May we, voters, be fooled no more!

 

I started off this piece working on this title: “Want to get rich quick? Easy, be a political frog.”

I quickly changed my mind as such a heading would be seen as encouraging people to take up a political career to enrich themselves.

While such political misbehaviour is no surprise at all, as we have witnessed in recent days and for the most part of the past three years, it is also an irresponsible proposition on my part.

Politics should, and must, remain an honourable, dignified profession. Sadly, most career politicians will turn rogue in no time and make it dirty and ugly.

We should know how to deal with such political “parasites and leeches” by now. If we are still naïve and ignorant, then we have to learn quickly. Voters have to be smart and be a step ahead of wayward politicians.

We, voters, must not be fooled again and again. We need to buck up and stop being taken for a ride repeatedly, elections after elections. This must halt immediately and it is up to us to act promptly and decisively.

I have just read about a Sarawak politician stating this: "You fool me once, shame on you. You fool me twice, shame on me.” Yeah! How many times do we, voters, have to be fooled before we finally wake up?

This is exactly what I intend to dive right in here. My message to voters is this: Let us be more discerning – keep abreast of political development; get to know the character/personality of the candidates and size them up; check the track record of the political parties and, more importantly, their top brass.

Bad leaders breed bad followers. Bad followers are drawn to bad leaders because of the promise of sharing the power that both crave.

With power comes social status and wealth – these are the three ‘original sins’ of politics. Believe me, career politicians have no qualms about falling for or deliberately committing such sins, no matter how religiously pious they claim to be. We know who the hypocrites are, don’t we?

When such followers allow their leaders to get into positions of power, and support their misdeeds, it leads to a vicious cycle of toxic leadership and dirty politics. Are we surprised that toxic leaders and followers with their dirty politics are operating right before our very eyes?

Someone wrote that dirty politics is “the art of guile used by bloodsucking creatures to fool their unsuspecting prey”. I have to agree with that definition, crude as it might be.

To get back on track, let’s start at the very beginning, the dawn of an election.

How some of the candidates are chosen

Before every election, the political parties will declare that they have lined up candidates who are sincere, honest, of great integrity and ready to serve the people.

I think I have a fair idea of how some of these candidates are chosen. First, they will fight their way to be the branch or division head to ensure that they become the first choice to be nominated.

Most will lobby for their candidacy and will not hesitate to fight tooth and nail with party colleagues to get the party’s ticket. Others will try to inch their way into the inner circle of the party’s top leaders or the state chiefs.

Such characters are usually the known sycophants within the party who excel in currying favours. They are not known for their loyalty and will gravitate towards any new leader elected as party president.

It is only fair for top party leaders to concede that nepotism is always a factor, though resented by many, in candidate selection.

Family members, relatives and close friends are first choices and they are usually allocated “safe” seats. It’s a well-known fact; parties should not deny or lie about it.

Party leaders today must also concede that they have, all too often, made bad choices in their selection of candidates.

The “frog season” of the past week is clear for all to see. I don’t wish to mention the names of the most recent deserters who come from Johor, Sabah and Sarawak. I have no desire to remember who they are; let these parasites and leeches be nameless. Hopefully, by the next election, we hear no more of them.

These despicable characters (their numbers are increasing by the day) give politics and politicians a bad name. This is why ‘politician’ has the secondary meaning of "a person primarily interested in political office for selfish or other narrow, short-sighted reasons". How ugly and pathetic some of them are.

So, dear voters, these are the harsh realities of Malaysian politics before all of us today. Chew on them. I remain hopeful that I have not wasted my time in letting you into the truth.

We, voters, must not give away our votes blindly or just for a song. A vote is even considered sacred, so treat it as such.

Most importantly, it is not for sale. If you sell your vote, it is like selling your soul to the devil.

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FRANCIS PAUL SIAH is the author of Hijack in Malaysia: The Fall of Pakatan Harapan. Obtain autographed copies from sirsiah@gmail.com. - Mkini

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.