The politics of decency

ARCHIVES 2009

By admin-s On Feb 18, 2009

LET'S get something straight. What has happened to Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)'s Selangor state assemblyperson for Bukit Lanjan, Elizabeth Wong, is nothing unprecedented or unimaginable.

All you need to do to potentially get your nude pictures circulated is to share your private life with a person who could one day betray you carelessly or heartlessly. The person may do so to stop you from leaving him or her, to blackmail you, or merely to see your life ruined.

We read such news, which could happen in any country where cameras or mobile phones are widely used, every now and then.

Different people deal with such outrageous invasions of privacy differently. The trauma may perhaps be compared to that of rape.

Should society find fault in the lifestyle of the intended target and blame him or her for the exposure of these photos? The question is similar to whether society should blame rape victims for their suffering. Some societies do blame and punish victims of rape, but most societies opt to punish the rapists and protect the victims. How a society deals with this reflects its civility.

Private vs public interests

The likely reasons Wong's misfortune made the front page of the newspapers is that she is an able state exco member, and she is a woman.

Active in civil society for years before joining party politics, this first-time executive councillor of Selangor has been an advocate for the environment, freedom of information, and inclusion for socially marginalised groups. She has opposed hillside development, and was one of the few politicians who organised and coordinated aid and support to the Bukit Antarabangsa landslide victims.

If Wong's offer to resign is accepted by the Sultan of Selangor, many shelved hillside development projects will gleefully await resurrection.

Landslide in Bukit Antarabangsa (Pic courtesy of Raj Kumar)

At greater stake is the stability or even the sustainability of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government. If Wong's resignation is accepted, it means the public would have been manipulated to see the victim as the culprit. In other words, by insinuating that Wong is a woman of "low morality", question marks will be cast on the morality of her PR colleagues.