MGG Pillai Commentary View

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People can be led like sheep, but not always

THE PEOPLE CAN BE LED like sheep. The politician knows it, the political party knows it, the people know it. People who welcomed Saddam Hussein and voted him into power, now spit at him. Why? Because they think they have a new dictator to rule them. The CNN and BBC know this only too well when they rouse the people to spit at Saddam by going back to the alleged atrocities he had done as head of state. It is victor's justice that is being parlayed in Iraq today. No amount of whitewash, in television and newspaper reports can wash this away. Saddam is a victor if he is not hanged, and a martyr if he is. He is brought to court after he is overthrown, but it took more than three years after his arrest, and it could not the chargers against him and his compatriats until just before the trial. But the point is not that. It is that the American-led Iraqis can lead the Iraqi people as surely as Saddam Hussein. How else could it have led the people to throw scorn on a man they revered before the invasion. The people voted the constitution of Iraq in for the same reason they would have voted a referendum on a bill by Saddam Hussein. In some constitutiencies, the vote was 99 per cent, a vote that would have gladdened Saddam Hussein. It is power that mattered. Who had it ruled the people.

We see that in Malaysia. The moment the regime changes, the old prime minister is put to pasture, is forgotten by the people, and the attention is on the new. That is sorely tested, as the former prime minister, Tun Mahathir, refuses to be a digit, and continue to state his views. These views were ignored by the mainstream media who not long ago threw petals as he walked, but because the former prime minister is getting support, he is now treated with respect in their columns. It shows that he who has a backbone, is sure of what he says or does, like Tun Mahathir or Saddam Hussein, will get respect even from their enemies. The people are always sympathetic to those who stand up and be heard. Saddam Hussein behaves like their leader, the victor's justice aside, and his presence in court has spread fear. The case was postponed because those who had agreed before to testify against him demurred, and did not turn up or refused to say their piece. He was in charge yesterday. Two of the judges had not been judges before the trial. Only the head judge was named, and it turns out that only a Kurd would take the job. No Sunni was among the judges. People who swung to the support of the invader either lived overseas or had supported Saddam Hussein not so long ago. It is so in Malaysia. They do not like to make a choice, but they are asked to. It is not only the people, but those close to power. They would criticise, but would ask those who would to do so, even attacking the fellow for so doing. The aim by being close to power is to make money, and they are single minded about it, refusing to criticise but asking others to do so. They would ask those in power to force the people to follow them, but they would not do it themselves.

The Prime Minister's wife, Datin Seri Endon Mahmood, died this morning (October 20), of complications following breast cancer. She was the first prime minister's wife to die in office in Malaysia. Radio Television Malaysia announced her death within an hour. That is unusual, certainly in Malaysia. When non-Islam religious leaders prayed for her recovery, the people knew that her end was near. The people were told about it soon after for political reasons. But it had to be done. UMNO had to make sure that the people were sheep, and fed with scraps to make them feel important. UMNO knows as well as the other political parties that people are rebellious sheep because other strong willed and political parties belongong to no political parties are also campaigning for their support. In a strong willed government, as in Iraq today and yesterday, Malaysia, Singapore and elsewhere, the longer they are in power, the more the people are comfortabel with them. This is seen in regular elections, but the moment a better person comes along, they are prepared to shift.

Despite what those in power say, the ability to govern is not one of them. When UMNO took office in elections in 1955, everyone in power was inexperienced. They mananged. Today they are in power. To use the argument that they alone have the right to rule is unjustified. They know it in their hearts that it is wrong, but they say it nevertheless, for that is how they stay in power. UMNO or rather the National Front remains in power because the opposition is fractured. Those who leave the party to the opposition do not mount a challenge that will shake the National Front. Until Dato' Seri Anwar arrived on the scene. I do not think he can return to UMNO in the coming years. The last I heard is that he will head a opposition coalition to UMNO. He draws great crowds, is well in Middle Eastern governments, has the charisma of leaders and could well make a non-UMNO prime minister. He is the first politician to be a credible leader who can defeat UMNO. He does not have a political party yet, but he would get one when his legal disability to take part in politics disappears in 2008. He can ask for a pardon, but he would not since he says he is innocent of the charges for which he spent years in jail.

I keep talking of UMNO and the National Front. That is because the non-Malay parties in the National Front have exchanged office for decades by reneging on why they are in National Front in the first place. The MIC president, Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu, is the second longest in cabinet, having been in it since 1979, but he is now blaming in public the government in which he is a member of not doing enough for the Indian community. He is trying to win back the support of the Indian community, not all of whom are MIC members, because they are other claimants, and they are not necessarily other political parties. He tries to order the succession so that his man will succeed him in Cabinet. This is so in MIC and Gerakan. The Chinese and Indian people do not trust their political parties any more, as MCA, Gerakan and MIC looks after their members and very few else. UMNO will soon be in that position. The Malay on reaching maturity goes to UMNO if he wants to make lots of money and to PAS if he wants a career in politics. If this goes on for a few years, UMNO will be in trouble. An UMNO member high up in the party told me that by 2015, the party would be in the opposition. If UMNO is in trouble, the other political parties in the National Front would follow.

The people do not trust political parties in Malaysia. Getting in the newspapers or the television news programmes is one thing, but most politicians do not bother to go to the ground. Once an MP is elected, he is difficult to see. One was told when he stood for relection if he would promise to step down in the constitutency when he was driven to office "so that he could proudly say he has put his foot in every parliamentary constituency in the portfolio he held. He lost. You would see many such losses in the future. The parties in the National Front would face a spell in the opposition benches, in parliament and state, if they did not reform to the people's needs. I went to see my MP several years ago. He was not in, which was natural. But he kept sending the MIC representative to see me what I wanted. When I want to see the MP, I do not want to see his donkey, I told the MIC man. This can be multiplied several hundred times. it did not matter then. But it does now. It would not be overnight, as in Iraq, but it would be gradual, election by election. And then it would be out. The National Front has also ensured that those who get the perks of office are from the elitie, and not the people.

M.G.G.Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com