Mr Lonesome

MM Online - Zaid’s controversial statements will alienate Malays, analysts say (selected extracts):

... Zaid Ibrahim earlier this week stirred up controversy after criticising an AirAsia X pilot for asking passengers to pray during an emergency situation.

“If he continues this way, there will be negative perception about him among Malays and Muslims,” Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) political analyst Prof Jeniri Amir told Malay Mail Online.

“If he continues making statements like these, there is no future for him as a politician”. [...]

“He has to be careful with whatever he says, because it has repercussions not only for him, but also his party. He is tarnishing not only his own image, but DAP’s too”. [...]

“You can be blunt of a maverick, but in real politics, it does not work that way—you need to have good teamwork. You should not only consider your own opinion above everyone else’s”.

[...]

Oh Ei Sun, adjunct senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said that Zaid simply does not seem to be able to “stay with a party” or adhere to party stands.

“It simply appears that he can’t stay with a party and adhere to the party’s principles in a sustainable fashion.

“This of course prejudices him in the Asian political environment where a somewhat Leninist party discipline is often expected.”

I like Zaid, and strongly support his criticism of the AirAsia pilot as being unprofessional in calling on passengers to pray during an in-flight emergency.

There's nothing wrong in praying but a professional airline captain should NOT drag the already-frightened passengers into his personal moment of spiritual needs, but rather to calm them down with his confident assurance of the crew being in complete control of the aircraft notwithstanding its technical problems.

Let me re-state the exemplary briefing by Captain Eric Moody of the British Airways (BA 9) which lost all its four engines over Java in 1982:

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress.”

Short, succinct, sufficiently informative, reassuring and superbly confident.

When an airline aircraft has an in-flight emergency, its passengers need to be assured a competent aircraft captain is in control, and not counselled by a preacher who encourages them to pray for divine intervention.

But nonetheless I reckon Prof Jeniri Amir of UNIMAS has been spot on, in that, while Zaid might have satisfied his own (socio-religio-political) conscience and to f**k with everyone else, he has somewhat (inadvertently) offended the Muslims who must have vicariously felt insulted.

Hence we saw silly defensive arguments like the flabbergasting bull positing prayers are part of an airline SOP (during an in-flight emergency? my bloody ball-bearings), let alone statements by AirAsia senior management, the Transport Minister, and various other personalities of "city hall" who all rushed pell-mell to the pilot's indefensible defence, which I suspect have been chiefly for commercial reasons.

On professional principles, Zaid has been ABSOLUTELY right to criticise that pilot. Indeed I personally do NOT wish to fly with such a man if I have my 'rathers'.

But politically Zaid attracts resentment from many Muslims, even those Malaysian Muslim pilots who would NOT have called on passengers to pray during an in-flight emergency briefing. 

As A Malay Dah-Lah-Lama, one of my visitors said:

It all boils down to being a Muslim and a non. For Muslims invoking Allah is a norm. For the nons... so eeriee ...

That is not to say that all Muslim pilots would invoke Allah swt, but I understand what A Malay Dah-Lah-Lama has meant.

On other issues, Zaid has damaged the DAP with his often-uttered lonesome policy statements, like promoting Mahathir as Pakatan Harapan's PM-designate.

Oh Ei Sun, a fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, has also been right that Zaid finds it difficult to be constrained by party policies or principles which he doesn't agree with or finds it difficult to agree with.

Zaid doesn't care two bits about political repercussions or fallout. He just says what he feels would be principled statements (and wonders why people have been upset, wakakaka).

Zaid would work well as an Independent but alas, there have been very few such 'creatures' in Malaysian politics, someone like the late CY Choy of Penang or ...

CY Choy
the 'original' Lee Lam Thye

politically invincible, loved and adored by his supporters

... Dr Tan Chee Khoon, who though not an Independent per se but President of Pekemas, was effectively one, being the only elected MP of his virtually one-man party.

Tan Sri Dr Tan Chee Khoon

acknowledged even by Perikatan/BN as 'Mr Opposition' 

Sadly, with money-politics today, Independents are now extinct in Peninsula Malaysia.

As I have often said, I like Zaid but his brand of politics doesn't gel with Malays and even some non-Malays in Malaysia. They are too conservative (in other words, immature, wakakaka) for Zaid's political principles of blunt truth.

But Zaid, bravo and keep on fighting.