The road to Putrajaya, and then to nowhere

The quest for power knows no bounds. To some, it just does not matter how you get there as long as you get there. Sometimes it can be a short-haul. Sometimes it can be a long haul.

To others, the road to power stretches for miles and miles. It could be a road that leads to nowhere. Worst, in all probability it reaches a dead end.

It is not the road that leads to nowhere that is interesting. It can be an earth road. It can be a gravel road and even a well-tarred road. It could even be a road full of potholes. The reward at the end of the road is too good to be missed.

To lay your hands on the spoils of the most sought after road to fame and fortune, however, will depend on the mastermind who commissioned and built that road. He could make it easy for you or he could make it so mazy that you lose your bearings and finally disappear into the distance. Never to return.

So who could be brilliant enough to design such a road of no return for the next prime minister-in-waiting? Perhaps it is someone who has been there, done that.

Or it could be someone who has come to believe he is material enough to be the next prime minister but has found someone in waiting to be in the way.

Having taken one wrong turn, that potential has to seek out the road designer for a way to get back on track. There would be a price to pay of course but it would, none the less be worth it.

Never mind if it means compromising on your principles because you never really had one anyway.

Maybe it could also be someone who believed being a Malaysian was less important than being of a particular race even though it was Malaysia, the nation that made you who you are. The prize at stake is a whole country and not just your race.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. And the road designer probably realises that you would fall short of that distance.

As for the labourers who constructed the road, they wouldn’t get anywhere near the ultimate prize simply because they are of a different colour and creed.

So who could possibly build a road to the ultimate prize?

It has to be someone who can throw a spanner in the works, someone with the cunning and shrewdness of a political animal that knows the art of survival despite the unforgiving storms that lie ahead.

It has to be that someone who designed the zig-zagging road. Someone who knew how to lead the road users down a narrow lane and into a tight corner in which manoeuvring was almost impossible.

Then like a knight in shining armour, he would be at the right time and in the right place to rescue you for the right price.

To you sir, I take my hat off. May you be confirmed as the 8th prime minister of my country, Malaysia.

Clement Stanley is an FMT reader.