Is 24-hour limit to merajuk a tall order?
To ask certain people to confine their sulkiness to just 24 hours and get to the ground after that can be quite hopeless.
Syed Nadzri Syed Harun, FMT
It must be true then that “merajuk” is a distinctively Malay malady. It is causing Muhammad Muhammad Taib who has been at it for five years to now consider jumping ship, or so they say.
Even the prime minister mentioned that word to the mainly Umno and Barisan Nasional crowd last week and with surprise omissions in the lists of candidates, we are definitely going to see more of the enigma all round in this election season.
Actually there is no pointedly accurate English equivalent to merajuk – a sulky syndrome? Deep discontent? To be hurt or resentful also come close but they do not carry the same emotional effect.
The brooding despair that comes with merajuk is more than the sum of the above, somehow. Perhaps it strikes a little harder the delicate chord between “emotional blackmail” and “moody tantrum”.
Najib Tun Razak when addressing the BN general election troops in Kuala Lumpur last Wednesday inevitably touched on the tendency of some party members to be sulky when not selected as candidates.
He said if at all someone had to sulk, the merajuk feeling should be for 24 hours only. “After that, they must get down to the ground,” he said.
Knowing that every other AJK bahagian members reckon they are winnable, I think the BN boss’ proposal will be a tall order considering the official BN candidates list yesterday.
And to ask certain people to confine their sulkiness to just 24 hours and get to the ground after that can be quite hopeless.
We have seen it before and it is unfolding yet again, showing its tip in Kedah, Terengganu, Negeri Sembilan and Perak. It seems that Muhammad, who has been missing in action for some time, is just one of two or three former menteris besar who are said to be in the sulky business. The rumour about him switching allegiance has remained a rumour though. Another one has switched off his handphone completely to party matters.
Mind-boggling decisions
And given its mind-boggling decisions of late, is the MCA sulking as well? Difficult to pinpoint the affliction here but sulking may not be far off when the party president incredulously does not want to contest in this election.
If he was indeed sulking, Dr Chua Soi Lek didn’t stop there because in the BN seat negotiations, he seems to be conceding ground to other parties in as far as familiar MCA seats are concerned such as Kuantan, Wangsa Maju and Pandan.
With this, sulkiness is no longer now a Malay or Umno malady. We are beginning to see a lot of it in the Pakatan Rakyat alliance as well.
