COMMENT | Politicians got talent? From swaying hips to singing 'Kau Ilhamku'?

COMMENT | I first walked into the newsroom in the midst of the pandemic, so my earliest days at Malaysiakini can all be traced back through WhatsApp texts - from advice to hesitant banter - as I tested the waters with colleagues.

Often, I am reminded by sub-editors and more senior journalists that this is a vastly different world from when they started in the industry. For one thing, they had to be in the office every day.

Even the interns and trainees who came after my cohort saw the action that came with the job much more quickly than I ever did in my first few months working within lockdown conditions.

This went on for almost a year until our strictest of standard operating procedures were lifted earlier this year. We’ve since resumed returning to the office, with the newsroom being at its fullest just last week, right before many embarked on their journeys to their designated states for the general election.

Despite returning to the office, workplace interactions are often still heavily reliant on WhatsApp usage - sometimes even at the office itself.

On a normal day, our newsroom is akin to a library, with the occasional break of giggles from some and the odd phone calls being made on a loudspeaker.

Yesterday, my phone pinged during my shift. Someone had sent the work group a video that prompted those who covered the previous general election to cringe.

The video shows outgoing Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz (above) singing the Malay rock classic ‘Kau Ilhamku’, made famous by singer Man Bai, while canvassing in a food court.

Aghast, I watched the video, only to discover a different one shared by an editor of yet another horrifying video done by a band full of CEOs from the GLC world from the 2018 election - in what was a show of support for then-prime minister now-incarcerated Najib Abdul Razak.

Zafrul sang again with a host of other much less ‘gifted’ individuals - if you can call it that.

I’m not massively blown away by his ‘talent’; he was reading the lyrics off his phone in the first video and was a tad bit nasal for my liking, but he’s unlikely to bomb at an open mic night, that’s for sure.

On the other end of the political spectrum lies incumbent assemblypersons Zairil Khir Johari’s (Tanjong Bunga) and Syerleena Abdul Rashid's (Seri Delima) rock band Priwayat.

"We are not a novelty band. In fact, it is merely a coincidence that Syerleena and I are both politicians.

"As with our other band members, we all have day jobs. But when we are with the band, I am just Zai the keyboardist," Zairil told Malaysiakini in 2020.

For me, the real shocker of a hidden talent this month actually came from Tambun hopeful Ahmad Faizal Azumu (better known as Peja), where, on my Twitter feed, a viral video of him rhythmically swaying his hips appeared as he was spotted following a Zumba class on the campaign trail.

Good on him, I guess. I can hardly get the macarena right these days. Do I start with my hands on my hips? Can someone get me a tutorial?

I love the arts, but whatever impression made was almost immediately dampened by reminders of what the likes of Zafrul and Peja have done for this country, being complicit in a government that, for a good two years, masqueraded as ‘saviours’ of our nation during the Covid-19 pandemic.

For a start, when was the last time either of those two did anything good for the entertainment industry? During the pandemic, we saw the likes of the late Adibah Noor - who died in June - starved of their livelihoods and music venues shut down, never to be seen again.

Like many things, the government propped up the economy with finger-in-the-dam solutions: one-off cash-outs, fishy grants, and opportunities entangled with loopholes.

And please, I beg you not to send me another viral video of Peja where he was acting - he appeared to be chasing off a goon for harassing a female character.

Advice for the duo: maybe lose the day job and step into the shoes of the rakyat marhaen.

It did, however, prompt the question: Has a Malaysian politician ever won from a catchy campaign tune or a charming stage performance outside of the formulaic ceramah?

Cool Britannia

Yes, yes. Winning a race like this may require much more than a song sung or the locking and popping of joints, but there is something infectious about music - that I feel has the power to move people to the ballot box.

Take, for example, Britain’s Tony Blair and his Labour government of 10 years. By the time Blair grew into prominence within his party around 1994 as its leader, the Labour Party had been cast into the wilderness for many years by party infighting that is often seen in leftist parties.

Further, it was bogged down by the traumatic power cuts, oil crises and political instability of the 1970s - which set the stage for Margaret Thatcher’s Britain.

The party, which engineered the country’s National Health Service (NHS) in the 1940s, was at a crossroads to change its image and return to the masses with a new face at the helm.

It started at snail's pace during Neil Kinnock’s term, refashioning the party logo. When Blair took over the party following the death of his predecessor John Smith, further changes were made. This included the amendment of the controversial Clause IV in its constitution - which saw a break from its socialist past.

This new wave of change within the party continued with Blair. This was also the age that saw many a boyband, Britpop battles between Oasis and Blur, and a lot of Hugh Grant.

Blair himself had his talents as a guitar player, with his previously struggling party transformed into the face of this new Cool Britannia. He eventually won with the biggest majority in Britain’s political history.

I could be wrong but I personally felt what really did it for his 1997 landslide, on top of everything else, was having D:Ream’s ’Things Can Only Get Better’ as the song for his bid to be prime minister.

This, I must confess, is my all-time favourite political campaign song. An uplifting tune that starts off with some gospel-like acapella before breaking into a dance-pop beat, the song became associated with great times and positivity and is awfully fun to dance to.

It happened to be the career highlight of a band that alienated its club fanbase and quickly fell to ubiquity after ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ shot to success.

“We knew we had something, but it took a year to get the song right. Our producer, Tom Frederikse, built it up with choirs until it sounded like a stadium full of people singing,” said singer-songwriter Peter Cunnah, adding that the single eventually spent four weeks at No 1 on the charts.

“Three years later, the band was dead and buried, but the Labour Party suddenly asked if they could use the song as their 1997 election tune.

“After 18 years of the Tory government, the song captured the prevailing wind of change and got back into the Top 20. I sang it at two or three rallies - to politicians who couldn’t dance.

“When Labour won, I got a bearhug from (Blair’s press secretary) Alastair Campbell. It hurt - he’s a big man. I met Tony Blair several times. He plays the guitar and he loved the song. He was always asking me what the chords were,” singer-songwriter Peter Cunnah from D:Ream was quoted as saying.

The song is now often associated with Blair’s neoliberal ‘New Labour’ faction.

‘Standing in the Eyes of the World’

For sure, in Malaysia, there have been some cringe-inducing political music videos over the years - the dated karaoke-style video of MCA’s ’Love is in the Air’, ’Beribu-ribu Tahniah’ by Indian playback singer Dheephan Chakkravarthy for MIC and most recently, Selangor state representatives did a remake of ’Standing in the Eyes of the World’ alongside 1990s icon Ella.

There is also the heartfelt ’Reformasi’ by singer and PKR supporter Yasin Sulaiman - who was in the spotlight earlier this year after he narrowly dodged the gallows.

I was there standing on a field adjacent to Melawati Mall when PKR’s rapper-turned-politician Altimet unveiled ‘Aduh Malaysia (Sakau Sakau Sakau)’ - a recent campaign song composed ahead of the election - which drones on at a pace that makes me want to drag my feet, sighing as I go.

“Hoi hoi ya hoi

Siapa sokong penyamun (Who supports thieves?)

Bangun yang lama mengelamun (Wake up those who have long been sleeping)

Duit kau aku semua dia sapu (He took both your money and mine)”

It just doesn’t feel like a song meant for a winning election campaign, even if it rightly calls out corruption.

Even then, I will concede that catchy campaign song aside, the most glaring part of Blair’s legacy will forever be his days as a war criminal in the Iraq war, leaving a trail of death and political destruction as he went.

Similar to Peja and Zafrul, no catchy song can wipe a blood-stained slate clean.

What say you, voting readers of Malaysiakini? Will you be swayed by Peja’s hips in Tambun or by crooner Zafrul in Kuala Selangor?

ALENA NADIA is a member of the Malaysiakini team.

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