COMMENT | An East Malaysian pachyderm
COMMENT | The silly season in Malaysian politics continues - is there any other kind of season?
First, the butting of heads between Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim reached an impasse, with neither giving ground, for all the heave and huff, push and shove.
It is like the Malaysian folk-tale – two bull elephants, trumpeting their right to lead the herd, locking tusks and heads, while the mousedeer (Random thought: why isn’t the plural of “mousedeer” “micedeer”?) and all other creatures of the jungle flee to avoid being trampled in the tussle.
With a deadlock, what did the old bull, Dr Mahathir do? He retreated and nominated a pygmy elephant from Sabah to lead the herd. He also trotted out his hoary paranoia that the Chinese controlled all the towns in the country.
He evoked a vision of a few poor Malay GLC chairpersons and directors, who sit isolated and besieged in their penthouse boardrooms...
COMMENT | The silly season in Malaysian politics continues - is there any other kind of season?
First, the butting of heads between Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim reached an impasse, with neither giving ground, for all the heave and huff, push and shove.
It is like the Malaysian folk-tale – two bull elephants, trumpeting their right to lead the herd, locking tusks and heads, while the mousedeer (Random thought: why isn’t the plural of “mousedeer” “micedeer”?) and all other creatures of the jungle flee to avoid being trampled in the tussle.
With a deadlock, what did the old bull, Dr Mahathir do? He retreated and nominated a pygmy elephant from Sabah to lead the herd. He also trotted out his hoary paranoia that the Chinese controlled all the towns in the country.
He evoked a vision of a few poor Malay GLC chairpersons and directors, who sit isolated and besieged in their penthouse boardrooms atop towering skyscrapers spearing the skyline of Kuala Lumpur, while Chinese tycoons in other sky-high boardrooms are buying and selling everything in sight, and down on the streets and in shop-houses, grotty and new, the Chinese are hustling and bustling and buying and selling everything in sight.
I guess that’s why the Chinese don’t need help from the government. We are all rich, 'tai kohs' with lucrative expanding turfs.
I call it a Trumpism, a thoughtless belief strongly held and flying in the face of reality. Because on any day, in any neighbourhood of any city, you will see Malaysians of all races hustling and bustling to survive, to get their heads well above the ever-rising financial floodwaters. No one race is having it easy - only those who have a 'jalan' to those who have the power to say “Yes.”
Getting back to Mahathir’s proposal that Shafie Apdal be Pakatan Harapan’s candidate to be PM, that only served to emphasise that Harapan is a fractured coalition that will take a long time to heal, if ever. It will be limping badly for quite a while.
What is Anwar to do? He needs the support of East Malaysia to muster a mandate.
DAP and Amanah, barely begun in their declared intention of mending the fence between Mahathir and Anwar, could only hold off taking a stance, politely aware of Shafie’s sterling qualities as a leader, but they will leave a decision to the Harapan presidential council… later.
The initial reaction from Sarawak was not encouraging. Parti Rakyat Sarawak president James Masing didn’t want anything to do with the untenable idea that an East Malaysian could head the government. A realist or a defeatist?
The suggestion prompted a mixed metaphor from Sarawak’s People Aspiration Party president Lina Soo: “If Dr Mahathir wishes to throw the cat amongst the pigeons with his call for Shafie to be the next prime minister, it is not likely it will make any splash." (I guess it could if it was the rainy season in Sarawak.)
I reserve my laughs for Soo’s demands and her support of Shafie (above) as PM.
Restoring Sarawak and Sabah’s rights over oil and gas – okay, it’s a long-standing grievance and rallying cry for East Malaysian politicians.
Returning Labuan to Sabah – that’s the primal instinct in mankind (or should I say “personkind”?), which is holding onto or acquiring more territory. Not unlike a dog taken out for a walk and marking at several spots with a redolent pee, or Mongol hordes sweeping into Eastern Europe, or Alexander leading the Greeks to take over India. No difference, just territorial hoarding. This land is my land, your land is my land.
What about the thought of relocating one million illegal immigrants from Sabah to Penang and Kedah? That’s a gem of an idea. If it were to come to pass, it wouldn’t just be a cat among pigeons, it will be a musang in the hen-house, a tiger in the cow-shed or goat-pen.
The one million illegal immigrants – are they foreigners, and if so, why relocate them to Penang and Kedah? Or, if they were people originally from Penang and Kedah, what was the allure of Sabah for people of these two particular states?
The man who is the focus of all this talk, Shafie, has modestly not responded to the bestowing of the mantle by Mahathir. No need, lah, to be immodest when others are singing fulsome praise of you.
THOR KAH HOONG is a veteran journalist.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
