The Daim Interview

The Daim interview – carried by Utusan, China Press, Sun and maybe others which I have not read – were lapped up as life changing phenomena and a just in time reprieve for BN.  This attitude was a far cry from the treatment Daim got when he gave his predictions on the 2008 elections. Then he was assailed in the most denigrating terms – a past shelf life politician, irrelevant, even senile.

So recently, when Daim consented to be interviewed – I presumed at the 9th floor of his office somewhere in KL – the interview as with the man, were treated worshipfully. It’s like the BN was waiting for the great witch doctor or great shaman to come out with something uplifting.

So Daim did the customary thing. He cut up a chicken and let the entrails spatter on the floor below the office building. He owns the building anyway. His faithful Mei Chuan would then have to ask the workers below to clean up the mess. Daim would be cursing because then he would have to pay some overtime fees to the workers below.

The entrails quickly formed a pattern for the reporters to see. As the question to whether Najib did right over his transformation plans- Najib got an A ++. On whether Selangor can be captured- the entrails said possible because so many Kampucheans usually residing in Pekan had their addresses transplanted in Selangor and were given immediate ICs.  The entrails also revealed some many caveats and preconditions to whatever questions the reporters posed. But these, like in all previous interviews were largely ignored. They wanted to hear only nice things.

Here is the thing. The reporters get to see Daim maybe once a year. They don’t have the feel on Daim’s thinking. If readers remember, a few weeks ago, I write an article entitled That Saturday with the Oracle. I get to see the Oracle on average once a month. The oracle is Daim’s alter ego and what he says reflects what the Man is thinking.

What I am saying, it’s stupid if the reporters spun what Daim said just from one annual interview. They can’t detect his nuances, his thought flows and subtle messages.