A VISIT to the open house of the Malaysian Parliament over the weekend would certainly boost public interest in the “live” sessions of the Dewan Rakyat, but dare anyone show the young people how lawmakers hurled all kinds of vulgarity at each other in the august house?
As one visitor to the open house, P. Murugayah pointed out, he would be ashamed if his children asked, “Papa, why do these people use words that you forbid me to use?”
Taking a cue from the ‘cheeky primate, frog artwork’ bought by Selangor ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, he said: “It is time that our lawmakers behave themselves in an orderly fashion.
“They have to raise their points of concern rationally and professionally in the way it is done in Singapore and in the UK. We still have a long way to go.”
The sentiments expressed by Murugayah is shared by many. Instead of trying to drown the speeches of the opponents with a shouting match, lawmakers from both sides should maintain some decorum and allow the speaker to finish his/her speech first.
It is time for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to get the party whips in the unity government to maintain some decorum in the Parliament.
With the advent of digital and social media these days, it is easy to apply pressure on anyone by intentionally producing a video clip that seeks to highlight the behaviours of both government backbenchers and the Opposition MPs.
Based on studies on human behaviour, both genetic and environmental factors affect the individuals. As politicians are driven by votes, the only best way for netizens to react is to condemn lawmakers who are racists, sexists, religious extremists and arrogant.
Peacocks dance to the tune of the music played by their masters. As voters, if we sing a different tune, these politicians will automatically abandon their peacock dance and carry on with the duck dance instead.
The transformative power of some politicians is simply amazing that they can turn from a peacock into a duck overnight.
For this reason, they are known as ‘hypocrites’, a word that originated in the Greek theatre which carries the meaning of ‘play-acting’ or ‘acting out’.
A successful Greek actor, Aeschines, entered the political arena where the stage performance continued albeit on a different platform. His ability at impersonating the different characters on stage gave him the reputation of being an untrustworthy politician.
Fast forward to present day Malaysian politics, a good example is the recent U-turn by PAS in the lead up to the upcoming state elections by July this year.
That the Islamist party decided to issue a somehow well-researched Wesak Day greeting to Malaysian Buddhists shows that it is capable of doing the duck dance in order to win votes.
In an earlier speech to a Malay audience, PAS president Tan Sri Hadi Awang had called East Malaysians “primitive people who are still wearing loincloths.”
But, when addressing East Malaysians in a media article, PAS secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan vowed that the party will not implement policies that would jeopardise its position.
Because Perikatan Nasional (PN) was trying to woo the support of the East Malaysian bloc in Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), Takiyuddin promised that PAS would not implement any policies that would oppress the public should the party be part of the federal government.
After all, it is estimated that about two-thirds of Malaysia’s Christian population lives in East Malaysia in the states of Sabah and Sarawak. – May 8, 2023
