Trust me, we have been thrust out on a limb

 

The euphoria and hopes of many Malaysians came to an abrupt end when the PH government was toppled by the Perikatan Nasional-led government.

From June H. L. Wong

Ennui. Here’s a word for our times. It’s French in origin and the English word annoy comes from it, having been borrowed in the early 13th century, according to American linguist Arika Okrent.

But ennui, pronounced “on-wee”, has since evolved into something much stronger and darker than mere annoyance.

To quote Okrent again, “Are you tired, so tired of everything about the world and the way it is? Do you proclaim this, with a long, slow sigh, to everyone around you? You’ve got ennui.”

I am and do. Yup, I have ennui. Along with millions of others. Dictionaries define it as boredom so deep it has become chronic, leaving the person to feel weary, dissatisfied and apathetic.

Of course, we have English words like despair, desperation, anguish, and hopelessness to describe our collective sad state, but knowing a few more words from other languages can’t hurt.

Indeed, if ennui isn’t strong enough, Okrent also offers weltschmerz, a German word that is grimmer than ennui as it means “world pain” to describe “a world weariness felt from a perceived mismatch between the ideal image of how the world should be with how it really is. It is the ultimate sadness in your heart for the world”.

For us Malaysians, our state of despair and sorrow is really related to the breakdown in trust in our leaders.

Trust is important, as encapsulated in this quote by Stephen R. Covey: “Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.”

Unfortunately, that glue in our national fabric has been slowly drying up for decades, so much so that our relationships with leaders and institutions and with each other have become very brittle and fragile.

Because the trust is lacking, our communication is lost in translation, thanks to selective hearing shaped by years of brainwashing prejudice and suspicion.

For non-Bumiputera Malaysians, we have long learned not to expect too much from the government.

It didn’t start out that way, but the May 13 1969 race riots led to the New Economic Policy.

It was actually a good document that articulated in very diplomatic and reassuring language its noble aims to restructure our society by breaking down race-based economic and social stereotypes and growing the economic pie for all.

Unfortunately, its implementation was not so noble and instead of inclusiveness, led to divisiveness and racial polarisation. The economic pie did grow, but so did greed and corruption.

All this is not new to us. Yet, for more than half a century we kept voting in the same government, even though for the longest time, we have known that politicians lie. That’s a universal truth.

Another universal truth and sad fact is, as opined by management expert and author Soren Kaplan, leaders who lie can still be trusted by their followers because being truthful and being trustworthy aren’t the same thing.

That’s because we live in a world that bombards us with diverse opinions, alternative data and opposing facts.

That makes it hard for ordinary folk to figure out what is real and they cope with the confusion, uncertainty and fear by “placing ‘trust’ in the ‘leaders’ they see as able to cut through the noise and provide guidance around what to believe and what to do,” says Kaplan.

This is especially true when politicians play the racial and religious card to great effect.

We finally had a shot at changing that horrible old narrative with the Pakatan Harapan government and Malaysia Baru.

But our euphoria and hopes came to an abrupt end when the PH government was toppled by the Perikatan Nasional-led government.

And it happened when the nation was running smack into an unprecedented global pandemic. While shocked by the political machinations that brought down a democratically-elected government, Malaysians were too confused and helpless to do anything except to follow whoever was providing us with a semblance of leadership.

If only the PN government had brought in people with real mettle, ability and integrity, it would not be in such a trust deficit with the citizenry.

What the people were looking for was consistency which, as inspiration guru Roy T. Bennett says, is the true foundation of trust.

Another thing that plagues the present administration is found in this quote: “There are two reasons why we don’t trust people. First – we don’t know them. Second ­­- we know them’.

The PN Cabinet had too many people that the public was already disappointed with – or had no idea about. And when unknowns holding important portfolios, like health minister Dr Adham Baba, came into the spotlight, it was gaffe after gaffe.

So what happens when they keep fumbling and making contradictory rulings – like inconsistent, head-scratching movement control order restrictions on businesses – and breaking SOPs that they themselves draw up?

“Trust is like an eraser; it gets smaller and smaller after every mistake,” according to this unattributed quote.

Seeing how self-serving the intense ongoing power struggle is, even as more and more lives and livelihoods are being lost, it wouldn’t be surprising if the disillusioned public subscribe to this quote attributed to retired Jordanian footballer Khaled Saad:

“If you give your trust to a person who does not deserve it, you actually give him the power to destroy you.”

But the present leadership is tenacious and digging its heels in, despite street protests, furious social media criticism, parodies and posts which, to me, are trying to send this message to Putrajaya:

“Stop asking me to trust you while I’m still coughing up water from the last time you let me drown.”

Bumiputera citizens who were mollycoddled and made to believe they could depend on government aid forever have come to realise what it is like when government coffers dry up and the easy aid is no more.

But as they say, when the going gets tough, the tough get going and that is what’s happening. Malay grassroots survival and entrepreneurship skills have never been so strong and vibrant.

After the recent Dewan Rakyat debacle, we seem to be in a lull before the storm, before the first meeting of the fourth term of the 14th Parliament starts on Sept 6.

Is that enough time for PN to rebuild trust? Perhaps, if the Covid-19 numbers improve and the economy does restart.

But it should also bear in mind this quote: “Trust is like glass. Once broken, it cannot be repaired, only replaced.”

Not only that, man can propose but in this pandemic, it has been the damn virus that disposes. Weltschmerz, oh my weltschmerz! - FMT

June Wong is a former editor in chief of The Star.

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