COMMENT As I sat before a hot plate of curry mee for dinner, the friend I was meeting with over the meal asked me how it is possible for me to still enjoy my job.

“Because it’s interesting,” I said. He was absolutely convinced that there was nothing interesting about politics.

“It’s a circus, don’t you get tired?” he persists.

“What is a circus for you is interesting for me,” I retort.

It is a rather common notion that politics is a circus, and this is not limited to Malaysia alone. Many journalists would make up a crowd that would be the first to call politics “dirty” or “a circus”, if ever we ask for a show of hands.

But I, fortunately or unfortunately, will not be the one who will raise my hand to the same. The word politics itself comes with a negative connotation and thus politicians generally are seen with a general sense of hesitance and caution by the public.

They are an easy target for our frustrations on national policies or happenings in the country. It is almost too convenient, and I stress this, to lay the blame at the feet of politicians alone for our social troubles.

Politicians that we have today in the administration or opposition benches are a fair reflection of us, the community and the society. We had elected them there, and gave them the space and authority to become public figures. They are, as aptly put, our representatives.

Detest politicians and we detest our choices

If we detest these politicians, we are also detesting our choices. Blaming them would not solve any problem that we have. It has been proven that despite our misgivings, Malaysians have, one way or another, consistently managed to put someone stupid, overconfident, cocky, or racist persons in offices and as public figures.

Malaysia is a work in progress, we are far from the end product. In fact, there might never be an end product, but merely a continuous building process. Democracy is a noisy space, and we are all participants in this system, not the politicians alone.

That is why I deem it rather “interesting” to have the kind of politics that we have in this country. It is a reflection of the amount of work we have to do in order to get to our promised land, and also, a reflection of how many people with bigoted mindsets we still have walking among us.

It is a problem with the education system, and not politics, and has left us in this lurch. Politics is merely exposing the rampant failings of a system in which rewards and achievements are based on marks and not talent and ability.

Politicians and past leaders should take the brunt for introducing and legislating education-related policies that have clearly set us backwards, rather than forward, when it comes to intellectual thinking.

But the larger share of the blame has to come from the people themselves. A large majority of people I have met in my life, even some family members, still profess to the idea that greater grades make you a more “educated” person.

Chasing expensive, professional degrees

This is a rampant problem in our society, that we are to blame for. How many parents send their children only for engineering and medical courses, no matter how expensive? They motivate more and more private healthcare colleges to mushroom in the country, which charge exorbitant fees despite having little track record.

Due to our pertinent belief that “any degree” would be good enough to put our children in good stead, we are contributing to more and more ambitious colleges set up by businesspeople ready to reap profits, instead of pursuing standout education standards.

Due to our obsession with the science stream and assumptions that anything related to science is ultimately greater than arts, we are left with a pathetic, creative industry in this country, which, at most times, does nothing more than to conform the government’s propaganda and rarely ventures into more bold territories.

One bad education policy during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s tenure as prime minister - a one-dimensional policy designed to create more “expertise” in order to drive up economic value instead of developing a talent capital - has left us in this terrible state.

But since then, the people, even, those clamouring for change, have emphasised and re-emphasised this policy, creating a new generation of people who conform to that idea without realising that that was where our core problems started.

Degrees, qualifications and accolades without a talent capital create nothing more than highly-paid skilled labour, rather than intellectuals. It is not only the quality of politicians that is left wanting, it is also the quality of professors, lawyers, judges, police officers, civil servants and doctors.

An opposition politician recently confirmed this further by appearing to ridicule the nursing degree offered to a straight As STPM student who had applied for a medicine course. This is not a problem limited to nursing, but various other courses that are considered for the “less intelligent” people.

Everyone with a knack for study and is able to score As in at least a couple of subjects is brainwashed to study in the science stream, regardless of his or her passion. In schools, the word remains true - the smart ones go to science stream, the stupid ones go to the arts stream.

It is a problem across the board. It is a problem with our general education standards, and not politics alone. Politics is a consequence of our bereft educational standards.

Academic achievements no longer offer us a good barometer on a person’s maturity of thoughts and arguments. We have seen politicians with doctorates who speak as though they had just woken up from a deep slumber and did not have time to even read a brief on the issue they are to touch upon.

Professors with glittering CVs, but insipid...

We have seen professors with a glittering CVs offering arguments that are as shallow and insipid as somebody who had just been introduced to a history subject. The list goes on.

Political maturity can only be achieved through education. This change will not come through general elections, or even in a couple of years. This is about changing an entire generation.

It is doable. All we need is a cycle, one cycle of good policies that can transform all the policies, methods, and indoctrination we suffer from in schools, and will breed a new generation of more evolved Malaysians.

The stupidity and the circus we see today is part of this process towards that maturity. Part of the problem is the failure of Malaysians to see past the political failures alone, and their tendency to lean incredibly on one side of political divide at any point of time.

You can change an entire line-up of politicians, but you will end up getting the same result. I consider the whole “circus” as “entertaining” because, no matter how evolved we think we are compared with the politicians we ourselves had elected, we need to continue to participate in the process. Otherwise, there is no achieving the change we desire.

Malaysians must start respecting the fact that the people of Kinabatangan had voted in Bung Mokhtar Radin. Yes, we love to criticise him and his statements, but judging Kinabatangan the folk for voting in Bung Mokhtar is not your right.

With Malaysia turning 57, I hope Malaysians can stop becoming armchair critics and start understanding why so many of us make different political choices. Until the day comes when we rationalise and understand why those in Kinabatangan had voted for Bung Mokhtar, we can never enforce change.

Because, in our attempts to educate others, we must first educate ourselves. And education doesn’t stop with textbooks in school, or a doctorate from a British university.

RAM ANAND is a member of the Malaysiakini Team.