COMMENT A practice that introduces much confusion into present-day political discussion is that of historical body-snatching.

Whenever some event or anniversary comes round, commentators and others of their ilk may conjure up the memory of a inspiring leader or statesman for the benefit of some contemporary cause or for the clarification of a raging issue.

Not infrequently, this appropriation is misconceived and causes confusion.

Ideas have consequences; a muddled one can lead to sorry consequences.

A controversial political commentator has urged Umno leaders to emulate the example of Mahatma Gandhi and thus bring change to the party which he implies has become corrupt and flabby.

He cited Gandhi’s penchant of travelling in third class train compartments as an example of the Indian independence leader’s abstention from luxury and taste for plain living.

Presumably, this abstemiousness on Gandhi’s part would help Umno leaders cut down on personal extravagance and avoid corrupt practices.

Because this matter was in the news recently, a safer example to emulate where abstention from extravagance is concerned would have been Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s.

Joko, fondly known as Jokowi, and his wife flew economy class from Jakarta to Singapore recently to witness their son’s high school graduation.          

Even Jokowi’s example of eschewing extravagance was not exemplary enough because he stayed in a five-star hotel in swank Orchard Road while in the city state.

Still, for a head of state to travel on economy class for a personal matter was highly commendable practice, especially in these times of conspicuous consumption by the rich and powerful.

The bit about Jokowi’s preference for plush accommodation was a minor blemish in an otherwise sterling example of cost-conscious living.

Unbeknownst to his followers, Gandhi’s preference for working class travel arrangements was ostentatious more than substantive.

“Do you know how much it costs to keep Bapu (Gandhi) in poverty?” vented one Congress party luminary when talking about the Mahatma’s tastes in travel.

Advance clean-up

What that leader was referring to was the effort put in by a phalanx of orderlies who would in advance clean-up the third class compartment for which a ticket had been purchased by Gandhi.

Similar advance work on his accommodation at places he stayed on his travels around India were de rigueur during the Mahatma’s peregrinations.

Often, the accommodation was in residences belonging to the rich, such as the founder of Tata business group, J D Birla.

Even on occasion the advance arrangements for Gandhi entailed sorting out the particular goat whose milk was served to the Mahatma at breakfast.

Given Gandhi’s obsession with control of the body, diet and the need to eliminate sexual desire, care was taken that the goat selected was not concupiscent.

Given knowledge of these details, one has necessarily to be careful about citing the Mahatma as an example of frugal living by a leader.

More nearly, he belonged to an identifiable Indian type - the Hindu renunciate - and an upper-caste one at that.  

This is not an effort to cut down to size a historical figure; it is merely to urge caution when engaging in the practice of historical body-snatching.

With so much information obtainable via the internet, it is not too difficult these days to separate the reality from the image of iconic leaders.

This is more easily done when the leader lives in contemporaneous time, as is the case with Recep Tayyip Erdogan ( left in photo ), the president of Turkey.

We have taken to calling the faction in PAS that is regarded as progressives as ‘Erdogans’ to equate them with the man who is supposed to be an Islamist in his creed while being democratic in his political convictions.

Well, Erdogan may have started out in his political career as a democratic  Islamist but after the events of the last three years in Turkish politics, one would be hard put to call him that.

More than 70 journalists languish in Turkish prisons. The country  ranks near the bottom of the world in media freedom, hovering around countries like Russia and Venezuela.

Agenda more religious than liberal

Increasingly, Erdogan's critics refer to a remark he made when he was mayor of  Istanbul in the 1990s - “Democracy is a train that takes you to your destination, and then you get off” - as proof that his agenda is more religious than liberal.

Recent developments in Turkey render decidedly suspect the application of the term ‘Erodgans’ to the progressives in PAS, unless of course analysts intend it as ironic - and that, too, in a predictive sense.

Surely they don’t, which is why it’s best to drop the term with respect to the faction in PAS that is said to be in opposition to the party’s conservative wing.

These days to describe politicians who are Islamic in creed and democratic in political practice as ‘Erdogans’ is to ignore the authoritarian conduct of President Erdogan in Turkish politics.

True, he has been triumphant at the polls but he has diminished his stature as an Islamist democrat.

TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for more than four decades. A sobering discovery has been that those who protest the loudest tend to replicate the faults they revile in others.