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The BN Court Jester Provides The Comic Relief

In empires of old, the emperor has a court jester to provide comic relief. In the new Malaysian (virtual) empire, the emperor in his spanking, built to imperial order, capital, Putra Jaya, has his. Like all imperial clowns, he is unpredictable, often makes people cry when they should laugh, laugh when they should cry, drive all up the wall, occasionally with ideas above his station, often losing his head metaphorically, politically, literally with his belief he is the Emperor's alter ego. In the court of Emperor Mahathir Mohamed of the Malaysian National Front (BN) empire, the court jester is the deputy transport minister, Dato' M. Kayveas. He was brought in to put the MIC leader, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu in his place, and cause as much havoc as he can when political parties in the governing coalition need to be put in their places.

So effective this was that the Indian self-proclaimed super leader for once could not attack this upstart. One can shoot down stray dogs but not one in the emperor's kennel whatever its breed. As in court jesters of old, he represents no one, often not even himself or his party. The only ones who take him seriously are those of his People's Progressive Party (PPP) who, like him, believes a court jester should, like fools, rush in where angels fear to tread. And he does with panache.

His remarkable ability to annoy his fellow BN party leaders -- once Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, now the Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan) president, Dato' Seri Lim Kheng Yaik -- makes him the Emperor's useful lightning rod, to divert attention. Since he can on cue come with the most asinine and stupid statement without prompting, he helps cool down tempers after the Emperor, all too frequently, shoots himself in the foot. He was brought into the government so the MIC and its president would not have ideas beyond their station. He believes this gives him the right and strength to attack Dr Lim and his party.

It is a common trait of court jesters to believe the world revolves around him. As Dato' Kayveas is in no doubt he is. So, he provides the comic relief to the BN government's serious problem of English in schools. As always, it puts the cart before the horse. First it announces a policy, then it consults, threatens, revises, reframes it. The cabinet decides on English in schools. UMNO, whom no BN party would dare second guess, decides it should only to teach science and mathematics.

If the BN Emperor did not have a court jester, he would have to invent one. The Gerakan, which broke ranks from the Emperor to demand that the government cease and desist imposing a policy he thought a week earlier was the best possible in the circumstances. But it had no choice. If it wants to continue to run the Penang state government, he needs Chinese support. That Chinese support is in shatters after the Emperor baited them with another example of his instant policies which bear no sense of reality or need but which he believes must be forced down one's throats. The court jester now comes in with the preposterous claim that his PPP has double the members Gerakan has, and with 40 per cent of them Chinese, wants to be included in any discussion the four Chinese parties in the BN would have in the future on English in the school curriculum. He is, he assures all and sundry, prepared to be an honorary Chinese for the occasion as he is an honorary Indian when he discusses Indian issues.

For once Gerakan blinked. It took issue with Dato' Kayveas. His preposterous suggestion stuck in the Gerakan gullet, its leaders reached for the mainstream media to tell Malaysians what a blighter the court jester is, poured cold water on his claim to be president of a party with half a million members. It should have shut up. Court jesters are out to annoy the courtiers on behalf of the Emperor. What Gerakan did annoyed the Emperor. The court jester was there to assuage the remains of the Emperor's reputation in this fiasco. One must now wonder if Dr Lim now wants to replace Dato' Kayveas as the court jester. He did not stop to think why if Dato' Kayveas was right about his membership, the Emperor did not co-opt him into the BN ranks as of right, not so he could annoy a wayward chief. Court jesters exaggerate. The half million could be 50,000 or thereabout. The PPP is neither fish nor fowl. Its president is both fish and fowl. So much so as fish he rules over the fowls and as a fowl over the fishes. But then that is what court jesters do.

For a few days the policy cock-up on English in schools is forgotten, as attention is diverted to the Gerakan-PPP squabble. Dato' Kayveas wants Gerakan suspended for its temerity to challenge the Emperor's flawed and ill-thought out policy on teaching English and Science in English. The BN government is caught in its own trap, with major revisions promised so it could retrieve some of its lost dignity. It provides Gerakan with a golden opportunity to recover lost ground with the Chinese community. And now has a brilliant issue to force the MCA out of its hair in Penang. The MCA leader, Dato' Seri Ling Liong Sik, in his traditional role of hunting with the hounds and running with the hares, gave him that opportunity. He hummed and hawed about English while Dr Lim was unequivocal that the government policy was, to put it bluntly, wrong. The MCA may have to pay for it with losing some of what it has in Penang in the coming general elections.

Dr Lim's stand, in self-interest than principle, reveals more than it hides. The Gerakan must say its piece when the chips are down if the BN wants to retain control of Penang. The BN cannot afford to lose Malaysia's only Chinese majority government and the Malay heartland. So when all is said and done, it has no choice but endorse the Gerakan's revolt. The MCA has no state government to retain. So it is weaker than the Gerakan although it has far more seats and power in the federal and BN state governments except Penang. All it must is hold on to its parliamentary and state assembly constituencies. It finds that difficult, but it is one all BN parties, including UMNO, now face. Even with an electoral roll delineated so it has all the superficial advantages.

The BN projects to the outside world that UMNO's political hegemony in the BN is unassailable. But that cannot sustain. UMNO scrambles for Malay support and so it must show it is unchallenged. Even when its non-Malay partners does when they must. It tells the Malay world UMNO is beholden to its non-Malay partners. So the Emperor lets loose his court jester to show that UMNO is intact and its non-Malay partners are quarrelsome, obstreperous, irrational, untrustworthy. The court jester, in this instance and for the moment, succeeded. Since the PPP has twice Gerakan's members, and many Gerakan state and parliamentary seats were once PPP's, he demands them back for the party to make a mess of itself in the coming general election. As I said, court jesters often have ideas above their station. This is one such.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my