AUGUST 27 — The long Merdeka weekend awaits.
There’ll be other occasions to rue a world gone mad and ruminate over a nation turned into a reality show rife with auditioning politicians. Today, we look at reasons to be optimistic about the country.
But do grant creative licence, the bottom is indeed being scraped. Also, cheating about the no politics rule.
1. Saddiq surprises all, brings youth promise
When one almost gives up on the established order to put principle above self-interest, enters the first-term MP from Johor.
Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has chucked out the old formula of young political operators holding on to the coattails of senior politicians to receive just rewards and promotions for loyalty.
It seemed for a bit, he was of the same mould when entering the fray as Mahathir Mohamad’s Pribumi Bersatu Youth chief, which elevated him to Parliament and Cabinet in one huge leap.
The fall of government would have meant, in traditional terms, grabbing hold of Mahathir even more tightly, or bouncIng off to Umno to find another sponsor.
Instead, in a spur of youthful zeal — is there any other kind? — he announces the formation of Malaysia’s first youth party.
Fail or succeed, at least, against the spirit of caution and fear, he has thrown down the gauntlet.
2. All Malaysians get to know Mira Filzah
It’s a classic case of glass half full than half empty, depending on how one looks at it.
The furore over Mira putting on Indian clothes she loves in order to sell contact lenses for an Indian Muslim who loves profits, has generated much noise over cultural appropriation versus appreciation. I trust the abilities of all still involved to exhaust the debate to infinitum.
I’m more inclined to the half full glass view. While she has 6.6 million Twitter followers, it’s safe to say half the country didn’t know her, as the country is separated by Malay content consumers and not.
Thanks to one wardrobe choice — not malfunction — she’s now that Malay girl who wore our dress and somehow upset many of our young woke people. At least the starlet is in the radar of all communities in a culturally divided country.
Which is an achievement to savour. She does dramas, movies and songs but Malaysia’s integration needs more non-Malays — even casually — consuming Malay content.
3. DAP finds new ways to be called racial supremacists
The European football season is over and starting back soon, but not soon enough as DAP scored own goals in a flourish. It endeavored to embellish its label of being “Chinese-first” by illegally pasting Chinese letters to Kuching road signs and challenging Pahang’s Jawi signboard requirements.
If the future of multiculturalist Malaysia is tied to the deconstruction of race ethos inside DAP, then the party took huge strides backwards.
These are the things which make DAP a recurring pinata for the Malay right wing. The hubris and the unwillingness to go with the times.
But at least it helps all of us with workable jokes at dinner parties and BBQs this Merdeka weekend.
4. Azmin overjoyed to become fifth in line inside Bersatu Pribumi
In February, Azmin Ali was number two in the party with the largest vote bloc in Parliament. He was a minister too.
Using clever means leveraging his decades of political networking, via an exodus from the party, he’s now the newly appointed vice-president in Bersatu Pribumi.
There’s the PM, then the Perak MB, a Sabah minister, a Kelantan minister, a Malacca assemblyman and then Azmin.
Put it in more telling perspective, Bersatu Pribumiis yet to be fully accepted inside Muafakat Nasional established by Umno and PAS, and when it is, Azmin would have to face more permutations to advance.
The PKR deputy presidency must seem more enticing by the day, as his future becomes less certain with every turn.
5. Sabah unwittingly recruited into Visit Philippines Campaign
Was it the boredom of a prolonged lockdown in Manila or just the angst of serving a gun-toting President Duterte, the public will never know, but Filipino Foreign Secretary Theodore — Teddy — Locsin Jr announced the new republic passport’s map will include Sabah.
This was after some back and forth, the latest round on who owns Sabah.
Even after 57 years and the formation of Asean, Philippines continues to claim the state based on its sovereignty over Sulu which issued the lease to two dudes 150 years ago for Sabah — or the North Borneo Company.
Obviously, most Sabahans are impervious about Locsin’s decision.
Though, we do wonder if foreigners are going to refuse immigration control when travelling from Philippines Zamboanga to Sabah’s Sandakan. The upside here is that while our north-easterly neighbour builds castles in the air, at least they’d be promoting Sabah tourism while they are at it, for the benefit of Malaysia.
6. Your daily IG post won’t need a permit
There was much brouhaha when Communications and Multimedia Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said all videos need the film board’s
(Finas) approval. It seemed all of Malaysia, well for example the 18 million FB account holders were habitual offenders, and that’s before racking TikTok users.
Everyone, including this column went to town about it.
And in his own way, the minister recanted his parliamentary statement, and in many ways conceded the days of widespread censorship of media was effectively over. That’s definitely worth more than one toast.
7. A month, almost, of no government collapse
Since July 29, when Sabah decided to go to the polls, no state government has collapsed.
The new normal in Malaysia is multifaceted, not the least, the intermittent fall of state governments. Within five months since March 1, five states — Kedah, Perak, Malacca, Johor and Sabah — have gone.
In these days of heightened cynicism, one must celebrate the small wins. Johor murmurs have begun but maybe lethargy set in, even for politicians. One can only hope.
8. Sivagangga: Geography lessons via Covid-19 tracing
Since schooling’s been blighted by the pandemic, the ministry of health has doubled up patient tracing efforts as learning opportunities through the opportune naming of clusters.
Tawar, Sala, Mambong, Ulu Tiram and my personal favourite, Sivagangga. Or am I just reading too much into it? But whether
by accident or not, it leads to people wanting to know more. I had dozens asking me where’s Sivagangga. All my grandparents’ families hail from the district in west Tamil Nadu. Karaikudi is its big town.
What would be the next cluster to help with learning?
9. Spiderman’s power source revealed in Slim
While no sane part in the country is remotely interested in the by-election, misleadingly labelled as one to determine the future of Malay politics, one man scales walls or pretends to in that very constituency, in order to bring petai to the masses.
Selvakumar K. Tharmalingam buys them from Orang Asli harvesting the potent vegetable strips, and sells them by the road, in Spidey’s costume. Forced to be in the study from home regiment, he’s taken full advantage of being away from campus by entering the web of agribusiness.
Just in case, anyone was in doubt about petai’s power to heal or gain an internship at Stark Industries.
10. No sporting losses
In the past five months, Malaysian sports has been the Bayern Munich of the east, hardly ever losing.
Probably because Malaysia has not competed in those months, but that’s just drab details.
The ability to remain undefeated by not competing is no small feat. Some politicians have built their careers with that strategy.
Though, the ones who really need the drink would be the local sports writers for the same duration.
*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
