The numbers game

What’s in a number?

In Malaysian politics, it’s fluid. A transient distraction that has little or nothing to do with the reality behind the news/scenes.

You can put as much reliance on it, and money at the numbers shops as the number that came in a dream or on a mangled car by the side of the highway.

Just over a week ago, heat-struck or herb-smoked dreamers were coyly teasing the possibility of a high 120s number that will be in the ranks of Pakatan Harapan soon.

That feverish hallucination was dashed by the 107 count that Anwar Ibrahim said was the tally of the coalition.

107? Muhyiddin Yassin’s majority of two increased to eight?

Anwar clarified the number by saying it was a “conservative estimate”. “Estimate” – not sure who will still resist the urge to hop in the coming weeks or months?

His office explained that the figure comprised Harapan, Warisan and still/sacked Bersatu MPs aligned to Harapan, and did not take into account independents and others who were not at the Harapan meeting early last week.

Harapan won’t force a snap poll, Anwar suggested, but is working towards getting a comfortable majority in Parliament. Ah, the promise of more leaps of faith by politicians who have seen the light, had their ears cleaned and can clearly hear the people now.

While Harapan accountants are trying to get a firm figure in a fluid frog market, the government has been generously rewarding loyalty. At last count, more than 80 percent of his support has been rewarded with ministerial positions or chairs in GLCs. Meanwhile, Mak Kiah…

Cynicism marinated with age spares me from getting too irked with politicians.

Like Communications and Multimedia Minister Saifuddin Abdullah suggesting that an anti-hopping law would end the debate on the legitimacy of the government. He’s a fine one to talk, considering he already has two hops to his name.

Of course, Saifuddin is a long way away from the athletic prowess of Jeffrey Kitingan. Talk about a cat on a hot tin roof. I have lost count of the number of times he has shifted positions and party/personal priorities.

An anti-hopping bill? That’s where it will remain – just talk. Frogs voting to end their species? When were you born? It’s impossible, implausible even as a fairy-tale for kids.

In the meantime, watch out for the next number, which may surface from East Malaysia. At the moment, everybody is saying they are standing firm. Who knows what is evolving in Sabah and Sarawak at dinners or over coffee?

What hasn’t evolved are some single-minded (to be polite: an alternative word could be “simple-minded”) politicians like Pasir Mas MP Ahmad Fadhli Shaari (below) who said in a Facebook post that lawyer Eric Paulsen should not be appointed as a member of the Communications and Multimedia Consultative Council.

The grounds for his objection? Paulsen is known for supporting "destructive views", including liberalism, humanism, hedonism and LGBTQ.

LGBTQ – I understand. How is a single-minded man with the certainty of two genders only deal with the multiplicity of genders expressed in the rainbow coalition of the LGBTQ? The mind can’t cope. Blowout.

“Liberalism” and “hedonism” – I understand. The two concepts are synonyms in minds like his. A liberal is susceptible to succumbing to the temptations of the multiple sins of the flesh and mind, sparing no thought for the wrath of God in the afterlife, or the wrath of religious officialdom and moral police in this.

But “humanism”? Maybe something got lost in translation, but I can’t see even a faint taint of sin or stigma in any possible meaning of the word.

A recognition that in the mix of our multiple beliefs and cultures, heritage and lifestyles, we share the common ground that our ancestors layered with the sediments of their sweated labour and seeded wealth, and us building on it – does that idea frighten Ahmad Fadhli?

The wealth of lives and lifestyles in Malaysia to be reduced to one world-view? He has a Sisyphean task ahead of him.

Me? This liberal is fixing a caffeine-rich cup of coffee and having a slice of burnt cheese-cake. Such hedonistic decadence.      

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THOR KAH HOONG is a veteran journalist. - Mkini