The ‘who’s your daddy’ school of politics

 

This week saw the son of the country’s third prime minister being suspended from his party, the son-in-law of the fifth prime minister getting expelled from his party, the son of the sixth prime minister declaring his intent to contest a party post, and the daughter of the tenth prime minister being made a senior economics and finance adviser to her father.

Wow, it looks like there are no other capable leaders in our nation except the offspring of the leaders themselves. The gene pool in our leadership strata is quite incestuous.

Ostensibly, it’s never what you know, but who your father is, or was. And, this is the case for all political parties in the country including PKR, Umno, DAP, PAS and so on. Our political parties are run like a “family business”.

Of course, our guys are not the only ones who operate like this.

Just in the neighbourhood, Singapore, our noisy but clever neighbour down south, has a prime minister who comes from the “who’s your daddy school of politics” and the same goes for the Philippines and Thailand.

Actually, it is a worldwide phenomenon.

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, a data scientist, economist, and New York Times op-ed contributor showed in a study that if your father was a US senator, you are 8,500 times more likely to be one yourself.

For me, it’s strange that only with the appointment of the current PM’s daughter, who incidentally was a losing candidate in the last general election, everybody has piped up, and are creating a ruckus.

Civil society movements, and the Malaysian intelligentsia have gone, once again, into overdrive with this “new” issue. New? Really?

Political dynasties have been the norm in Malaysia for such a long time already. And, even in the countries we laud as bastions of democracy and economic prowess, this “problem” is prevalent.

But isn’t it the same in many professions? How many doctors, lawyers, and business tycoons do we know that have their kids in the same “business”?

In some ways, the benefits of getting into politics after your father or mother did, are no different than the benefits in other sectors. When you’re related to some bigwig in your profession, you can turn to them for career advice, and your last name will definitely open a few doors.

I accept that in politics, the consequences are on a much larger scale, and affect the rest of us.

Politicians with the right last name will get doors opened for them, big campaign donations, and votes. It’s a ticket-to-entry that mere mortals like us will struggle to get. It is abundantly clear that in Malaysian politics, you need a “cable” to climb the greasy pole.

I know that most of us want reforms, and we want to see a different trajectory for our country. I suppose this is the cause of the “brouhaha” concerning the appointment of the PM’s daughter.

Even before, Malaysians weren’t very happy with PM5 that his son-in-law led the infamous and powerful “4th Floor Boys” in the PM’s Department.

And, the pressure on PM10 is greater, because the man has positioned himself as a “reformist” prime minister.

But, for our current prime minister, it is like carrying a “kavadi” with piercings attached to his torso. And, a bunch of jamokes hold on to the rope behind him, and yank him back every time he tries to move the reformist agenda ahead.

Forgive my Thaipusam analogy. I’m already in the festival mood.

Once in a while, PM10, in his stupor, makes a faux-pas, and gets a heftier yank back.

If you are expecting massive reforms in this term from this unity government, I reckon you are living in “cloud cuckoo land”. This is a government of compromise. The ubiquitous “green wave” made sure of this.

PM10, whenever he can, or is allowed to, will fill jobs up with his people. How much more of “his people” can he get, than his first born? It’s probably his attempt to counter all the yanking.

As a nation, if we don’t like the idea of political hereditary dynasties, then we shouldn’t vote for the scions of Malaysian political leaders. You all know the political “brand” names in Malaysia. But as voters, we seem to value brand recognition, and keep electing them again and again.

Even with PM10’s daughter, we kept her as a member of parliament for 14 years. No-one screamed nepotism and cronyism then. In fact, for 10 of those 14 years, she was the darling of the Malaysian “liberals”.

So, how about we all agree that we live in very strange times. If Ahmad Zahid Hamidi can be made the deputy prime minister, surely Nurul Izzah Anwar can be a senior economics and finance adviser to the prime minister. - FMT

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