PROGRAMMED TO HATE, THE LIFE OF A MALAY LEADER IN MALAYSIA IS TOUGH

It is hard being a Malay leader. Let us imagine you are one. For instance, you (the fictitious leader) may like a certain person, let us say for example, Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, but because you are the leader of a nation which is friendly with the west, and receive millions of dollars in foreign aid, every year, from America, you may not wish to make public your friendship with Putin. You realise that these Americans are sensitive and fickle minded. They may cancel your foreign aid.

Likewise, your hero is the Israeli prime minister. You are fascinated with the way he has managed to build a wall, to keep out the Palestinians, and you wish to build one, and learn from him.

You want the wall to be an impenetrable barrier for the Rohingyas, but at the same time, you do not want the traffickers, to go out of Malaysia, to pick up more "clients". You know who "they" are, because some of them wear the uniform of one of the state agencies.

You are unable to show your admiration for Benjamin Netanyahu, not because of the wall or the human traffickers, but because 70% of the citizens in your nation, are Muslim, and they have been programmed to hate Israel. So, your friendship with Netanyahu is kept very quiet. You do not wish to incur the wrath, of the hot headed 3% of your rakyat.

The life of a Malay leader is tough. If you are one, you cannot say what you mean, and cannot mean what you say.

You cannot say you like Hainanese chicken rice, because the red shirts, who will latch onto a Malay leader, will demand to know why you are not patriotic towards the nasi lemak, even if the dish were of inferior quality, as on a regional airline.

These red shirts can be extremely sensitive, and touchy. Trigger happy may be the best word to describe them. They may stomp on your photo and shout obscenities at your image, because you have "menjatuhkan maruah melayu (let down Malay dignity), because you did not profess loyalty, to the dish of nasi lemak.

You are a traitor, because you preferred the "pendatang dish" of "Hainanese chicken rice!"

Another test is this. You cannot mention that you went to a mission school, as a child, because the extremely loyal-to-you-for-as-long-as-you-reward-them red-shirts, will know that you recited the Lord's Prayer at assembly and will be curious to know if you are a closet Christian.

Before long, your Cabinet, will ensure that words like "shepherd", "lord", "temptation" and "deliver" are banned from use by Malays.

Fortunately, our leaders are not judged on religious observance or border controls. They only have to make simple decisions, like which cartoons to read.

Not too long ago, Najib Razak presented awards to various Malaysian cartoonists.

He said that Lat, the "social" cartoonist, was one of his favourites, because his drawings showed Malaysian harmony.

Yes, he is right. The rakyat's favourite political satirical cartoonist, likes to depict leaders who are corrupt, abuse their power and are profligate.

Najib said, "I have always believed that cartoonists are a group of people who have a role in influencing the mindset and perception of the rakyat through cartoons."

Najib's observation are astute. He knows that Zunar's cartoons reveal political improprieties to the rakyat. To counter this, his only recourse has been to harass Zunar with nine charge of sedition and the threat of imprisonment.

Najib made an accurate observation, when he said, "Of serious issues, Lat has managed to present it in a humorous manner, that it becomes memorable and a conversation point among the public.

"Us politicians particularly are not spared from his sketches."

Zunar would probably say; "Najib's comments are very revealing. He probably admires my work, but cannot say so." - http://theantdaily.com/