OUR BANE IS AN INCOMPETENT OPPOSITION WHO THINK THE WORLD OF THEMSELVES

Umar Mukhtar

If you have ever attended an opposition ceramah, everything they say seems clear-cut. And if they don’t seem like that to you, then it’s because you are stupid or you have eaten too much ‘dedak’. The opposition keeps thinking like that, and they then keep being the opposition.

Like everything else, the opposition needs somebody else to blame. To them they have done everything under the sky that need to be done, they say as they sit on their fat arses. They themselves don’t seem to be short of anything except money (how convenient!). Unfair elections and stupid voters are to be blamed, never themselves. Never. They’re perfect. No humility. No introspection. Pointing fingers is becoming a vocational habit.

Little do they realise that the voters have grown wiser to their ways. This not the sixties/seventies anymore.

Voters want to be educated on issues of social import. They look forward to ceramahs for that opportunity to be educated. But all they get are barrages of mocking generalisations and pep rally stuff that poke fun at the government in power. The government may very well deserve it but opposition mocking trivial issues that require the quality time which the voters had accorded to the opposition because of mainstream media biases.

Of course, there’s also the print media, especially the social media, to make up for the said lost opportunity. But what did the opposition forces do? They outsource it to the naughty boys who have helluva time photoshopping humorous junk that basically lie, and cyber-troopers like the Red Bean Army posting false or exaggerated articles or gross comments truly becoming of juveniles who had just discovered a new toy to test their belligerent ways.

Admittedly, it was quite fun at first. And especially to those who were not fully conversant of the potential of the internet in creating mischief, there have been many disappointments at what they thought was a serious and credible medium. Now everybody checks before swallowing hook, line and sinker. Of course we had wanted so badly to believe, especially when what was posted gels with our own biases.

Every time someone wrote a serious article inviting responsible discourse, the second-hand car dealers and mobile phone salesmen with their pasar English will intrude dismissively as if they are already aware of what the truth is. They only want to hear what they can relate to and ridicule contra opinion. That fits DAP’s philosophy perfectly and each controversy begets another. Then BN caught on (belatedly) and it too employs broken-English cyber-troopers

Now, the internet is filled with political garbage started by the opposition because being naughty incognito is a blessing it never dreams of. It has written off the mainstream media, which in all probability deserve that treatment. But why would you want to waste the surfers’ time. They are the quary you want to exploit but you disrespect them. Thank god, the MCMC is impotent and lacks imagination, otherwise prosecutions are widespread.

The problem gets worse when real-life opposition leaders began to belief their own lies and liars. Hence they are quick to belief stories about planeloads of Bangladeshis imported to vote, whereas just one minute of analysis would deem such proposition ridiculous. But how could so many be wrong! But everybody lies to everybody, and the Red Ant Army had a fine day practising rogue politics at the expense of real searchers of the truth.

At the end of the day, the opposition are the ones that look ridiculous. Who wins? What frustration that follows are the opposition’s own making. Anger feeds itself but nobody saw that it was brought upon itself by kiddos out to have fun. Cheap-minded leaders like Lim Guan Eng live off this artificial furore to create a smokescreen to project a holier-than-thou image despite the bungalows without the swimming pools.

What about being united to fight BN? What about having a shadow cabinet to analyse and educate issues to the masses? What about an economic policy that places the people as the important clients? What about an impeccable record of fair administration that can withstand the scrutiny and mudslinging of the other side instead of conveniently blaming them for nitpicking? The public is tired of he-said-she-said kind of useless discourse. Reform yourself.

Stop crying victim. The people are bored with listening to your stories of being victims of circumstances. We want to be masters our own destiny. If you don’t understand that, fook off!