Not my politician. Which one is yours?

 

Malaysia is absolutely mired in politics, and there’s not much chance of anybody escaping the muck. This week has seen the “best of” (or worst of) Malaysian politics. And it could still get better (or worse).

First, a simple political quiz. Identify the key political players in Malaysia right now.

1. Our prime minister is (insert latest name here).
2. Our government coalition is (insert latest name here. My bet would be “Ketuanan Nasional”).
3. The major component party is (insert latest name here).
4. The opposition is (bonus answer – still the same people).

Our King remains the same though. Luckily, we have a much clearer line of succession for the position of Yang di-Pertuan Agong. If it was anything like the selection of the prime minister, we’d be well and truly doomed.

Everything that goes wrong in Malaysia seems to start and end with politicians. They incite divisiveness and invent crises while looting the country. If it wasn’t for them, everything would’ve been just hunky dory and we’d be as rich as Singapore and would have won the World Cup.

You get to feel after a while, though, that these bad things are all done by “their” politicians and not by “our” politicians. Ours are busy protecting us, and if that involves some lying and cheating and looting, then hey, everybody does it.

That’s how we get by in Malaysia.

We blame politicians, ostensibly meaning all politicians, but in reality, meaning “your” politicians. While our politicians may be bad, yours are definitely worse!

Politicians have hijacked an outsized role for themselves in our lives. Were things better in the past though? Perhaps things then did feel less nasty and paranoid. Politicians are probably a truer reflection of society than perhaps any other indicator.

The politicians whom we worship (or demonise) today are definitely less competent than the old lot. Many can’t organise a drunken party in a brewery, and I’m not just talking about those from the religious parties either.

But how did they get up there running the country if they aren’t competent and have such low intelligence? Why would anybody ever vote them into power? Why would they be able to make a career out of it?

Skirting aside the fact many of them were not voted into power, there’s one type of intelligence not defined by IQ. It’s about the cunning and wiliness at sniffing out and exploiting people’s fears or aspirations. Mostly their fears.

Let’s call it political intelligence, as measured by the political quotient, or PQ, to differentiate it from IQ or EQ or LGBTQ or whatever else Q is out there.

A politician could have an IQ of a beef burger, but have a PQ good enough to teach at Harvard – assuming Harvard offers political studies. Which they do, apparently. And which goes to show how world-class Malaysian politicians are.

In politics, fear is a stronger motivator than love. Politicians don’t define themselves by what they stand for, but by who they stand against. You build up straw men, you imbue them with scary powers and devilish motives, and then position yourselves as the only defenders against them.

As a society, we get the leaders we deserve. Insecure people elect politicians who in turn exploit their insecurities. This creates a downward spiral of insecurities and dependencies. It’s a vicious cycle heading for a major societal crash that would hurt a lot of people.

It’s astounding how people rationalise the greed of their politicians. Apart from our insecure needs for such “defenders”, the real reason is we’re probably envious of them.

We wish it was us committing the looting, given how easy the pickings are and how hardly anybody in power ever gets caught. We’ve normalised thievery in politics.

How do we square such lack of integrity with the increasingly ultra-pious society now we live in? What exactly do schools teach kids nowadays? Whatever it is, it’s clearly not enough to make us hate the hanky panky we see.

Unsurprisingly, I don’t often get agreement on this point. People like to believe that society sucks purely because of a few bad apples. Politicians on our side, by definition, are of course not bad apples. If we get rid of the real bad apples (meaning your politicians) we’d all be fine.

PQ doesn’t take you far in the real world. You’d need IQ and EQ and certainly hard work to do well there. But in politics (especially the communal and religious ones), the more the politicians fail, the more you support them, because their failures just confirm your worst fears and insecurities.

I remember the story of a civil servant of yore, running one of our country’s most critical public institutions. He would come in on Monday morning, fill up a mileage claim form, and make restitution for the personal, non-work-related mileage he had incurred at the weekend while using his official car.

Today this story would raise laughter and derision from the people occupying the upper echelons of our politics and business. They wouldn’t have just avoided making restitution, they would have stolen the car and pawned off the institution itself by Tuesday.

And those of us watching would’ve just complained about it in coffee shops and restaurants, conveniently hiding the facts that 1. “Hey, they are OUR politicians” and 2. “I wish it was me”.

I’m actually a realist. I’m almost inured to the corruption that goes on. Sometimes I catch myself sighing that, hey, steal if you must, but can we at least have some class please?

But like a school at midnight, we have no class. Welcome to the ride towards a darker, more chaotic, more unhinged Malaysia. Buckle your seatbelts (before it’s stolen from you). - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.