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Hypocrisy and cowardice of the #UndiRosak backlash

COMMENT | The vile misogynistic attacks by some supposed Pakatan Harapan supporters against writer and activist Maryam Lee, a young woman proponent of the #UndiRosak movement reveal the ignorance, hypocrisy and cowardice of these "cyber warriors".

These cybertroopers (who are paid peanuts to stomp on dissident views) do not seem to be able to make out the real threats to Harapan votes from mere dissent. Do they really think that the #UndiRosak campaign is so strong that it threatens Harapan? Don’t they know what is the biggest threat to Harapan?

The looming hazard to the opposition coalition – and one that has not existed since 2008 – is the breakup of the opposition alliance formed since 1990. The electoral pact that has enabled one-to-one battles since 1990 does not exist anymore, ever since the former Pakatan Rakyat kicked PAS out of its pact in 2015. The opposition coalition then had to explain to its supporters how this came about after the disastrous “Kajang Move”.

It is this new scenario at GE14 with three-cornered and multi-cornered fights all over the place which is the gift Harapan has presented Prime Minister Najib Razak and BN. This is what the ignorant Harapan mercenaries cannot see while they cast their vile attacks upon the #UndiRosak proponents. The number of spoiled votes in GE14 will be infinitesimal compared to the seats BN will gain through the split to the opposition votes.

This is what genuine democrats should be railing about and not the righteous dissent by the #UndiRosak knights over the betrayal of the Reformasi movement.

Reformasi supporters losing faith

The second biggest threat to Harapan is the loss of faith of their erstwhile Reformasi supporters after they chose to opportunistically embrace the most infamous autocrat in Malaysian history as their PM elect.

As I warned when Harapan first embraced former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, they must now also embrace all the scandals of his term in office. It is anybody’s guess how many voters of the Reformasi generation will now vote Harapan, how many who were not too committed might even swing to BN and how many will cast spoilt votes.

The third biggest threat to Harapan is the existence of three million or so apathetic young voters who have not even bothered to register to vote. If we want to believe that most young voters would tend to be anti-establishment and vote for change, then there is this pool of potential but disengaged Harapan voters.

Instead of wasting their energies and exposing their misogynistic, racist and ignorant supporters, Harapan supporters would do better to try to register more of these potential young voters.

Hypocrisy of the crypto-Mahathiristas

Ever since the crypto-Mahathiristas have come out of the closet, it has opened our eyes to the reality of voting patterns, as ultimately, the general election involves the secret ballot. Who is to know how people actually vote at the ballot box?

We know from the confessions of the crypto-Mahathiristas who include the top leaders of Harapan that “during Mahathir’s term, at least we could hold our heads high as opposed to now under Najib…”

Thus, for all we know, these Harapan leaders could have secretly voted for Mahathir during all those years of the 80s and 90s when BN used to win handsomely. In fact, many crony capitalists and middle-class professionals made quite a lot of money during Mahathir’s term in office. While they might have joined in cursing Mahathir at the time of his financial scandals and racist policies, who knows how they actually voted at the time?

My point is, while the young proponents of #UndiRosak have courageously indicated they will spoil their votes in protest at the betrayal of the Reformasi movement and the destruction of the opposition front, we don’t really know how these hypocrites who pour despicable obscenities at dissenters will vote.

Just as we have just uncovered the crypto-Mahathiristas today, who knows how many crypto-Ahjibgoristas we will discover in the future? Among those who claim to be Harapan supporters will be those who have profited from Najib’s policies and the Sinophilics who support his Greater China Overture in contrast to Mahathir’s claim that Najib is selling away Malaysia’s sovereignty. Meanwhile, they are making the “politically correct” noises about thieves and pirates.

Cowardice of the misogynistic anti-#UndiRosak pack

I do not intend to repeat the misogynistic and racist filth that these supposed Harapan cybertroopers have heaped on the #UndiRosak proponents. Their pathetic and standard modus operandi is only too familiar on social media. Some use pseudonyms, others use names that no one has heard before – traits which are well known of social media cowards.

Alas, after the big mistake of embracing the infamous autocrat in Malaysian history, Harapan's second biggest mistake is to have to lay claim to these ignorant, hypocritical and cowardly cybertroopers.

As George Bernard Shaw has said, “Hatred is the coward's revenge for being intimidated.”

It also brings to mind Erica Jong’s admonition of the cowardly misogynist: “Beware of the misogynist who denounces courageous women; his penis is tiny and he cannot spell…”


KUA KIA SOONG is Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) adviser.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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