Opposite effect?

by Dr Hsu

In Malaysia, everything boils down to race, and because of this, politics in our context means that everything must be distorted to become a race or religious issue.

This is especially so after 308, when the Big Brother feels that desperate situation requires desperate moves.

So a NGO is established to voice out very racial issue. The head, I.Ali, who I like to call Loud Mouth, has uttered such nonsence that it is hard to believe that there are still people who believe and subscribe t what he says. But he is backed by a powerful Horse, and also a newspaper which has only one agenda, to win back the votes of the majority ethnic group.

Initially , this strategy seems to be working , looking at the last few buy by elections result.

But as Eastern philosophy dictates, when things are going too extreme, it may result in unintended results.

I do not know about the rural sentiments, but of late, i can sense some reverse trends among the urban groups.

The Chinese support are gone still, but even among the urban Malays, there is a beginning of resentment against too extreme racism as displayed by the Loud Mouth, especially when he allegedly uttered an threat ‘advice’ . Whether it is an advice or threat, it is up to each individual to interpret, but most people I talked to certainly did not like what he said.

Given the burden of trying to make ends meet, most urban people, irrespective of their colour, are not happy about the direction the country is moving .

Of course , the big question will be whether such unhappiness can translate back into votes and support for the opposition. If so, then the Big Brother would be in big trouble, since many of these urban people originate from rural areas , and that they would have some influence over their folks back home.

I foresee the more this Loud Mouth utters, the more he will help to alienate the very people the Big brother is trying to win back, at the same time, he helps to make sure that the other ethnic groups will remain resentful of the Big Brother.

Politicians have forgotten the very basic: that to win votes, you must win the heart. To win the heart, there must be sensible policies, good governance and a healthy economy..

If only efforts are channeled to achieve this instead of tying to play politics…