The BM (Burberry Man) who promotes BM

So, which BM is Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob best known for? His promotion of Bahasa Malaysia? Or his recent “acting” role as the “Burberry Man”? 

Our dear prime minister has been waving the flag of language nationalism for months. Fair enough. But if he’s truly patriotic, he should also be promoting another BM – Batik Malaysia. 

Instead, Ismail Sabri wears (and advertises) foreign luxury goods – an RM6,900 Burberry shirt – when Malaysians are suffering from inflation. Let me make three points here:

1) It’s like having a banquet in front of starving people. How can a politician be so tone-deaf to the people’s economic problems?

2) Why does he pay such big bucks only to showcase his poor fashion sense?

3) Dear sir, are you portraying yourself as the prime minister or as a catwalk model?

Such pretentious dressing is usually a symptom of the typical nouveau riche (newly rich). They are still acutely insecure of their poor backgrounds and thus overcompensate, for example, by wearing loud (and ugly) clothes whose sole function is to scream: “Hey, look at me, I got class leh, I got a lot of money you know…”

When he was defence minister in charge of our movement control orders (MCO), he “made his mark” in those daily dreary briefings not with inspiring speeches, witty jokes or strength of intellect. Instead, he was best remembered for his shirts that resembled colourful cakes and kuih.

Was all that designed to inject some spice into his dull demeanour and grey character? Clothes maketh the man – but they also unmake him. If a man is dressed as a colourful clown rather than as a serious leader, how much respect can he command?

Padang Rengas MP Nazri Abdul Aziz tried to divert the issue by saying VIPs always get expensive gifts. So, is he admitting to a culture of subtle corruption? What “favours” did the givers expect in return? And even if it was a gift, the symbolism remains all wrong.

Can he do the job?

I’ve nothing personal against Ismail Sabri. But he became PM by an accident of political intrigue. And so, as a citizen, I am very concerned that we now have a leader who may be out of his depth, and whose abilities (or lack of them) in the top job will harm the country. Thus far, this man has not inspired much confidence in his career.

1) His signature Mara Digital Mall (aka Low Yat 2) failed despite all the government support.

2) As the minister in charge of security, he issued MCOs that confused people and badly harmed our economy.

3) As PM, he totally bungled the national response to the devastating floods last December. 

The latest failure is his “chickenomics”. How can an industry keep operating when costs keep rising while selling prices are forced down? But his government’s promised subsidies to chicken farmers (so that they can keep prices low) were mostly never delivered.

When the chicken sh*t hit the fan (as farms closed), Ismail Sabri instead subtly racialised the issue on May 23 by promising a “jihad” against middlemen “manipulators”. He repeated this call for an economic jihad on June 30.

Such “holy wars” make good racial politics. But remember the government’s grand-sounding National Action Council on Cost of Living that was formed way back in Feb 2018. What have the knuckleheads there been doing? Is it another symptom of #KerajaanGagal (failed government)?

Language nationalism diversion?

To make up for the lack of real achievements, what can be done? Well, how about spending more government money to build Ismail Sabri’s image by pushing Keluarga Malaysia this and that?

There are now so many billboards along our highways showing how “caring” he is with the people. Just don’t mention the poor handling of floods and inflation, please. Or his RM6,900 shirt.

If Keluarga Malaysia is not enough, then Ismail Sabri has resorted to language nationalism. In March, when visiting Indonesia, he proposed that Bahasa Malaysia should become Asean’s second language and be used in every official meeting between the two countries. 

Nggak bisa (no, cannot) retorted Indonesian Minister Nadiem Makarim who basically said that “it’s our version of Bahasa (not yours) which should rule”. Why should Indonesia, with a population of 280 million, give way to a version of the language spoken just by 30 million Malaysians?

Despite this slap in the face, the government keeps waving the flag of BM “patriotism”. Now, there are threats of a whopping RM50,000 fine plus jail time for “disrespecting” BM.

A country should indeed be proud of its national language. But why did Putrajaya try to imitate New York City by calling its areas “Presint”? Why is our new financial centre called Tun Razak Exchange rather than “Pusat Perdagangan Tun Razak”?

Why does Shah Alam have signs for “Dewan Bankuet MBSA” and “Galeri Shah Alam” when the perfectly suitable “Dewan Jamuan MBSA” and “Balai Seni” can be used? I grew up learning Ilmu Alam and Ilmu Hisab in school, why was this changed to Geografi and Matematik?

Will those leaders who have allowed such an invasion of pseudo-English words into BM be deemed guilty of “disrespecting” our national language and thus fined RM50,000? These people should be the last ones to wave the flag of language nationalism. It’s just hypocrisy.

But perhaps such contradictions reflect our national ethos. And so we have a leader flashing his wealth while preaching how “we’re all together” in Keluarga Malaysia. Showing off foreign brands while representing this country. Who can’t decide if he’s a frustrated fashion model or a PM.

This is why the Burberry Man, the BM-PM, may be the perfect symbol for Malaysia.  - Mkini

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ANDREW SIA is a veteran journalist who likes teh tarik khau kurang manis. You are welcome to give him ideas to brew at tehtarik@gmail.com.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.