COMMENT | Time to move on from Trump trauma
COMMENT | I won’t forget the scenes 12 years ago when Barrack Obama (above) was sworn in as US President. It was so symbolic that a black man had risen to the top job in a nation whose initial rise was founded on the genocide of Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans.
It was a watershed moment and I kept hearing the words of Martin Luther King - "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Yet, when I couldn’t sleep two nights ago as the rabble-rousing Donald Trump officially “handed over” the US presidency to Joe Biden, I reminded myself of the need for a reality check.
After all, Obama, for all his eloquence and ability to make us dream, was often stalemated by the Republican-dominated Congress. Worse still, it was clear that Trump’s election was a right-wing backlash and provided an outlet for more open expressions of racism and hate...
COMMENT | I won’t forget the scenes 12 years ago when Barrack Obama (above) was sworn in as US President. It was so symbolic that a black man had risen to the top job in a nation whose initial rise was founded on the genocide of Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans.
It was a watershed moment and I kept hearing the words of Martin Luther King - "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Yet, when I couldn’t sleep two nights ago as the rabble-rousing Donald Trump officially “handed over” the US presidency to Joe Biden, I reminded myself of the need for a reality check.
After all, Obama, for all his eloquence and ability to make us dream, was often stalemated by the Republican-dominated Congress. Worse still, it was clear that Trump’s election was a right-wing backlash and provided an outlet for more open expressions of racism and hate.
Still, the excitement from the other side of the world was palpable as my college buddy from Virginia has been sending out the the occasional hourly countdown to inauguration ever since Biden got the electoral college numbers in November, while my sister in Maryland and six other US cousins who voted, have also been in jubilant mood.
As I listened to Biden’s speech, the overwhelming feeling was one of relief and there were a few moments of inspiration and emotion too. Here was a man bearing a message of unity with liberal values that emphasise acceptance, tolerance and diversity.
He didn’t run away from the polarisation of Trump’s legacy. Aside from over 400,000 Covid-19 fatalities from a disease that Trump brushed off, the US is dealing with “business closures, a threatened environment, urgent cries for racial justice and resurgence in political extremism, white supremacy and domestic terrorism,” said Biden.
"Without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury," the 78-year-old said. "No progress, only exhausting outrage. No nation, only a state of chaos."
Sound familiar? Sounds like our political leaders could do with a lesson or two - although of course Joe Biden has the added moral advantage of an actual election triumph.
I think Biden struck the right tone, and that already puts him leagues ahead of the belligerent and oft deluded Trump. In a world in which identity politics are tearing at our core, we need statesmen. Not someone who plays the blame game and targets minorities.
Biden has a lot to fix, but bringing the US back to the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organisation are also positive steps. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing how Biden squares up to Putin and China.
Of course, I couldn’t hide my amusement when my son Elesh expressed his regret that it wasn’t the more progressive Bernie Sanders being sworn in instead of Biden.
“That would have been a real shake-up of the establishment – in a good way,” he said.
Alas, I told my son, if Sanders had beaten Biden to the Democratic nomination, he would have lost to Trump for the grand prize. That’s often the decision we have to make – a pragmatic one over an idealistic one.
“It seems strange that having socialist ideas, like free or low-cost access to medical treatment for the poor, is such a handicap for Bernie,” he persisted.
“You, got me son,” I replied.
“As a member of the middle class, I still marvel at the ability of rich people to convince the poor that policies that are in their best interests are evil. But there you go – misdirection is one of the fundamental tools of politicians," I said.
That’s why the poor bumiputeras in Malaysia still keep voting for the party that stole from them – because they are fooled by the false sentiment that the same people who have kept them poor are defending their cultural and religious rights against vague and imaginary threats.
The thing is though, as fascinating as the US scene is, it’s not going to impact directly on our lives. While there are some mirrors between the two countries’ problems, they have taken the right step to healing.
We are going around in circles and will continue to do so for some time more, given that we need to wait for the Covid-19 vaccines to arrive, to be widely distributed and then to bring down the number of transmissions. Then, end the Emergency and most likely hold early elections to end the long drawn-out stalemate in Parliament.
In the end, the task at hand is restoring our own battered democracy, which is now tightly under lock and key – thanks to the Emergency Declaration.
The 2018 general election taught us Malaysians that while a triumph at the polls is important, it is not the time to sit back and rest on our laurels. True progress is a long-haul battle with two steps forward and sometimes followed by three steps back.
I have no doubt that history will one day look at this current phase of Malaysian socio-political development with the contempt it deserves. The challenge for us is to be ready when the curtain is finally lifted.
MARTIN VENGADESAN is a Malaysiakini team member.
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