Between morality and expediency
Politics has always been a contact sport and not one for the faint-hearted. All means – money, position, rhetoric and lies – are used to justify the end.
By M. VEERA PANDIYAN, The Star
THERE are no morals in politics, there is only expedience. A scoundrel may be of use to us, just because he is a scoundrel.
This reality, as expressed by Vladimir Illich Ulyanov (later known as Lenin), leader of the Russian Revolution of 1917, is likely to remain so for as long as there is politics.
The founder of the Russian Communist Party and the architect of the now defunct Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), who died in 1924, was known to be ruthless but also pragmatic.
When he could not change the Russian economy to a socialist model at the pace he wanted, Lenin tweaked the system by even allowing some private businesses to exist.
It may not be quite the same thing that we have here but it was Lenin who first introduced the term “New Economic Policy”.
Today, the old communist is best remembered for this apt political quote: A lie told often enough becomes truth.
Yes, politics has always been a contact sport.
It is certainly not one for the faint-hearted for there are no moral absolutes in it.
Outraged by the increasing number of party-hopping frogs lately? It’s part of the standard operating procedure.
As Winston Churchill said, perhaps speaking from experience, “Some men change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party.”
What is wrong or what is right depends on which side one is aligned to or sympathises with.
And leaders have proven time and again that people can be swayed by many things, including money, position; but more commonly, and also cheaply, by mere rhetoric and lies.
For Malaysians, the on-going battle between Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat in Hulu Selangor, is providing yet another slugfest.
The no-holds-barred blows being traded daily began before nomination day and will go on until midnight on Saturday.
Pakatan’s PKR candidate Datuk Zaid Ibrahim is being smeared as a questionable Muslim for his liberal views on inter-religious issues, his past drinking habits and gambling on horse races.
On the other side, Barisan’s P. Kamalanathan is also being denounced and ridiculed as a light-weight, a puppet of Umno and one who won’t be effective in the Dewan Rakyat.
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said “all is fair in love and war and in an election”, adding that he too had been subjected to many allegations, including that he had a Chinese wife in Singapore.
The original quote is attributed to John Lyly an English Renaissance poet and playwright who actually said, “The rules of fair play do not apply in love and war”.
The Spanish too have a similar saying: En el amor como en la guerra todo vale (In love and in war everything goes).
And so do the Germans, In der liebe und im krieg ist alles erlaubt (In love and war everything is permitted).
If politics is indeed war, albeit without bloodshed, as the late Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Tse-Tung put it, the players, and more so their supporters, should stop making a big hue and cry about fair play.
But such tactics are double-edged swords which can kill opponents as well as inflict deadly self-harm if wielded wrongly.
The by-election is taking place at a crucial time for both Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who has just marked his first year in office, and for Pakatan, whose de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is facing a perilous trial amid a spate of defections from PKR.
Hulu Selangor is also significant because it is a good reflection of the country’s racial composition in the peninsula.
The 64,500 registered voters in this parliamentary constituency comprise 34,020 Malays (53.74% of the total), 16,964 Chinese (26.3 %) and 12,453 Indians (19.31%).
In the March 8, 2008, general election Barisan – which lost Hulu Selangor by 198 votes but held the three state seats within it – garnered 55% of the Malay vote, 37% of the Chinese vote and 51% of the Indian vote.
As of now, in spite of how the campaign is being reported in the newspapers and blogs, the outcome of the by-election is still anybody’s guess.
But for those aspiring to political leadership, there are lessons to be learnt, especially the stark certainty of political karma.
It has been proven time and again that whatever one did in the past would always come back to haunt one as soon as the spotlight comes on.
Beyond being exposed for drinking, gambling, promiscuity, sexual deviations and the like, other virtual dangers lurk in cyberspace.
Future political candidates who blissfully use the social media should be wary of what they post today.
Your comeuppance can come from what is in your Facebook, who your friends are or even the tweets you send.
