The 1MDB information overload lethargy

By MT Webmaster Last updated Apr 28, 2016

If the 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion issues are the only issues Mahathir and the ANC have to try to oust Umno and Najib and give the country to the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan, then I can place my bet on the opposition not winning more than 100 seats in Parliament. In fact, unless they can come out with a new ‘hit song’, Pakatan Harapan might not even win 80 Parliament seats.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

I remember a joke that was popular back in the old days, which went like this:

Question: What’s the similarity between a banker and a prostitute (apart from the fact they will only give you the time of day if you have money)? Answer: Once you withdraw you lose interest.

Yes, that is the key — to keep the interest going. And that is why if you are in the entertainment business you need to come out with one hit after another. If you are a one-hit wonder your career will not last long.

I became ‘musically inclined’ back in 1961 even before I became a teenager. I became smitten due to songs like ‘A hard day’s night’, ‘I want to hold your hand’, ‘I will follow him’, etc. In 1963, I went to MCKK and my favourite song (which I played every weekend at the jukebox in Kuala Kangsar while I ate my ais kacang) was ‘A little bit of soap’. Do you know which group sang that song?

Have you ever heard the songs ‘Tell Laura I love her’, ‘In the year 2525’, ‘Spirit in the sky’, ‘Ring my bell’, ‘I’ve never been to me’, ‘Sugar Sugar’, ‘Wand’rin’ Star’, etc? These (amongst hundreds more) were all very popular songs back in the old days and most of us in Malaysia knew them and could sing along to these songs.

More importantly, do you know who sang these songs? Most likely you would not because these were all one-hit wonders. Those singers or bands you would remember are those who came out with one hit after another and some of them for 30 years non-stop.

Russia explained it well when they refused to respond to the criticism against them for shooting down Korean Airlines flight KAL007. The world has a memory of just 100 days, said Russia, and after 100 days this will all be forgotten. And true enough, other than just the family members of those who died in flight KAL007, the world totally forgot the first anniversary of the tragedy.

In 1999, we found out that this applies to politics as well. It is not possible to keep the interest going indefinitely. One-hit wonders just do not cut it in politics. You need to come out with new hits every time to keep your name flying high.

In the beginning there was a lot of interest in the ‘Anwar saga’. People took to the streets and assembled outside court during Anwar’s trial. Hordes of people went to Anwar’s house every Thursday night that the whole area took on a carnival-like atmosphere with stalls set up along the road selling all sorts of things. There were so many people who came for the malam jumaat prayers that tents had to be set up in the garden.

After awhile the crowd dwindled to less than 100 and towards the end it was a struggle to get even 30 people to come for the malam jumaat sessions. Some were not even following the trial anymore and one lawyer actually asked me what happened to Anwar’s trial and whether the verdict had been reached yet. And in the beginning this lawyer was pro-Anwar.

And that is why Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the ANC (Anti-Najib Campaign) need to keep harping on the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion-donation issue. They know that if they stop barking then Malaysians will soon forget about these issues and will move on. So they need to repeat, again and again, the stories surrounding the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion issues.

But the problem with this is, it is like playing ‘A little bit of soap’ and ‘I will follow him’ over and over again. Those two songs may have been nice in their time and I did not tire of hearing it five or six times a day on the jukebox in Kuala Kangsar while I sipped my ais kacang. But that was in 1963, 53 years ago, long before many of you were born. I doubt they can sell a million records if they re-launched those singles today.

Mahathir and the ANC need some new hits. People are already suffering from information overload lethargy. The 1MDB and RM2.6 billion stories are beginning to sound like yesterday’s hits. You need to play some new hits or else listeners are going to change stations.

In 1999, Malaysians sympathised with the Anwar mata lebam and Anwar the innocent victim and Mahathir the dictator story. But five years on, by 2004, those stories no longer could sell and people went back to Barisan Nasional (while the opposition performed its worst ever in Malaysian election history).

The next general election and Umno party election is in two years’ time. If Mahathir and the ANC are merely going to repeat that some old hit song without coming out with something new, not many people are going to be concerned about these old stories when they go to the ballot box.

Back in 2004, Umno just allowed the old 1998-1999 stories to burn themselves out, which is what happened. And that is why Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is very economical with his rebuttals. He knows that the more he responds the more Mahathir and the ANC are going to whack back. So he keeps quiet and watch the fire burn itself out.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK