Thursday, August 23, 2012

The Irony of Malaysian Lupa-ness

One definition of the word 'irony' is  'an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected'.


It is not to be confused with 'ingratitude' which would be 'unthankfulness' or 'lack of gratitude', though sometimes one could argue, within Malaysian political context, there's connection between the two.


For example, in the 70's when Ibrahim Ali (yes, that Jabba the Hutt bloke) was a student leader and desperately trying to escape detention under the ISA, he frantically sought the help of a Chinese, namely, Lim Kit Siang, then Parliamentary Opposition Leader. In recent times, Jabba the Hutt has been virulently and venomously vicious against most things Chinese, in particular against Lim and his party., the DAP.

Jabba the Hutt

Would this be a typical case of Dr Mahathir's Melayu mudah lupa?

No, because we know Ibrahim Ali is a political survivor par excellence, a cheen chnea ch'am* carma chameleon, and thus we know that his personal interests, khusus untuk numero uno, would have easily, conveniently and unconscionably suppressed any of that often touted Malay phrase hutang budi, that is if at all any exists in the first place, to Lim Kit Siang.

* cheen chnea ch'am is Chinese for bloody (wakakaka) pitiful
 for 'cari makan', an abbreviation coined by A Samad Said

Naturally, as Opposition Leader, Lim would only be doing his job in ensuring, within the laws, that Ibrahim Ali was not ISA-ed, and which Lim did, and for which he would not expect nor demand any gratitude, and Lim did not.

As I had written in a 2010 post Malaysian meaning of 'gratitude' about the survivor instinct of Ibrahim Ali who had the thick-skinned temerity, or perhaps in this case, we could use 'irony' (wakakaka) of Jabba, to speak about the lack of 'gratitude' of Chinese in Hulu Selangor and Sibu when they disdainfully rejected the PM's offer of campaign pork-barrelling financial allocations, as follows:

Look, if Pakatan becomes the ruling party one day, Ibrahim Ali will be there beside the new Pakatan PM singing a new song titled ‘Reformasi is for me’; if PAS assumes power, Ibrahim Ali will replace the Kulim Wonder as the No 1 Islamic warrior of Malaysia, and in the unlikely event of DAP becoming the ruling party, Ibrahim Ali of course will be in astronaut costume, helmet and all, to show he’s an ardent rocket jock wakakaka.


Jabba the Malaysian astronaut wakakaka

Of course there is nothing for the rakyat to be grateful for a politician's election campaign pork-barrelling, because the offered or allocated funds belong in the first place to tax payers, and not the prime minister or any politician.

In this confusion over or incorrect expectation of 'gratitude', which I posted in Malaysian meaning of 'gratitude', I averred to our Malaysian medieval feudalistic mentality, of still a prevalent belief in some quarters of our society that people are born with a divinely assigned position or status such as rulers, nobles, warriors and vassals, and where the PM (in modern times voted in by the rakyat, but perceived nonetheless as a ruler in our social culture) owns all or most of the land and national assets which he has the authority and prerogative to grant (as if his own) to his supporters in return for their loyalty.



Exploitation of this belief has sometimes been laughingly referred to as the disease of 'sehelai kain pelekat & RM100'.



Mind you, Jabba himself does not believe in the above but don't call it 'irony' but rather, take your pick, 'politicking', 'expediency' or 'hypocrisy', because the reality is that his messages, like most political messages, have been naughtily crafted for his targeted audience.

Okay, let's leave Jabba at his planet Tatooine, and may he stay there forever wakakaka.


Tatooine

When we talk about 'irony' and 'lupa-ness' how could we ever get past Dr Mahathir without reminding ourselves, very sadly, of his Bangsa Malaysia.

Here was a man, a far-sighted Malaysian leader, who took the initiative, with just two words, to infuse us with a sense of harmonious fusion, a sense of all belonging to one nation, a sense of togetherness in one proud nationality, perhaps even that of a new race a la 'Americans' (the gringo variety wakakaka), 'Australian', 'Canadian', etc.

Here is a man who talks about the nonsensical potential of Chinese taking over the country, whipping up Malay nationalism, ensuring we remain as divided as the days before Merdeka and especially immediately post May-13.

Would this be irony, or would it be his accusation of Melayu mudah lupa be the irony?



On the other hand, perhaps his Melayu mudah lupa has been 'prophetic' rather than 'ironical', as he amply demonstrated the veracity of his own accusation by his repetitive selective amnesia over his prime ministerial records.

Perhaps I'll indulge in just one more commentary on Dr Mahathir, the prime minister who during his earliest term, in 1983, promoted the concept of Kepimpinan melalui teladan or leadership by example. In kool parlance it's for leaders  to walk their talk.

Adanyakah?

Addendum @ 1900 hours - see The Malaysian Insider's Ideology and debt: A reply to Dr Mahathir by Pak Sako, who wrote that Dr Mahathir, who had complained about the injustices of the neo-liberal international order, had himself (during his government) introduced neo-liberal policies including the massive privatisation strategy (sometimes referred to cynically as 'piratisation' strategy) - 'twas said to be the policy linked to 'increased competition for resources within the ruling Malay party', and which redistributed resources 'in favour of emerging factions centred on key political leaders'.

Hmmm, another of his mudah lupa-ness?


Let's move on to ...... wakakaka ..... no, I'll let him off today, though I won't his followers, those M-cube, the Mindless Manmanlai Myrmidons - see my post Mindless Malaysian Myrmidons wakakaka.

Now, in my previous post, someone asked me to write something about Princess Nurul Izzah. Here goes, though it may not be what he/she expected.



Now, this would not be unfamiliar to you who read blogs. Those M-cube would frequently demand that Marina Mahathir (I presume you know who she is wakakaka) in her writing denounces her father before they would consider her as clean and acceptable.

Apart from Marina ignoring those totally senseless demands (unlike me she is polite and courteous, whereas I would just use the f*-o word wakakaka), as an Asian I believe it is utterly cruel and unreasonable for someone to demand that a son or daughter publicly condemns his/her parent, regardless of who the parent is or has done, I would not respect Marina if she ever publicly denounces any of her parents, no matter what they might have done, even (wakakaka) mass murders.



One can disagree with one’s parents and refuse to do what they do or what they want one to do, but one can never, should never ever badmouth them, no matter what their sins. As Chinese would say, a put-hau (unfilial) child is an affront to the Heavens.

I once wrote that Marina Mahathir is only responsible for her own conduct and the master of her own destiny. Her father’s should be those of her father. She doesn't need to be unfilial just to be accepted, which should be solely on her own conduct, rights and merits.

Just look at RPK’s post Your 10 questions with Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir* , where one of the visitors left this terrible moronic mindless comment:

* incidentally, RPK was incorrect in addressing her as Datin (implying her husband was the Datuk) when she is in fact a Datuk in her own rights - wonder how her husband should be addressed? Dateeen? wakakaka

Never bother to read what she wrote. Never believe she is an angel in Bersih 2. The many many SINS from her Mamak Papa to the Rakyat of Malaysia can never be cleansed and forgiven. Please remember that every night you go to sleep. Same to your brothers.

His (or her) mentality is not unlike the Israelites’ belief in the biblical saying that the sins of the father will be visited upon their children for several generations …

Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me – Deuteronomy 5:9


or

I will even repay into their bosom, both their own iniquities and the iniquities of their fathers together – Isaiah 65:6-7

… which I opine is utter nonsense on the basis of logic, commonsense and secular justice, but then, a mindless Manmanlai Myrmidon could never ever understand logic or commonsense.

What if we were to demand that Nurul Izzah denounces her father for a host of evil sins? As I promised I won’t raise those sins here, but if you’re interested, please see my post Mindless Malaysian Myrmidons; if you want to continue to be an ostrich wakakaka, then skip it.

Shouldn't it be also good for the goose whatever is good for the gander?

In my post A Tale of Two Sweeties I wrote:

… whatever good Marina Mahathir might have done (as in AIDS and women affairs), they (as well as some UMNO-BN people too) would impute some ignoble motive on her part [...]

Then there were others who questioned her ’enjoyment of the privileges’ of being a PM’s daughter as if she could only be free of guilt if she had chosen someone else to be her parents. Such has been the stupidity of those mindless comments.

And incidentally, did Nurul not enjoy the same privileges when Anwar was the powerful rightwing DPM from UMNO?

It’s frightening that these people, who like their leaders, claim to fight for democracy, have 'ironically' shown themselves to be most undemocratically authoritarian, attempting to shout down at and silence anyone who has written unfavorably about their party and leaders. There’s no Voltaire-like understanding of free speech or democracy.

Irony? Lupa-ness? No, it’s just plain double standards!

14 comments:

  1. There was nothing far-seeing about Mahathir's Bangsa Malaysia.
    He did expand more deeply on his thoughts regarding the subject, but I couldn't find the link from those pre WWW days.
    His Bangsa Malaysia concept encompassed two main paths to harmony for the Nons - either full Cultural/Social Assimilation or Full Acceptance of Subservient social/political status.

    His ideal Bangsa Malaysia would have been similar in concept to the Thai ethnic Chinese who is a fully acculturated Thai (which is, I suppose, wonderful for harmony) but can't speak or write a single word of Chinese and only a vague smattering of Chinese culture.

    Its remarkably similar to UMNO's real thoughts on 1Malaysia...which is why 1Malaysia so widely supported by UMNO Malays, but deeply distrusted by the Nons.

    On Datuk Paduka Marina Mahathir, I have nothing against her, but there is always a residual distrust of how deep is her commitment to social reform in Malaysia, given her antecedents.
    I can understand if she avoids the political bits.
    I don't know about other aspects of Nurul's life, but her education certainly followed a very humble path, available to any Malaysian citizen who qualifies - a government Secondary School , followed by an Engineering degree at Universiti Tenaga Nasional. She certainly did not take the elitist path which so many children of Malaysian leaders took (including Marina Mahathir).

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  2. In 1968 when I graduated I thought that my country will never become a classical Third World country where the elected leaders systematically emasculated the instituions of government with the sole purpose of reamining in power for ever and when they go to make one of their children Head of Government or Head of State. Today we are that classical Third World country where the insitutions of government are so weak and compliant that unless something drastic happens in the next elections we are doomed to the fate joing the many countries of Asia and Africa in which our elite will be living a higher standard of living than the leaders and rich of the developed world while the bulk of the poor (75%) will be living on less than one dollar a
    day.

    But there is also a downside to this and I hope that leaders will take note. In Egypt the people were wilol to tolerate the antics of Mubarak until he made it known that he wanted to make on of his sons president of the republic. Then all hell broke loose and we know wht happened next.

    The message here is do not push the people to the point where they lose that vital Fear Factor. Once that happens no one can predict what will happen next. If you love your country you will never want to give your country that gift. So measure your words and in the words of our First Peime Minister,' a politician must know when he should go"

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  3. Dear Ktemoc,
    I enjoy reading your articles but with reference to Deuteronomy 5:9, GOD has nullified his statement that he would punish the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation. In Jeremiah 31: 29-30, He says "In those days people will no longer say 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. Instead,everyone will die for his sins, whoever eats sour grapes -his own teeth will be set on edge'
    In Ezekiel 18: 2-4, GOD asked Ezekiel "What do the people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel 'The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'? As surely as I live you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For every living soul belongs to me, father as well as the son. The soul who sins is the one who will die."
    Hope you enlightened on this
    GOD bless.

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  4. Kaytee,since you are always mentioning RPK's name,what about RPK's alleged love story of tian chua/nurul.Got any insights whether the botak is talking shit again.

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  5. Except for the few, most would find it quite beyond the pale to castigate your own parents publicly. And it is ludicrous to insist that the sins of the parents be borne by the children too.

    But in Marina's case, she's in a dilemma of sorts, all due to her own makings.

    Even during her father's time ( when he was the PM ), she's wont to come out with blistering remarks on public officials about their wrong doings, railing about the corruption, the racist policies, the high-handedness of the religious departments, the lopsided judiciary system, the juvenile shoutings in parliament, and much much more.

    All well and good....except that it leaves us with this very unreal feeling that she's doing some of sort of 'blocking out' doing some sort of gingerly dance to avoid the huge white elephant in the room.......hellooo, the buck stops at the door of the top man, right ? And who's the chief/ceo of this country ? Papa !! Good old daddy !! Not the private man her father but the top official, the CEO of the management of this country, responsible for the lives of 28 million rakyat.

    It is such a ludicrous situation, pretending that daddy as the top public official is not the PM and daddy as the top public official is not responsible for a big part of the horrible wrongs that's happening to this country, but to continue to take potshots at daddy's henchmen for carrying out daddy's orders.

    When she rails at the other public officials, it is just not kosher to conveniently leave out the top public official who happens to be Daddy O.

    In such cases, it is better she just shut up and just concentrate on her civic works like helping the aids organization which she did admirably well.

    She just can't have her cake and eat it.

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  6. Politicians would badmouth their parents and spouses.They would even let their political masters enjoy their dogs and cats too.Politics know no boundaries.

    Mahathir as a politician,can be real mean and nasty.Ask Tengku Razaleigh's supporters such as Marina Yusoff and co.They all smell dust and went bankrupt.

    Mahathir as an ordinary man on the street.His old friends and collegues and not cronies, can swear that on a personal level he is a real man and friend.Kind and helpful.

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  7. Politicians would let their masters enjoy their dogs and cats.Hahaha,AA let his master enjoyed his wife.Hehehe.No wonder he has his master by the balls.

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  8. AND SAIFUL BASTARDLY TOO.

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  9. Anon of 2:06 AM, AUGUST 24, 2012, I don't do that sort of thing - socio-cultural-politics OK, salacious gossip NOPE

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  10. kt, you have been putting out posts with lewd erotic photos in the past.
    It seems you easily forget too.

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  11. Ignoring salacious is well and good, but the fact that RPK is promoting such muck on his website against his current targets - PKR - has to be weighed in terms of his overall credibility - or lack of.

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  12. Anon of 9:46 AM, Aug 24, only on general socio-political public interests and never about the private lives of individuals

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  13. What about Anwar?
    What your many comments on a visitor?
    Actually it is useless to argue with you.

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  14. ktemoc had made lewd comments on others, besides Anwar.
    He has a problem to know what is wrong and what is right and he thinks he is always right.

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