JULY 13 — It was last Tuesday. Kelana Jaya LRT station. I offered my token sacrifice to get past the mechanical altars and I noticed a commotion at the side. People were looking out the window and so, social clone that I am, I stared too.

A few taxi-drivers surrounded two guys, one of them also a cabbie. But the other one? He was doing kick-boxing drama, fists up and “bouncing” gently the way I’ve seen Rocky do a million times in the ring. In a flash, this guy was punching and kicking the cab-driver. Then he moved back. Then lunged again. Attack, retreat, attack, retreat. Like this was the set of Ong Bak 5 : Malaysian Fury. 

Oh, and the kick-boxer dude was naked from the waist up.

Did this person suffer from psychosis? I hope not, but it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to think so.

Introducing psychosis

If you ask a psychotic, “What is 1 + 1?” he wouldn’t answer 2. 

In fact, he may not understand “numbers” or “plus” or “equals” in the way people normally would. His response to the Math question could very well be “57” or “ABC” or “Ramly Burger.” He’s like a computer without an operating system; proper functioning is impeded. It would be amusing if it wasn’t so tragic for personal relationships.

According to psychoanalysis, psychosis occurs when our integration in society malfunctions. Psychotics are those who lack a proper alignment between symbols and the meanings the symbols are supposed to point to. Like a piece of software which isn’t installed properly, psychotics are simply those who aren’t “put into” the system correctly.

In philosophical parlance, there is a mismatch between signified (what’s meant) and signifier (the symbol).

In normal persons, this mismatch is addressed. The person associates “cow” (signifier) with that four-legged beast which chews grass, gives milk and goes moo (signified). In psychosis, the alignment either never happens or is glitched. The psychotic may link “cow” to that thing he puts coffee into and drinks from.

Psychosis also occurs in the face of a reality so painful, the mind forcibly creates an alternate reality. In other words, insanity may be a coping mechanism. I’ve lost all my money in a bad bet, I’m utterly devastated so my mind rescues me by unconsciously constructing another mental world in which my savings are still intact.

Psychotic Malaysia?

Mental breakdown or failure is tragic. To lose one’s mind is often worse than losing a limb. With rising social expectations and stress levels in our More More More society, it’d be surprising if we don’t witness more and more cases of psychosis. 

Medical psychology’s going to be big – I kid you not.

But enough of clinical psychosis—what about political psychosis? Alas, I think Malaysia needs to take a break and get on the couch. Because anyone who’s been keeping an eye on our socio-political arena, especially since 2008, will notice that our nation’s going mental. 

Let’s take just the past coupla weeks:

It’s not psychotic that we have writers who claim that women are molested or raped should be held culpable if they’re wearing anything that shows more skin that he (the writer) feels is unacceptable.

It’s not psychotic that we have Opposition leaders (and somehow only Opposition ones) sent to jail over evidence that is so flimsy and dubious.

It’s not psychotic that we have groups who have to scream “Jewish and Christian conspiracy!” every other week, as if a meteor will smash into KL if they don’t. 

It’s not psychotic that we got folks who throw plates and bowls at senior people, only to have leaders justify such gangsterism. 

It’s not psychotic that we have government-managed companies incurring billions of dollars in losses, and people saying in effect, “There’s no problem.” I mean, c’mon, how in the name of all things brown does a single company lose billions and still have government officials singing its praises? 

This ain’t a few bucks – it’s RM42 billion and counting. When I first saw that number I thought the report was referring to Taoist hell bank notes. Damn. I couldn’t lose RM42 billion even I took 42 mega-sized cheques to the race tracks and bet on a three-legged horse with epilepsy.

It’s not even psychotic that the political chief of this “strategic development” company is now being accused of channeling funds into his personal bank accounts. Like many have said, any other world leader would’ve quit by now (or at least taken a leave of absence). But no. This person continues attending parties and tolerating authority figures whose KPI includes scrutinizing Twitter (“You have the right to remain tweet-less…anything you tweet can and will be used against you…”

All this claptrap garbage is not psychotic. You know what is? 

Psychotic is the fact that a sizeable portion of Malaysians continue to support the regime under whose ‘leadership’ all this is happening (see Note 1). And these people who will CONTINUE supporting the ruling administration even if the leader in question is proven guilty and the country plunged into greater debt.

Lim Kit Siang, speaking of the plate-throwing fracas in Johor recently, said he was shocked that a minister’s IQ has dropped so low. With all due respect to Mr Lim, I think the problem is not about personal intelligence – it’s about socio-psychic installation. The minister in question has a psychological glitch so serious it causes him to experience a reality completely different from the one a non-psychotic does. 

These folks have a spoilt connection. For them, they no longer associate the word “justice”, “goodness” and “democracy” with what normal people do.

And I suspect many Malaysians are in this category. There is a form of mass delusion at work in the country. It’s as if the very thought that maybe the existing regime isn’t fit to govern Malaysia anymore, that maybe the government is turning the country into another Taliban enclave, would drive these individuals over the edge. 

This is the reality this set of Malaysians can never accept, so they choose to believe an alternate reality… and fight anyone who challenges them.

Kinda reminds you of that kick-boxing fella at the LRT station, doesn’t it?

Note 1: I would exclude the many people living in rural areas in which subsistence issues crowd out all other concerns. It would, in fact, be psychotic for anyone who thinks the non-urban electorate can be won over using an urban-oriented strategy.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.