Our young ‘cikus’ opposition politicians need to go back to kindergarten
Umar Mukhtar
The written reactions of young ‘cikus’ like PKR’s Rafizi Ramli and DAP’s Tony Pua after the opposition disaster of the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections are typical of the disillusionment suffered by idealists who should be teaching instead of practising.
Politics, anywhere in the world, has never been about truth or justice or fair play. Not even in the Crusades, the Cultural Revolution of Communist China, or the Bolshevik and Iranian revolutions, etc. It has always been about power in whatever form, some military, some through the ballot boxes. Nowadays, the political fight is within a system called democracy and the battlegrounds are the ballot boxes. But they are still about might and power.
Power begets power. Justice never begets power. Fair play, truth, and the other goodie-goodie stuff don’t beget power and are therefore mere side props to the reality that once power is obtained, you put the labels where they suit the ones wielding the power. Therefore, it’s scary that these young ‘cikus’ are fighting for our interests against the big boys armed only with semantics and a heart full of prayers. No wonder we are not getting anywhere.
Don’t get me wrong. Their disappointments and assumptions of decent human expectations are very commendable. The problem is, these are better appreciated in the monasteries and similar places of divine values. These are not values to beget power, though we are led to believe that they do. And when they don’t, don’t cry and whimper.
After you get power, the definitions of all that is dear to you will proceed accordingly — at the mercy and taste of the victors. As opposed to these values being the weapons to acquire power. Or are we to say that it was in the pursuit of justice that power was wrested in the human conflicts stated above? Justice for whom? For the victors, of course. Therefore, political power defines justice, not the other way around!
And political power in a democracy is about numbers. How many voters you can convince to believe you or that you can con. If you don’t like what’s going on, convince to change it. Not by defining what justice is and then being disappointed that your definition does not sell or that the prevailing definitions do not suit your taste. The trick is how to convince. It follows that if you can’t convince others to change, then you are just not good enough for this task.
Cynically, I would say that democracy calls for the freedom to be lied to. So if you can’t counter those lies, you are not good enough for the rough reality of politics. Go meditate up the mountains. Spare a thought that maybe, just maybe, you are selling the wrong kind of snake oil. If you want to sell divine stuff guaranteed as authentic and good by the guy upstairs, go be a preacher. It can still be politics, the current craze for virgins in paradise was sparked by political thought.
As seasoned debaters, these young ‘cikus’ should be the first to know that good and convincing debaters can take any side of the debating topic and still prevail. Or did they debate based on the truths? Your truths, yes. Universal truths, tch, tch, no way.
So Rafizi, Pua, go learn to be believable guys. Definition of values will come after you get power to do so. Don’t only depend on your political values to get power. You’ll be disappointed. Remember, if you think you are smart, the other guy may be smarter.
What your values are, no doubt, are relevant, but to get to the point of obtaining power to propagate them require meticulous strategic thinking and disciplined execution of a pragmatic and comprehensive plan. And opportunity-driven at all times to take advantage of events not within your control. Not coffee-shop talk, knee-jerk reactions and appealing to the people’s good faith, like the way that you have been brought up with by Anwar Ibrahim and Lim Kit Siang.
There are zillions of ways to skin a cat. Your sifus don’t have the monopoly of progressive ideas and are out of date with age. Open up your minds to be free of these clueless dinosaurs instead of lamenting like cry-babies.
