AUG 23 — This month marked the end of an era. Jon Stewart, the legendary host of the American news satire program The Daily Show retired after 16 stellar years.
For almost two decades, Stewart called out politicians for either lying or muddying the truth. There was nowhere to hide for politicians with Stewart around.
In his monologue mid-way through the last episode, Stewart let rip one last time.
“Bullshit is everywhere. There is very little you will encounter in life that has not been, in some ways, infused with bullshit - not all of it bad,” said Stewart.
Stewart noted that some types of bullshit were harmless and in fact necessary. For example when you tell the neighbours what a beautiful baby they have but the reverse was true.
I attended a Hari Raya open house two weeks ago and was served with what can only be described as stone hard beef rendang.
“Specially ordered! “ said the host proudly.
I could only nod vigorously in agreement while trying desperately to separate pieces of my broken teeth from the stone hard rendang in my mouth.
Harmless and necessary
Then there are the other kinds of bullshit. These are the harmful and unnecessary types.
First among them is the making bad things sound like good things type.
Stewart called out the American Patriot Act as an example and urged viewers to take a good long sniff at anything else carrying the title freedom, fairness, family, health, and America.
The second was the hiding the bad things under mountains of bullshit type with the Tolstoy length Apple iTunes agreement given as an example of this.
And finally, there was the bullshit of infinite possibilities. Those who practice this basically hide their unwillingness to act under the guise of unending inquiry.
Stewart gave American examples of bullshit during his monologue but I could not help but think he would have no trouble finding equally applicable Malaysian illustrations.
We replaced the draconian sounding and much maligned Internal Security Act with the kosher sounding Prevention of Terrorism Act which allows a person to be remanded for a 59 day period. The Magistrate has no discretion to refuse the application for remand.
To make matters worse, there can be no judicial review of a detention or restriction order made by the Prevention of Terrorism Board except in regard to any question on compliance with any procedural requirement in the Act.
The funny thing is that while the Prevention of Terrorism Act was passed supposedly to contain the threat or influence of the evil Islamic State, the provisions contained therein do not respect the rule of law and the principles of natural justice.
Is this not the very accusation that we level against the practices of the Islamic State?
We also seem to be experts in hiding bad things under mountains of bullshit.
The recent ruckus at Low Yat Plaza was a bad thing. What started as an alleged mobile phone theft turned into a riot with racial overtones.
Instead of being open and recognising that the authorities may have been slow to nip the incident in the bud and looking into ways to prevent a recurrence, the new Rural and Regional Development Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob suggested that a “Low Yat 2” be created and dedicated wholly to Malay traders.
South Africa took more than 50 years to get rid of apartheid. We seem to be fighting hard to establish it. Perhaps an “Air Asia 2 “ would tickle the Minister’s fancy as well.
Stewart’s final example referred to an unwillingness to act under the guise of unending inquiry.
“We can’t do anything because we don’t yet know anything,” quipped Stewart.
There is some of this as well around these parts.
When the clamour for results becomes too loud, we resort to unending inquiries in the place of hard action.
The national consultative committee on political funding reform announced by Minister Paul Low to study the regulation of political funds is one such example. While there is a storm of epic proportions surrounding a particular political funding that is still being investigated, the last thing anyone needs is a brand new committee carrying out yet another consultation.
Stewart ended his monologue by noting that those who indulge in bullshit have gotten lazy which made their work easily detectable.
“Vigilance is the best defence,” he said, before ending with his final piece of advice - “So if you smell something, say something “
Perhaps we should all take Stewart’s advice and be vigilant against politicians who try to pull the wool over our eyes.
If we smell something, we should say something.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.
