SOME people equated to “sleaze” those high-profile allegations plastered on the front pages of our dailies this past week.

They have been vociferous partly because prominent bloggers are in this “let’s move on” contingent. This process has popularised the Malay word meluat, a potent mixture of disgust and nausea on scale and proportions far more severe than benci (dislike or hate), which is a common displeasure. We could, if we must, savage politicians and proclaim that there is a sense of despair that could only be healed by a new political culture. A friend, who had evoked the word “despair” in discussions, quickly retracted this on seeing how merry Malaysians have been at shopping malls and 24-hour restaurants throughout this saga. It will be useful to also acknowledge that sleaze is not exclusive to politics. It is not uncommon to receive on your mobile, footages of intimate moments between an ordinary guy and his innocuous sweetheart. People actually make money out of simple (yes, sinful doubtless) foibles and transgressions. X-rated DVDs are sold on the street. Rather, we should pause to examine the genesis of our present exertions. Political persuasions opposed to the Barisan Nasional had for consecutive elections pleaded with the voters to deny the BN the customary two-thirds majority to herald a more wholesome democracy. Voters did not oblige until the recent March 8 general elections. BN’s majority was slashed to 58 seats. This has ushered not just a period of robust political debate with personalities and competing policies jostling to make things better for ordinary Malaysians. Rather, just check with your unit-trust managers to discern the dilution of your paper wealth and ask them reasons for your loss of networth. This is an indication of the effects excessive politics has had on us. Soon after the polls we were introduced to the concept of a Prime Ministerin- waiting and changing focal points of when a new government shall be effected which has, after rapid adjustments, settled on the date of September 16. This unnerved the whole chain of investor community and Malaysian watchers abroad. They frantically arranged for strategy sessions inviting views from local and foreign experts. At home, the Sept 16 deadline and the concept of Prime Minister-in-waiting were endorsed by some commentators who see such things as a mark of deepening democracy. I think this idea is conceited. British political dogfights of old were dug out to sanitise attempts to form a government after the voters had ruled that they wished to issue a warning to the Barisan Nasional Government. One writer traced the elasticity of Winston Churchill some 100 years ago to legitimise the political optimism of defections. There is a more recent near-parallel. The 1992 British elections produced not too big a parliamentary majority for John Major whose Tory Party took, in his first elections, 334 seats in the then 651-seat House of Commons. Major lasted the whole term. Throughout, his backbenchers routinely broke ranks, beginning with the election of Speaker, Betty Boothroyd, a Labour politician backed by 72 Conservative MPs. By comparison, BN backbenchers had, for the election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers, wholly backed the party nominees. Also, the backbenchers unanimously supported the government on its handling of the food and oil crises which was deemed an indirect vote of confidence for the Prime Minister. Tony Blair was not anointed as the “Prime Minister-in-waiting” until a few months before the May 1997 elections which he won partly because British governments changed hands ever so often. In the interim, there were no defections or bids to form a new government. The will of the people was faithfully obeyed. By extension, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim or any other non-BN leader has all the right to offer themselves as Prime Minister – but at the next general election, by making Selangor, Penang and Perak, three important States under Pakatan Rakyat model economic entities. Instead of blooding the noses of democracy, the March 8 result has opened exciting opportunities to the likes of businessmen hoping to expand networking and to present their proposals to new governments. In the meantime, the only sensible voter-activism available is for those yet to register as voters to do so. One shall expose oneself to charges of cowardice by our descendants by giving up on politics because this is tantamount to abdicating our sacred role in shaping future policies. And, we shall pray that the truth will prevail. • Rashid Yusof, on sabbatical from 24-hour journalism, is looking to dredge up a range of arguments and a smattering of ideas for the public domain.

Source: Malay Mail – July 7, 2008