Who has been the ingrate?

Malaysiakini - Don't repeat 'ingrates' remark, MIC tells Zahid

defence ministers are NOT entitled nor supposed to wear armed forces uniforms - also pompous of him to tag he's a menteri

Dr S Subramaniam, a better minister than many others in the cabinet, chided Ahmad Zahid for categorizing Chinese who voted DAP as 'ingrates' and advised him against using that remarks on Indians in Teluk Intan (TI).

Dr Subramanian gave good reasons for Ahmad Zahid not to antagonize non-Malay voters which could jeopardize the BN candidate's prospects in the by-election at the end of this month, just a mere 4 days away.

But Dr Subra has wasted his breath because Ahmad Zahid had not directed his patronizing remarks against the Chinese to the Chinese.

For a start, Ahmad Zahid knows most of the Chinese in TI will be voting for the DAP, though in TI there are a significant number of older Chinese who will vote for the Gerakan candidate Mah because of the BN candidate's local family connections and name.

If the DAP can exploit Zahid's rude and patronizing remarks against the Chinese, the party can possibly swing some of the pro-Mah voters across. In that Dr Subra has been correct ... but as I have said, Zahid didn't and won't give a sh*t about Mah losing some votes because of his 'ingrates' remarks.

Secondly, 'gratitude' is a word that won't find traction with the Chinese. I am not just talking about the Chinese being pissed off with the UMNO-led government's policies, alleged corrupt practice and cronyism.

For Zahid to realize the full impact of his calling a group of people or even an individual 'ingrates' and thus to achieve the desired outcome, his targeted recipients need to have a feudal mindset where they would feel obliged or compelled to owe allegiance to their 'liege lord' and thus would be guilty of not being 'grateful' to their 'liege lord' if they had voted for someone other than their due allegiance, which in the political sense would be to the BN (but effectively UMNO) government.

In a feudalistic world, the 'liege lord' hands out various forms of largesse to their vassals and serfs who then should be suitably 'grateful', even though in the modern democratic world the so-called lord's generosity draws on taxpayers' money.

Thus in Malaysia, for recipients of government largesse to be suitably 'grateful' they have to be largely ignorant about the concept of people's representatives in a democratically elected government and the administrative process, to wit, that government assets are actually owned by the rakyat and the government managing such assets are nothing more than administrators (or servants) only, nominated (or hired) by the rakyat for a period of five years, or ...

... the recipients possess a highly indoctrinated state of belief that they exist within a feudalistic structure where the government is the 'liege lord' and they, the voters, are the serfs.

Chinese were once in one of the most feudalistic societies in the world, but today Chinese Malaysians like most of their overseas modern ethnic counterparts have stopped believing in feudalism, in fact ages ago.

Who did you serfs vote for?
But do we have voting rights, my Lord?
Yes, you have the right to vote for me as your liege lord.

wakakaka

Thus the Chinese among the ethnic groups in Malaysia are probably least likely to subscribe to the feudal concept of being 'grateful' to the authority.

Ahmad Zahid knows that too.

If so, then why has he made that seemingly worthless comment?

His message was really meant for the Heartland where his pretend-anger (in campaigning for Mah) would have found resonance with his target audience, well at least among the more conservative factions. And if those bloody Chinese have been deemed 'ungrateful' for voting DAP instead of the BN government, what more for orang kita?

Was he helping Mah then? I have my doubts as I suspect he has taken the occasion to buttress his own position within UMNO, and which has worried Dr Subra enough to issue his public advice to Zahid.

Today Ahmad Zahid has become the post powerful UMNO VP in a mere 15 years after he had had his wrist slapped and buttocks caned for being naughty in 1998, wakakaka.

But he did not and could not become the most powerful UMNO VP through party pedigrees like Najib, Hishamuddin, KJ and Mukriz.

greatest threat to KJ, wakakaka

Thus he has to be the most rightwing UMNO warlord so as to warm the cockles of the conservative elements within his party. And he obviously has succeeded.

In fact he has been following the party-political footsteps of his erstwhile mentor, wakakaka, who too had taken a rightwing approach during his time in UMNO but who, alas, now languishes outside UMNO.

Note how Zahid played the role of the rampaging rightwing bull in the 'celaka' china* shop when Najib and Hishamuddin were both attempting to hose down the rightwing flame.

* excuse the pun - to understand what the English idiom means, look at picture below

Ahmad Zahid knows he is a mere two heartbeats from being the president of UMNO and by default the PM of Malaysia. I suspect he'll continue to be as rightwing as he possibly can, as Dr Mahathir, Anwar Ibrahim and Najib had been, wakakaka, during their respective ascendancy up the UMNO hierarchy.

The question we love to ask is: Will Zahid make the same mistake as he did in 1998 of being an 'ingrate', wakakaka, when he became party to his erstwhile mentor's impatient and premature move to seize the top position from his political mentor-godfather Dr Mahathir?

Datuk, there's no one more 'loyal' than a Malay - that's our culture
Datuk, you're absolutely spot on

wakakaka

aisehman, dua orang Kedah

wakakaka

And if he does, will Najib be as wily and deadly effective as Dr Mahathir in neutralizing the 'ungrateful' would-be kings?