Analysts: ‘Golden era revisionism’? Philippines’ Marcos and Malaysia’s Najib represent different things for each nation
It can’t be denied that in the past two years, the Pekan MP has probably been the only “big shot” able to advance proposals for different emergent issues, he did so with commendable communication powers and strong arguments.
(MMO) – Veteran politician Lim Kit Siang’s recent prophecy of a “golden era revisionism” for Malaysia, which he said would see the return to power of convicted and corrupt politicians, following the election triumph of the son of disgraced Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos, is a far cry from the situation in both nations, analysts opined.
Speaking to Malay Mail, the analysts felt that the idea paints an inaccurate picture as it fails to address several factors, particularly the political histories that people in the Philippines and Malaysia had lived through.
The trio said that what the senior Marcos represented for the Philippines is vastly different from what convicted former prime minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, represented, or still represents for Malaysia.
“We are talking about things which are not comparable in time and space.
“I think we should not discuss lies and misinformation, which are typical of any political regime, both in democratic and non-democratic regimes. Covid is an example of how governments around the world have misused their information power to force people into irrational behaviours, and this is in regards to the great majority of world nations, from the tyrannical China to the democratic West.
“Instead, the interesting question to be posed here is: why do leaders anchored to the past still exercise so much fascination over the people?
“This, I believe, is not due to the power of lies. Rather, newer generations of politicians have probably failed to propose a credible programmatic alternative, and therefore, people easily fall for sirens from the past, believing in past golden eras,” Carmelo Ferlito, chief executive of the Centre for Market Education (CME) and a senior fellow at the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas), told Malay Mail.
Ferlito believes that this factor is due more to the inability of “new faces” to develop credible alternatives, than to the issue of lies.
He added that in the case of Najib, while it can’t be denied that in the past two years, the Pekan MP has probably been the only “big shot” able to advance proposals for different emergent issues, he did so with commendable communication powers and strong arguments.
“In many circumstances, I disagreed with his proposals, but those proposals were there, while other parties have been less propositive or at least less effective in spreading their ideas.
“In a nutshell, my point is, look at what has been lacking from the political sides, alternative to Marcos and Najib in their propositive capacity in order to build a credible alternative, rather than simply accusing the people of falling in love with ‘liars’,” he added.
