Malaysiakini

readers and writers are prone to blame the government for every ill including our 'suffocating mediocrity' rather than looking inward at the limitations of our own countrymen.

It is necessary to remember the famous quote by Joseph de Maistre (1753 -1821) written on Aug 15, 1811: "Every country has the government it deserves".

The elites and politicians are same everywhere. Their overarching objective is to win office and secure power ostensibly (under rules of the present game) by consent of the governed.

To do that, Nikita Khrushchev once told American reporters, they would even promise to build bridges even where there are no rivers. They would tap on the inner impulses, the fears and insecurities of their constituents to get the requisite support.

When any particular government's policies are racist, religious or corrupt, it is only because the majority of its supporters or voters support these programmes and are more moved by these considerations rather than abstract values of equality, fairness, public service, transparency and accountability of governance.

How many politicians will venture to fight for the right and moral cause when it is unpopular and will get him out of office? Why expect more when being humans they are driven by same passions for power, prestige and wealth to be attained through the political profession?

When government politicians could use simple digestible slogans of ' bersih, cekap dan amanah ' (clean, efficient and trustworthy) or 'Look East' or 'Buy British last' - when even opposition leaders can reduce everything to a simple numerical formula of 'Yes to 1957, No to 911 and 929' - when patriotic songs and knee jerk national service programme would supposedly instill patriotism and unity - it simply reflects what our politicians adjudge, and rightly so in my view, the level of their people's comprehension.

Sure, letter writer Kim Quek is right that from a psychological point of view the phenomenon of mega-symbols can be interpreted as a "reflex of inferiority complex" to which the question must be asked whose inferiority complex is concerned here the leaders or the led?

I would contend the latter. The whole idea is to direct constituents' focus on tall and fanciful buildings and projects, feats like conquering the English Channel, Everest, South Pole by the 'Boleh' spirit so that in our state and feeling of underachievement in need of heroes and accolades, we can vicariously feel pride in national accomplishment whilst forgetting the excesses or abuse or private interests behind them.

Kim Quek might not be so impressed, but the likes of him is minority and it is the majority votes delivering power and position that count. The consistent record of over two-third majority accomplished by BN is testimony.

Those in the opposition cannot seize higher moral ground because their ultimate objective and tactics are no better. That is why the likelihood is that BN may well again triumph in the next election being a "known devil" and possibly the lesser one compared to the others.

Whilst the more prominent amongst opposition parties seeks to exploit religious sentiments to galvanise support for political power and even come out with two separate manifestos, the lesser ones hem and haw over electoral pact, and engage in equivocation as to whether they support the first's agenda.

I do not agree with Silas Marner when he rebutted the quote of people deserving their governments by saying that it referred only to "people who had been given a reasonably fair amount of truthful information on the choices before them" of which the Malaysian people have been denied that right.

We do not have choices because most of those amongst us who join political parties on either side of the divide depending on political ideology do so not to act as trustees for people's interest when they come to power but for their own private interests.

For the majority of aspiring politicians, the ideology may be different but not the subterranean private agenda. Hence, there is not much choice.

The dissemination of disinformation and propaganda by mainstream media or state propaganda ought not to constitute an excuse to deprive people from accessing alternative sources of correct information in this age of internet and where the newsstands are replete with magazines and journals taking a critically objective stance on issues.

But alas many of us can neither read nor understand what's written in there. Is the government, a convenient scapegoat, to be wholly blamed again for perpetuating a below average quality of education system? Have parents no responsibility at all in choice of schools and home education?

Do not adults have a responsibility to educate ourselves, read and think more and discuss with others?

In this connection, I would think that malaysiakini has an important role to play in not only providing alternative news but encouraging public discourse and debate which is the first step to enlightening the general public so that they could deliver an informed vote in the distant future.

It is sheer hypocrisy for many of us to disparage leaders and officialdom for corruption and cronyism when privately and individually, our main grouse is that we do not belong to the select circle of cronies and that there is no equitable distribution of the spoils of largesse and patronage beyond that circle.

Many "uprighteous" fellow countrymen I know who have no qualms in criticising the government's alleged cronyism are privately looking with alacrity for connections to politicians for plump jobs.

Educated professionals who decry corruption have no reservations to make the percentage on sharing basis with officers of banks and trust and funds companies to raise money for paying businessmen.

Those who condemn market rigging are the first to buy shares from insider information.

Malaysians cannot depend on politicians for salvation whatever their political shades or ideology. Theirs is not to bring beneficence to people or country but to approach every question with an open mouth than mind in advancement of private interest and power.

Whilst this is true, we ought not to continue deluding ourselves into thinking that the government is the main culprit behind every ill in the body politic when we as a people are equally if not more culpable as gauged by the racial, religious or monetary considerations underlying our actions including delivery of votes.