The Politician and the Intellectual Brahmin

Note: the initial title was the Politician and the Intellectual Mandarin. 

Let us make this country better. This country is now owned by all Malaysians. We are all equal stakeholders. We can make this country better by changing the government. That is why we are calling for a regime change.

Surprisingly that simple proposition is too difficult for some people to understand.  Chandra Muzaffar despite  his intellectual self finds it difficult to understand precisely because he cannot understand the motivations, the hopes and fears of the people. He might be saying "these are but people riding the Clapham Omnibus".  Mahathir on the other hand is worried about the change because a regime change will expose all his hollow achievements.

Like someone close to him said- history will judge Mahathir on corruption. Why does Mahathir busy himself with desperate efforts to maintain the tyranny of the status quo? Mahathir’s growing involvement in present politics is nothing short of a damning indictment on Najib. Mahathir’s overshadowing presence in UMNO politics clearly shows that Najib is an incapable leader who is impotent most of the time. Mahathir considers Najib a useless and utterly ineffective leader. Long in form, very very short in substance. Therefore if Najib can become PM, anyone else can too.

This coming election is not about the culmination of efforts to make Anwar Ibrahim Prime Minister. Mahathir and his followers would want us to believe in that big lie. It is a lie that we must politely refuse if we still can  do so politely.

Making Anwar Ibrahim PM, is secondary. The primary purpose is to install a good government. Now, a good government is constituted by good people. That is the fundamental requirement. We need good people, qualified, dedicated and selfless who work the system to make the country better.

When we say that, it is easy for people like Mahathir and Chandra Muzaffar to pour scorn and ridicule. How could the others do and accomplish what we have done? It’s only we the good people with the power who can do good whereas the others outside are evil and can do evil things. It’s impossible for good people like us to do evil. That is unnatural.

Now, how is it possible and easy for people like Chandra Muzaffar and a practising politician like Mahathir who has been PM for 22 years, demean those outside their group? How is it possible for these people to believe and consider themselves as the only group eminently qualified to rule this country?

People like Mahathir in politics and Chandra Muzaffar in intellectual-dom cannot understand the contradiction- both perhaps started with beliefs in libertarian ideas and objectives, but have come to believe, these objectives are attainable only though totalitarian and coercive means. Not for them the refine ideas of democracy and regime chance carried out constitutionally by other people working in voluntary cooperation with each other.

Because to have the kind of thinking they have, requires only self-flattery and emotions which are easy to come by and satisfying as well. Mahathir wallows in self-flattery by showing open surprise as to why people want to limit his politics. No one does, we must tell him. More involvement please because that will hasten BN’s demise.

In order to ‘disbelieve’ that  ‘good’ people like them can deteriorate into evil doers require a longer and indirect thinking process subordinating the emotions to rational thinking. Mahathir has no time for that and it seems Chandar Muzaffar doesn’t want to do that. To continue believing that it’s only them who can do good or continue believing that it is impossible for good people like them can ever do no good requires just that- subordinating self-praise to rational analysis.

Its only people like us who can fulfil promises and who have the experience to govern. When Chandra Muzaffar said that, he represents the section of the thinking crowd who can never reconcile to the fact and reality, that others beside themselves are capable of ruling this country. We can and will, Herr Professor.

What do we mean by good people working the system? We mean a government that will preserve and strengthen the institutions that make a democracy strong. We mean a clean system of voting process, the supremacy of parliament, an independent judiciary, an efficient civil service, an incorruptible executive part of the government.  We also want the institutions that safeguard our security- the police and military to be professional and which act with full integrity and accountability.

These are the primary motivations that move all of us, that make us brave the repressive responses of the present regime. That is why, Dr Mahathir and Chandra Muzaffar, we the people want a regime change.