Absurdity of Malaysia’s foot in mouth politics

 

It is painful to see our once-proud nation being humiliated globally by the most absurd government decisions and political pronouncements.

For a start, it is absolutely unbelievable that the government sent four busy Cabinet ministers to have a virtual meeting with the distillers of Timah whisky to discuss the need for it to change its well-established brand name.

They were the ministers of communication and multimedia, unity, religious affairs and domestic trade and consumer affairs.

The meeting comes just two weeks after the issue of Timah whisky began hogging the local media spotlight and then spilling over to international news outlets, humiliating us for our narrow-mindedness. The matter now appears to be solved in what is probably the result of arm twisting.

The process has set a dangerous precedent that will send a frightening message to potential investors from abroad – that we are run by a government of fanatical non-thinkers. Perhaps that is merely a perception, but perceptions do matter.

The manufacturers of Timah agreed magnanimously to change the name of their successful award-winning brand to some other symbol to be decided later.

The whole episode has made a mockery of the nation, which has just been elected into the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Azalina Othman Said, special adviser to the prime minister on law and human rights, has pointed out that the government must educate society to think more logically.

Pardon me, Ma’am, do you really think we can turn the clock back to a time when moderate thinking prevailed? To many, it looks impossible after racial politics has steered the nation’s course quite a bit astray over the last 50 years.

The fact remains that we have the Islamic party PAS as one of the main pillars holding up the government in power. And its agenda is an open secret.

With the government kept in place by only a narrow majority, it will continue to respect the 18 parliamentary seats that PAS has in order to maintain its grip on power, even if it means it has to put up with demands that do not augur well for the secular image that Malaysia has enjoyed for decades.

And then came a shocker from an MP from PKR, who appeared not to have any qualms about spewing utter nonsense when she said drinking Timah whisky was like drinking a Malay woman. This made some Malaysians laugh and cry at the same time.

Rusnah Aluai, MP for Tangga Batu, obviously tried to be a hero without pausing for a moment to think Fatima is also a popular Christian name and that consuming the content of a product does not mean we are consuming the brand name. This analogy borders on insanity.

Yes, she has apologised for that most incredulous thing she said but the fact remains that we have MPs of this calibre and they will continue to utter similarly stupefying statements and apologising after netizens lash out with fury. That’s the new trend, insult first and say sorry later.

Many international media outlets have latched on to her statement, making foreigners think that Malaysians are intolerant and that government leaders lack thinking power.

Rusnah inadvertently unleashed a lot of creativity with netizens posting such pictures as the Jalan Timah road sign and saying they were scared to use the road as they would then be seen to be driving or walking on a Malay lady.

Some have said they would stop drinking beverages or eat food named after animals or famous people for the same reason. There were numerous other hilarious memes, many of which are not printable.

The timing of these absurd decisions and statements was certainly unfortunate when Malaysia has yet to recover from the glare of the world media interviewing Nur Sajat, who fled the country because it could not accept her decision to live as a transgender person.

All her interviews abroad have made Malaysia look like a country which is led by some intolerant leaders who have small minds and no regard for the citizenry’s practice of basic rights. I am not saying what they claim is true but examples like Nur Sajat and Timah are great fodder for the international media to create such a perception.

Do the leaders not ask themselves if foreign investors would still want to come here or continue with their ventures if the government appears to be taking many strides backwards by becoming dogmatic in running the nation? Or perhaps eventually heading towards a theocracy?

I am not sure if the politicians realise that they do themselves no favour by uttering statements which they know are not true but consciously do it to show who is more Islamic than the other party.

The sad thing is that this political foot-in-the-mouth disease seems to be endemic in Malaysia, which inevitably attracts the foreign media for the wrong reasons. Malaysians are being drained of their mental energy by having to fight absurdity every now and then. - FMT

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