief minister, of a Harapan-run state at that, encouraging young children to sing along to it at a state-run tuition programme, well, that is politics at its most low-brow.

I should hope that an elaboration as to why this is inappropriate would barely be necessary at this point, in the year of our lord, 2018.

It is noble for the state to run tuition programmes to help underprivileged kids succeed in life. It is disgusting and predatory to use those programmes as a platform to instil dislike in young children.

In what world is it alright for a state government to try and shape partisan views for children who are barely even half the voting age?

The song, set to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” seems almost purpose-built to gain traction amongst young children.

What on earth was the aim here? To hope that children would go home, sing this song to their parents and influence them to vote for Harapan? Are we now weaponising children as part of an “anything goes” political war?

In true Lim Guan Eng and DAP fashion, the response to criticism has been to lash out and cry ‘double standards’ because no action was taken against Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor when he went to a Putrajaya school and led students there in waving Umno flags and singing Umno songs.

I agree with Lim 100 percent in that what Tengku Adnan did was also wrong and disgusting. There is also no world in which such blatant partisanship would be allowed in schools.

For the love of all things honourable though, two wrongs do not make a right.

Yes, in an ideal world, the punishment for both should be the same; but we live in Malaysia and double standards by the government is par for the course.

If Lim believes that Malaysians will thus give him a free pass for acting badly merely because BN acts badly, I think he will come to find himself mistaken.

Lim goes on to make the lame excuse that his programme was not at a school and was held on a weekend.

Does he expect us all to collectively go: “Oh, that’s alright then. Weekends don’t count and we all know that what happens outside of school, stays outside of school.”

Apparently, Penang is Las Vegas now.

Diversionary counterattacks

This Lim/DAP tactic of answering every attack with another attack is as pathetic as it is tiresome.

True to form, there isn’t even any admission of guilt, only the cowardly: “Whilst there may be differing views on whether this is appropriate [...]”

Differing views? If Lim was as courageous as he loves to brashly project, he should state clearly for the record whether he himself believes his actions were appropriate or not.

Instead, he beats around the bush, and whines about how he is singled out while others are not.

There was an engagement recently between two people we all wish well and hope have a happy married life together.

Not so long ago, when pictures of this couple were circulated, much of the DAP leadership loudly denounced those photos as a political attack by Umno.

I really believe that politics and politicians should stay as far away from people’s personal relationships as possible and that no one had the right to invade the privacy of the couple, regardless of their circumstances.

That said, I also hope that people in power will not continue making a habit of issuing ‘non-denials’ coupled with attacks on political opponents, as some sort of flimsy diversionary tactic as Lim has done in this ABCD-GST episode.

(Incidentally, let us hope that Penang does not raise a generation of children who believe that the fifth letter of the alphabet is G).

Lim moans and groans that he is being held to a higher standard. Breaking news: yes, you are. You sure as hell are being held to a higher standard.

Guess what though? You should be proud to be held to a higher standard (by the public, if not the authorities). You should wear it with pride on your sleeve.

The alternative is to live in a race to the bottom - one where we justify our wrongs by saying: “Hey, but the other guy is worse!”

If both sides keep doing this, then the standard just drops lower and lower, with no rock bottom in sight.

Of course, people in power seldom really care unless their power is threatened and no amount of articles like this one will likely threaten DAP’s power in Penang at these elections.

Nevertheless, I think it’s still worth saying: if you are really thinking about the next generation, rather than the next few elections, then stop poisoning their minds. Teach them how to think, not what to think.

Being principled will seem naive to those who are cynical or have slowly been corrupted but in the long run, this blind pursuit of power by any means necessary will bring us round and round again to an Animal Farm situation, where politicians turn into exactly the kind of people they claim they will replace.

---

NATHANIEL TAN finds Facebook and Cambridge Analytica quite frightening. He was particularly moved by the comments of former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya who speaks of his regret at helping make “tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works.” -Mkini