Pakatan Harapan’s populist politics: scandals and controversies sell

Yes, sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. However, in populist politics, you can demand all this when you are not running the government and you need not be responsible and accountable for the downside. And, in populist politics, you can condemn the government for not doing what, according to you, should be done. And, also, in populist politics, you can promise that if the rakyat kicks out the government you can take over and do a better job.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Malaysians do not realise that they are victims of populist politics. Politicians from both sides of the political divide are playing with the minds of the rakyat, and quite successfully at that. Scandals and controversies sell, so all the politicians need to do is to play up the scandals and controversies of “the other side” to win the rakyat’s support.

You have to create an enemy and offer yourself as the benteng or defence against this enemy. In other words, the rakyat are facing many dangers, but if elected, you will protect the rakyat against these dangers.

Everyone plays this populist form of politics, all over the world. Today, most governments — even in Europe, Australia, and the US — get voted in on populist politics. One classic example is Donald Trump. Margaret Thatcher would be another example.

You must first understand what the rakyat’s fears are. You then tell the rakyat that the government is not able to address all these fears. You raise scandals and controversies surrounding the government. Then you convince the rakyat that you have the solutions to solve all the issues that are the brunt of the rakyat’s fears.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s rise in the 1970s was using that same route. He played on the fears of the Malays that they are losing the country to the Chinese, economically speaking, of course. All he needed was to get elected the Umno President, as this would automatically give him the post of Prime Minister, and he will put the Chinese in their place.

Adolf Hitler did the same thing, only that he used the Jews as that enemy. And did Dr Mahathir not say that the Chinese are Asian Jews? Hence Mahathir and Hitler travelled that same route to power — offer to protect the rakyat from the Jews. And the fact that “Chinese” Singapore was “in bed” with Israel made the argument even more believable.

Anwar Ibrahim also chose that same route. But he used enemies of Islam as that threat to the Malays. And these enemies of Islam are the nationalists, secularists, liberals, modernists, etc.

Anwar even said Malays-Muslims from Umno who act like kafir (such as wear western clothes and drink and gamble in private clubs such as Lake Club and Selangor Club) are in essence kafir and hence are enemies of Islam.

Later Anwar convinced his supporters that the only way he can protect and save the Malays-Muslims would be to join Umno so that he can Islamise and change Umno from the inside.

So, you create this threat or enemy and then you offer yourself as the rakyat’s protector against this enemy. Find out what the rakyat fears and what they perceive as this threat or enemy. Then get the rakyat to choose you as their superhero to fight this enemy and save the country.

The enemy could also be corruption. The government is corrupt, so the rakyat needs someone to fight corruption to save the country. That was how Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was ousted in 2009, followed by Najib Tun Razak in 2018.

The enemy could be a dictatorial leader and a government that violates civil liberties and human rights. That was how Dr Mahathir was pressured into resigning and into handing power to Tun Abdullah in 2003.

Today, the enemy of the rakyat is a failed government or “Kerajaan Gagal”. Malaysia and the rakyat are under threat from an extremely inefficient and incompetent government. The handing of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic is in a mess. The economy is in a mess. Government policies are in a mess. The government cannot even get the lockdown right and the longer the lockdown the worse the Covid-19 pandemic gets.

No government in the world is perfect. All governments are inefficient and incompetent the world over. It is only the degree of inefficiency and incompetence that differs from one country to another. Some countries are worse than others, that is all.

Clever people do not get elected to office. In fact, most clever people are not interested in being elected to office. Those who get elected to office are those who are clever at convincing the rakyat that they are clever. If you personally speak to politicians, you will find that their IQ level is very low and should not even be given the job of dog catcher.

But Pakatan Harapan and the anti-government people have convinced the rakyat that the present government is hopeless and hence needs to be kicked out. It may be true that the government is not doing a good job in some respects, but then it is doing quite good in others. We cannot cherry-pick but must look at the big picture, the sum-total of everything.

It is easy to demand that the government do this or that when you are not the government. Most things are not practical, and the cure is going to be worse than the disease.

Sure, let the rakyat withdraw all their EPF money so that they can pay their bills today. But what about when they retire some years down the road, what will they live on?

End the lockdown so that people can earn a living. Okay, but are the rakyat prepared to see millions of new infections and hundreds of thousands of deaths from Covid-19?

Impose a full two-week curfew so that the Covid-19 pandemic can be totally wiped out. Okay, but what will the people live on during those two weeks and the months that will follow?

The government must give bantuan to all the rakyat and businesses that are suffering, plus a full moratorium on loan repayments until further notice. Okay, where will the money come from and won’t printing more money just create runaway inflation or devaluation of the Ringgit?

Yes, sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. However, in populist politics, you can demand all this when you are not running the government and you need not be responsible and accountable for the downside. And, in populist politics, you can condemn the government for not doing what, according to you, should be done. And, also, in populist politics, you can promise that if the rakyat kicks out the government you can take over and do a better job.