FEBRUARY 11 — The constituency of Semenyih is atypical of Malaysia in the 1950s. Or, Malaya, to be more precise. Three major races, Malays, Chinese and Indians working hand in hand. Nary a mention of any race.
The works of the late Tan Sri P. Ramlee (movies and songs) are not merely the stuff of legend — which are reflected time and again by their evergreen nature — but the basis of how Malaysia should have been, with or without an explicit reference to the Federal Constitution or any Social Contracts like Rukunnegara, Dasar Ekonomi Baru and Wawasan 2020.
Take Ali Baba, as a start. One of the classics that crossed all races, even regions. In it, Ibrahim Pendek, playing the role of “Sergeant,” was not only one of the key characters. There was another, a Malay man, who donned the role and accent of a Japanese who had joined P. Ramlee and his 40 thieves.
Looking back, Ali Baba was similar to what ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak and his 40 thieves — ostensibly more since they combined the Umno Supreme Council and the top guns of PAS — were doing.
Just as Ali Baba, was a depiction of sheer human greed, that one must not steal, let alone take more than one needs, it is amazing that all the Umno and PAS elders who grew up on all the works of Tan Sri P. Ramlee did precisely that. They stole from the country and ransacked the state coffers.
Thus, it is all the more shocking that Umno and PAS could miss both the irony and the moral lesson in this movie alone. It is like growing up with the works of Tan Sri P. Ramlee merely to be entertained. Yet the Quran specifically mentioned that this life is created not for “mere frivolity and game”.
Then, there is the movie Anak Ku Sazali, where Tan Sri P. Ramlee chronicled the trials and tribulations of an ageing father, whose only son Sazali, had gone astray.
Be it Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed, prior to his reincarnation as the seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia, or, Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin as the Minister of Home Affairs, both of them, together with the Rakyat, some of whom were siblings of Najib himself, had asked Najib to “undur” (resign).
Indeed, to return to the right path of ministering his government; after one too many corruption scandals starting with 1MDB.
Najib, invariably Umno and PAS, refused to yield, let alone listen. All were, by 2015, spoiled by the fun, and spoils, of riding in a big yacht, private Bombardier jet and expensive Multi Purpose Vehicles (MPVs).
Not surprisingly, all of the named individuals above, including Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who had advised Najib and his accomplices to stop the plundering, had no choice but to form Pakatan Harapan to challenge the “Sazalis” of Umno and PAS.
When Pakatan Harapan won on May 9, 2019, the police initiated the raid on the mansions and residences of Najib and wife.
To the horror of the Rakyat, the police found stashes of money, not excluding gold bullions and jewelleries, in the billions of ringgit.
Then there is the movie Di Antara Dua Darjat. This was a movie where Tan Sri P. Ramlee’s character cried himself blind. From living in the house above, he had no means of fending for himself and had to sleep in the lower bunker of the stilted house.
Umno and PAS had clearly seen themselves as superior to all others, and they still do, with the lofty moral arrogance. Using God, religion and their skewed ethical sense of duties, Umno and PAS proceeded to spit on the Rakyat too; by using their cyber warriors to troll on all races who were against the corruption of Malaysia.
And, if they were not against the Rakyat — the very people who put them in office — the debts with which Umno and PAS have jointly run up, by closing one eye to the financial shenanigans of each other, were converted into trinkets and tokens in the form of BR1M and cheesy handouts across the country. This was done even as the income gap had continued to widen.
One does not have to be Pak Nujum Pak Belalang, another classic from Tan Sri P. Ramlee, who donned the role of a quack oracle, to predict what would be the fate of Umno and PAS. They are finished.
All the Criminal Breach of Trust (CBTS) would be enough to send all of them packing into the jail by 2023.
While the rule of law may yet allow them the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, Umno and PAS are already tainted goods.
Indeed, in the eyes of the works of Tan Sri P. Ramlee, not a single Malaysian, who is an aficionado of the movies, will side with Umno and PAS at all. May 9th has shown its fury.
Beginning with the Semenyih by election on March 2nd, some P. Ramlee fans may also be disappointed with the performance of Pakatan Harapan, especially attempts to white wash things like fake Cambridge degrees. But, Pakatan Harapan, can and will improve on these blemished records.
This is why Pakatan Harapan has to internalise all the moral lessons of P. Ramlee’s works to get it right in the Semenyih by-election, and the process of every policy decision.
Indeed, Umno and PAS will produce a candidate akin to an Orang Minyak in Semenyih. But if Pakatan Harapan does not sit up, and corner all of these stooges, it will face the sad fate of P. Ramlee’s real life towards the end of his storied movie career.
When Tan Sri P. Ramlee passed on, it happened when he was a pauper, due precisely to his generous and indulgent nature. Pakatan Harapan has to learn from Tan Sri P. Ramlee’s works and life, period.
*This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
