Optimists, pessimists and the ‘nay’ sayers
By J. D. Lovrenciear
Now that the Sarawak State election is over, a clearer picture is taking shape. But that picture is again clouded by which side of the camp and coin you are rooted.
From the BN side of the coin, optimists have already started celebrating. The Chief Minister has been installed. You can expect fine dining and great spirits to mark the victory of the two-third mandate. The BN elitists will come full force to drive the message through their powerful home-ground media that BN is here to stay forever.
The pessimists who aligned themselves with BN but lost with a clearly decisive vote count will cry foul. Their finger is suddenly pointing at the BN for its absolute stubbornness and paying a deaf ear to all that the aligned partners had been saying. Of course what they are not going to answer is, then how come they were singing praises for BN during their campaign trails?
Other pessimists will say that BN’s win is a clarion call for BN to re-invent itself and therefore it should not call for an early 13th General Election.
The ‘nay’ sayers – they of course are too busy with the goodie-bags that suddenly dropped from the heavens or are just plain too busy with their daily livelihoods which is all that matters. There may also be a small group of people here, in this category who have become far too disillusioned with the politics of BN. And so their ‘count me out’ position remains anchored strong.
Meanwhile from the ‘Opposition’ side of the political coin of Malaysia the optimists are drumming up their ‘doubling’ victory as compared to the previous election. Not to let those who voted for them lose faith, they are raising the tempo, calling the BN-led State government to fulfil the opposition voters’ demands.
Pessimists will now contemplate whether they should resign and just join the BN. After all, to them, it seems that BN is here to stay forever by hook or by crook. So, why rock the boat of the elitist politicians and their cartel members.
The ‘nay’ sayers remain in their time-blocks. To them, politics is not their cup of tea. They are either too preoccupied with matters of heavenly rewards in the life hereafter or they are too busy making hay under whichever sun that shines. And of course there are the plain simpletons whose life is a story of dawn to dusk livelihood decisions.
So what then is the future of Malaysia? Or more appropriately, what is the future of the Malaysian political route map?
Again, optimists will say, change is coming. Never mind the fact that they have been holding to this so far an illusive hope from the time Tun Dr M2 quit the throne of power.
Pessimists will throw the towel in and say there is no way we can undo the crooks. And anyway, even the opposition – we do not know the sheep from the wolf.
The ‘nay’ sayers will say, let us wait and see lah. Or the more brazen ones will say, ‘why you got nothing better to do kah?’
And so, the equity of the nation’s wealth distribution will always remain largely in the grips of the political elitist. Yes, there will be allocations here and there. But the parasites lurking around will suck up the king’s share.
Yes, the political assassinations through sex smears and murder allegations will heighten. The political masters are damn right in knowing only too well that the rakyat will savour and relish such drama. That seems to make selling news.
The cries of corruption and cronyism will continue. But because of the mindset of the distinct voting categories, namely urbanites and the larger pool of rural voters, one would not be surprised if the once die hard optimists start to migrate into the pessimist group.
And like in any system, corruption which is as old as prostitution will remain. And where there is no decisive check and balance, it will thrive of course.
Sad or happy, the future of Malaysia is not hard to visualize. Perhaps, the lyrics of ‘Que Sera Sera, whatever will be will be, the future’s not ours to see’ seems most apt a description of the Malaysian political future. Yes, Malaysians are truly unique to Asia. They are not Thais, nor Indonesians and certainly not Fillipinos. So, BN need not worry. The police of course do not worry. There is no way for an Egypt, Libya or Tunisia to happen in Malaysia.
