My father is like Gandhi – not really!

 

Sometimes, I am astonished with the narratives that our politicians and their cronies spin.

When a few days ago, the son of our erstwhile, now imprisoned prime minister, likened his father’s incarceration to Nelson Mandela’s detention for 27 years, I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.

Then, I remembered that only a few weeks ago, our former deputy prime minister, who is facing multiple corruption charges, claimed that he was appointed to helm the home ministry because he was “a man of integrity”.

It is a pattern among politicians. And, while it might sound staggering to hear their accounts, to be frank, we have to expect these sorts of fantastical tales, right?

Which son or daughter wouldn’t want to defend their parents? And there are precious few politicians who will ever admit to any wrongdoing anyway. In Malaysia at least, nearly all our political leaders have some ‘dirt’ hovering over them.

Of course, I too, sometimes think my father is a paragon of virtue and integrity. He might not be ‘Gandhi-like’ on account of the occasional bouts of smacking me as a teenager, but by and large, he is a good man.

The difference perhaps is that we might privately feel that our folks are angels and gems, but when there is overwhelmingly substantiated evidence of wrongdoing being slung in their direction, we’d possibly lie low and not make cringe-worthy public declarations.

I suppose the fact remains that we are not thick-skinned seasoned politicians or their children, with many skeletons in the cupboard. So, what do we know?

The reality is that over the course of his life, Nelson Mandela was given over 250 awards, accolades, prizes, honorary degrees and citizenships. And, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed Mandela’s birthday, July 18, as ‘Mandela Day’, marking his contribution to the anti-apartheid struggle.

So, when our man is likened to Mandela, we should take it with a big barrel of salt, and have a hearty laugh about how outrageous this sounds.

But here is the deal. While they might say all this and more, how do we respond as voters?

When someone who is being hauled in and out of court says that he was appointed on the basis of his impeccable integrity, instead of either rejoicing that he is innocent or getting irked that he is speaking with a forked tongue, why don’t we just let the evidence speak for itself without getting wound up?

As voters, we have to separate facts from mere opinions. Everyone thinks that their own opinions are absolute facts. But really, these are just expressions of our personal values or beliefs.

Let’s all be honest. Many of our beliefs are fed to us by our politicians. These charismatic leaders have gotten hold of our imagination. And, in our country, politicians will make you fear a specific or even an imagined consequence if you don’t vote for them.

Like the PAS president who claims that at the root of all corruption in Malaysia are the ‘non-Muslims and non-Bumiputeras’. This is fundamentally aimed at instilling fear and ensuring that their supporters come out brazenly and continue to stoke the fires of communalism.

In other progressive countries, this man would have gotten into trouble for inciting racial-hatred. Here, he is revered by some, so the authorities act with kid-gloves. And, I bet no further action will be taken.

Malaysians need to realise that systematically over time, we get indoctrinated into making the corrosive views of our politicians, central to our own belief structure. Our citizenry seems to fall for the same fellas with the same warped narratives, and ultimately, we become prey to the same insecurities.

Perhaps, this destructive brainwashing explains why Malaysia is so poorly governed, and on dodgy and unreasonable prejudices.

So, are Malaysians actually serious about integrity?

People profess banalities about integrity, but when they vote, they seem to prioritise other traits. We get attracted to leaders who are actually diametrically opposite to acting with integrity.

Even DAP politicians who fought tooth and nail against our longest serving prime minister got seduced into jumping in bed with their sworn enemy a few years ago. And, who can erase the mortifying selfies that some of the younger DAP leaders took, while gushing about the nonagenarian. We all know how that episode ended.

We have a tendency to gravitate towards charismatic and magnetic personalities. These characters usually have massive egos, megalomaniacal visions, and grandiose ideas.

Malaysian voters need to come to terms with the fact that the more we put our politicians on a pedestal and proclaim that their work is about being unselfish, and acting in a people-centric way, the more these ‘jamokes’ pretend to have integrity, just to climb the greasy pole.

We, the voters, are to blame.

Most of us are simply driven by self-interest. If a leader emerges to placate our own needs and starts saying what we want to hear, we are quick to abandon our principles.

We demanded a higher level of competence and performance from our leaders, and removed them when they failed us in 2018, only to have egg on our faces when many of the people we voted in, betrayed us and switched allegiances mid-way.

So, what have we learnt?

Never trust a politician and don’t believe it when they say they are paragons of integrity or are in the mould of Nelson Mandela. They will say anything to continue to hoodwink us. But for them to change, we have to change first. - FMT

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