By Ioannis Gatsiounis
KUALA LUMPUR - Over the years the Malaysian politician has displayed
an almost preternatural gift for delivering ear-catching quotes. What
his or her words may lack in vision and profundity they often make up
for in what they unwittingly reveal about the speaker, if not the
broader state of the country's political leadership.
Within the past month alone, Malaysians have been treated to the
information minister saying the prime minister's desire to "hear
the truth" does not apply to the media; a member of Parliament telling
another that the latter's use of a wheelchair is a punishment from
God; the country's de facto law minister dismissing the march of
around 1,000 lawyers to the country's administrative capital seeking
judicial reform as no "big deal" because "1,000 of 13,000 [registered
members of the bar] - is that a majority?"
Politicians often deal flippantly in subjects Malaysians are warned
not to discuss openly - race, privilege, abuse of power, corruption,
religion, even sex. In other nations claiming (as Malaysia often does)
to be progressive, such utterances might well curtail the speaker's
political ambitions. In Malaysia's race-based and religion-divided
political landscape, they have a tendency to announce politicians as
party stalwarts and have even been known to advance political careers.
When the education minister waved the traditional Malay dagger in a
clear warning to Malaysia's minority communities last year, he was
roundly applauded by party delegates. His name continues to be thrown
around as a future candidate for prime minister. Any public outrage
the speaker may evoke is usually drowned out by a state-run press that
spins the comments in the politician's favor - assuming he or she is
in favor with the ruling elite. In particularly egregious instances
the mainstream media simply omit the quotes.
The lack of accountability may partly explain the frequency with which
Malaysian politicians say the things they say and why the jacket of a
new book titled, Malaysian Politicians Say the Darndest Things is
stamped "Vol 1". The book's compiler, filmmaker and writer Amir
Muhammad, was motivated in part by the home affairs minister's
justification for banning one of Amir's documentaries last year on the
grounds that it wasn't violent enough.
The 100 quotes included in the volume span nearly three decades and
run the gamut, from obtuse and malevolent to witty and endearing. Some
are to be taken with a grain of salt, such as this one from former
culture, arts and tourism minister Kadir Sheikh Fadzir: "[Taxi drivers
who cheat tourists] should be lined up against the wall and shot. They
are the new enemies, the same as communists. I am not joking, this is
a serious matter. If they can be shot, all the better."
Others provide a worrying window into certain senior politicians'
worldview, including this 2003 passage from current information
minister Zainuddin Maidin: "The Indonesians and Filipinos don't even
have enough to fill their stomachs. Who are they to lecture us on
press freedom? We are more qualified because we have full stomachs."
Collectively the book serves as a light-hearted yet indispensable
history marker in a society where the words and deeds of political
masters are all too often forgiven, if not forgotten. The
sanctimonious are cut down to size - using their own words mots justes
in a place where the political elite are infamously averse to
criticism and wield a host of draconian laws to protect their fragile
egos.
Many of the book's more recent quotations are reminders of how
entrenched Malaysia's system of patronage is. It is telling that many
of the featured quotes were spoken in an era in which Prime Minister
Abdullah Badawi had promised greater transparency and to weed out
corruption without fear or favor. Here, for instance, is de facto law
minister Nazri Aziz last year defending the United Malays National
Organization ruling party that Abdullah heads:
"UMNO members only have to answer to the disciplinary committee and
are punished according to party regulations for party dealings. They
have immunity to laws outside the jurisdiction of the party. This is
because their actions in the party have nothing to do with the public
business ..." On the previous page a senator laments not having given
his son, who was implicated in a scandal, better tips on how to become
a fraudster. He is still a serving senator.
Mixed messages
Malaysia is hardly the only country with politicians making egregious
remarks. The malapropisms of US President George W Bush alone have
already filled books. There's no Mahmud Ahmadinejad threatening to
wipe Israel off the map; no Idi Amin saying, "I want your heart. I
want to eat your children." Although Education Minister Hishammuddin
Hussein came close when he said he wanted a "pound of flesh" from an
undergraduate who made a rap video clip posted on YouTube which
addressed Malaysia's police corruption and discriminatory affirmative
action policies.
What perhaps distinguishes the habit among Malaysian politicians is
that as a unit they are exceptionally preoccupied with the country's
image abroad. They have invested heaps of time and money toward
presenting Malaysia as a world-class country. But what they say often
undermines those public relations efforts.
The long-ruling prime minister Mahathir Mohamad supported bank-busting
mega-projects like the Petronas Towers specifically to put Malaysia on
the global map of shiny economic success stories. Arguably, however,
Malaysia is more associated internationally with Mahathir's famous
anti-Western rants, such as the time he said Jews rule the world by
proxy, than its first-world infrastructure.
The same country now promoting itself as a progressive role model for
the Muslim world has a foreign minister who last year said Muslim
nations should consider arming Hezbollah. Its tourism minister in
March, during "Visit Malaysia Year", stereotyped Malaysia's growing
blogger community as "jobless, depraved women".
The comments reflect a larger disconnect here between notions of
progress and the business of actually getting there. Comedian and
playwright Jit Murad brilliantly captured the gap during a standup
performance in May in which he played a Malaysian politician at a
press conference espousing Abdullah's "feel good" campaign. "Some
people say they are concerned about the increase in reports of violent
crimes," the politician says. "We are also concerned - that every day
we get reports. Do not worry. We will cut down on the reports that
make us feel bad."
Indeed, leadership in the Abdullah era has placed ever more emphasis
on appearance over substance. The administration's anti-corruption
drive finds cops wearing "I am against corruption" pins, but by many
accounts corruption is as rampant as it has ever been. Key
institutions like the judiciary, police force and print media are all
still badly in need of reform.
Abdullah speaks abroad about Islam Hadhari, or civilizational Islam,
the country's "model approach for development and progress", as
atavistic religiosity gains influence in the educational and judicial
systems. The rise of blogs and web portals has put the words and deeds
of politicians under greater scrutiny, a fact that politicians are all
too aware of but have yet to come to grips with. The information
minister, for instance, has made a habit of lashing out at bloggers,
only to set up himself and the administration for another round of
online thrashing.
To be sure, one should not walk away from Darndest Vol 1 thinking all
Malaysian politicians are buffoons. Malaysia has fared better
economically than some of its neighbors since independence and
Malaysian leaders no doubt deserve some of the credit. Indeed judging
a person by his words alone, particularly his most unflattering, can
be a deceptive business. Mahathir, for one, was known to perorate
eloquently on a wide range of issues.
Then again, it's hard to overplay the significance of a prime minister
who came to office four years ago promising greater accountability and
transparency and seeing few tangible efforts toward that end.
Curiously the prime minister is not represented in Darndest Vol 1.
It's a reminder, perhaps, that the printed word can sometimes hide as
much as it reveals.
Ioannis Gatsiounis, a New York native, is a Kuala Lumpur-based writer.
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