The Christian PM issue - sheer stupidity

I find myself more and more relented when it comes to the incessant fear instilling, hate mongering and controversy spewing tactics laid down by UMNO and its cohorts lately. Not only are they blatant in treating the rakyat as dimwitted buffoons, but they do it in a way which shows how much they don’t care that they themselves look like dimwitted buffoons (which by the looks of it, is not that hard).

I would have to direct this entry to the pro-UMNO bloggers rather than the politicians who right now seems like they are taking cue from the bloggers rather than the opposite.

Of course, some of these bloggers might well be on someone’s payroll but that only shows how powerful a single person can be in politics.

The issue on Christianity and Christian PM is by far the stupidest thing to come up – bypassing sodomy, sex tape and terrorist-minded journalist who must be detained under ISA for reporting truths.

The stupidity becomes evident by the lack of support the two pro-UMNO bloggers (who started it all, Big Dog and Marahku) have from their own ‘friends’. Now even Khairy is condemning Big Dog – of course some would say it has got to do more with the whole Kalimullah/ECM Libra issue more than anything.

The whole problem with this claim made by Big Dog, which has not been supported, is that it is illogical. Sodomy, sure you can pin that on anyone. Sex tape, why not. Terrorist-minded journalist, if they sympathize them enough anyone could be a terrorist.

But a Christian PM? In a Muslim majority, Christian minority (10%) democratic country?

I’ve written on this before in my previous blog - contents of which I’ve deleted (much like Marahku) - when the issue of a Chinese PM cropped up a year or two ago. Again I’m going to use the same logic and reasoning.

This is a democratic country, where the majority are Muslim Malays. In a democratic country, leaders are elected by the majority - but I don't want to get into the details of popular vote and all that. Sadly in Malaysia, it is dominated by race-based polarization. Therefore like it or not everything is determined by one’s race. Well to those ultra-Malays/Chinese/Indian who are intolerant of a cohesive Malaysia or 1Malaysia if you like, this is great.

However, this idea of fearing for the worst – in this case a Christian PM – still comes from this group of people. On one hand you enjoy the current status quo and know that this is the best approach to your narrow-minded philosophy, on the other hand you fear that this same system could be so easily manipulated by impossible means.

How stupid are you?

Sakmongkol AK47 have written on this and I'm going to repeat it with my own version of things - rather more simple-minded and less eloquent. There are three (3) things protecting you, wahai si kurang bijaksana:

- your own race, which is the majority

- the constitution and the parliament which is dominated by matters that according to you is to your best interest (I’ll explain)

- the Malay rulers

You are one of the majority. According to you and UMNO which speaks for the majority apparently (me included), the country cannot accept a non-Malay, non-Muslim ruler. What can you do about that? Stir up a stupid controversy for one. Might I suggest, and this may be too hard for you to comprehend, you go vote for what you believe in. Then, make your race the majority in Parliament. That wouldn’t be hard given that it will always be the majority because of the aforementioned racial polarization in the country. If you still fear for your future, make lots more babies.

The constitution and parliament has in place a protective shield for the Malays. It is embedded. The only way to change that is to have the Parliament vote otherwise. Of course this must be done by those elected into the Parliament. If for example by some freak of nature the majority of the Parliamentarians vote for a non-Muslim Prime Minister then…well the majority have spoken. That is no one’s fault but the majority of the population (did I mention that Malays make up the majority?).

The Malay rulers are still in existent. If for example they see it fit not to have a non-Malay as Prime Minister and not to have Christianity as the official religion then they can always speak up. The still have certain powers embedded in them to act. If people want to take away this power they have to got to go Parliament again (back to my previous point) and change them. Thanks to your beloved Dr.M this was made easier. But still, if the majority of the Parliamentarians don’t feel like it, then don’t change it.

Do you really foresee a Malay majority parliament suddenly giving a vote of confidence to a non-Malay PM and voting for Christianity to be the official religion. Really?

These bloggers are the same people who once brought up the issue of Penang DAP turning the island into a republic much like Singapore. Well of course doing that is as easy as taking one puzzle piece off the rest…eh wait, no it’s not!

Unless a referendum is called and the whole of Penang wants to be like Singapore and then going through the whole process of creating a whole new nation, I really don’t foresee it happening. If you don’t like the idea don’t vote for it!!!

The worst thing about them (the bloggers) is that they write so beautifully with so much class – making them seem intelligent and their argument seems intellectual. But if you actually read what they write, most of them are just spewing out shit.

Then Utusan picks it up as if it's real news. But Utusan, we all know, don't even write well and they are basically the mouthpiece of UMNO rather an actual newspaper. I coin them as "a well run advertisement company for UMNO".

Sigh. Seriously, you know people who surf the internet are smarter than that right? Of course there are those can’t different between peas and a little rock but most of us are not that stupid. Stop making us look stupid!

PKR's communication flaw

I see quite a big flaw in PKR's communications strategies. Being in the field of media engagement and communications, I can't help but feel that PKR needs to beef it up a little. They aren't exactly winning the battle of public perception.

Sure it all boils down to the amount of barrage given by BN and UMNO, but if they are smart enough to shield themselves, they might just be able to counter it - to good effect.

I can just refer to some of the recent happenings to justify my opinion.

In Sarawak, although PKR more than doubled their representation, but that's only because previously there was only one representative. Apart from that, I don't really see much positives in it. Compare that to DAP's success, it is pretty embarrassing.

The main reason why PKR didn't fare so well, to me, is because they were too hung up on their success in the last general election. Sure they surprised a lot of people by being a strong opposition in parliament, that doesn't mean it will be the same next time around.

The sentiment might still remain, but it could go any which way. BN believed that their 2004 results were intact in 2008, based on sentiments, they got that wrong.

PKR should've stuck to their guns and play it simple instead of over-promising and showing too much hype. People are not too sure if PKR has the ability to govern. Selangor is doing quite well even though they are subjected to massive abuse by the federal government, but people don't necessarily see that - due to the negative media coverage they get day in day out.

Therefore, banking on your ability to govern and be the government wouldn't quite work. Do it like DAP, attack on the other party's credibility and past failures.

Same goes to the pornographic video of, supposedly, Anwar Ibrahim. Forget answering Eskay and the 'Dato T' geng, because they are rogues and in need of attention.

They should not be drawn to answer every detail of the dirty political assassination attempt. The more they come up with 'the video is doctored', 'the person in the video has bigger belly', 'the hair of the person is different', the more credibility you're giving to them.

How so? Because you look panicky and uncertain of your defense.

To me it is enough that Dr Wan Azizah answers the more personal questions. After all, she is the only who knows - really. Anyone saying they know, forget it.

On the giving oath issue. Sure, it is not right for them to give oath. First of, the person giving oath needs to be adil or upright. Clearly claiming to be the person in the video and clearly being a person who endorses the act in the first place, Eskay is not upright. Therefore there is no credibility at all.

Which brings me to my next opinion. Instead of playing their game, attack their credibility - forget attack, give them an onslaught. Who is Eskay? Who is Rahim Tamby Chik? Who is Shuib? Why Datuk T in the first place? Why now? Why are they so concerned? I'm sure some PKR sympathizers would say they have done that, but to me it's not enough. Every time you talk to the media you attack them.

That video may or may not be true, but given the similarity people would struggle not to believe. I for one don't believe, but I know why some would. You point people to a cloud and say it looks like a duck, eventually people would see the same thing. You point to the same cloud and say it resembles a dog, now it's a dog. It's easy to create a perception.

Therefore, PKR really need to think hard how they answer questions, how they counter certain claims and how they communicate with the people. At the moment it looks to be all over the place. It's sluggish.