Musa Hitam’s Schadenfreude and the IJN takeover.

no: 6/2009

Who is Musa Hitam? The answer is at the end of this article.

The shadowy character who is said to be Pak Lah’s chief consigliore is Musa Hitam. Now he wants IJN by any means necessary. He was the person who very quickly said that TDM’s departure from UMNO was like ridding a thorn in the flesh. After that, Pak Lah was not in a hurry to re-admit TDM. Contrast this when Musa Hitam wanted to resign, TDM allowed a delegation to go to London, to court Musa Hitam to come back. TDM didn’t say, Musa Hitam was a thorn or what.

Musa was also the person who disingenuously described TDM as a person suffering from PPMS- post PM syndrome. With an MA in international studies, Musa dabbles also in psychoanalysis.

Well, inept Pak Lah made him a Tun. That wouldn’t have happened under TDM’s watch. TDM did the correct thing, because we would be very hard-pressed to count Musa’s contribution to nation building in Malaysia. He was just coasting along and pulling on TDM coattails. But Musa is the only person, Pak Lah can fall back on to dish out evil enough machinations. Like engineering the planned take over of IJN.

But like one commentator known as Mek Yam said:-

…guess the man is too slow to figure out that musa secretly despises him because he, once simply dismissed as an inconsequential no-talent in musa's camp, actually gets the plum seat musa himself coveted.

bet musa is already gloating in delicious schadenfreude about the shi*t legacy that abdullah will inevitably leave. :D

Allow me to expand somewhat on the term. Schadenfreude is pleasure taken from observing the misery of another. ( pronounced as shadden-froid) .This is a term that would describe Musa Hitam nicely. He delights on the misery of others. Can Sime Darby expect us to believe that they can maintain low rates to thousands of the ignored poor when its SJMC hasn’t got an iota of good reputation in that department?

The word referring to this emotion has been borrowed from German by the English language. The philosopher and sociologist Theodor Adorno defined schadenfreude as “largely unanticipated delight in the suffering of another. Unanticipated means just that- a bonus gratification arising from some other action. In this case, if the takeover of IJN takes place and that causes suffering in others, that is delightful.

In the original German language, the word derives from Schaden (damage, harm) and Freude (joy); A distinction exists between "secret schadenfreude" (a private feeling) and "open schadenfreude" which is outright public derision.

A more common English expression with a similar meaning is 'Roman holiday', a metaphor taken from the poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" by George Gordon, Lord Byron, where a gladiator in Ancient Rome expects to be "butcher'd to make a Roman holiday" while the audience would take pleasure from watching his suffering. The term suggests debauchery and disorder in addition to sadistic enjoyment.

Another phrase with a meaning similar to Schadenfreude is "morose delectation" ("delectatio morosa" in Latin), meaning "the habit of dwelling with enjoyment on evil thoughts". One French writer named Pierre Klossowski (1905-2001) maintained that the appeal of sadism is morose delectation.

A New York Times article in 2002 cited a number of scientific studies of schadenfreude, which it defined as "delighting in others' misfortune." Many such studies are based on social comparison theory, the idea that when people around us have bad luck, we look better to ourselves. Other researchers have found that people with low self-esteem are more likely to feel schadenfreude than are people who have high self-esteem.

Hence it is actually Musa who is suffering from terrible bouts of low self esteem. He must be wondering, how is that he, the superior to untalented Pak Lah who was his myrmidon once, failed to become the PM? what is he now? He is just a glorified retiree with huge salaries and remunerations. Chairman of Iskandar and Sime Darby.

Perhaps to humour Tun Musa further, let me quickly add that his mental state has many equivalents in diverse languages.

In Danish, Musa would fit in nicely in the expression: Der er ingen fryd som skadefryd: "There is no glee like schadenfreude." In the Dutch language:Geen schoner vermaak dan leedvermaak proverb: "No pleasure more beautiful than schadenfreude." In German:- Neid zu fühlen ist menschlich, Schadenfreude zu genießen teuflisch: "To feel envy is human, to savor schadenfreude is devilish." (Arthur Schopenhauer). In the Greek Language:The word herekakia corresponds to wanting or enjoying the misforune of others. In French: the better expression would be "Se réjouir du malheur d'autrui" ("To find joy in another's misfortune" i.e. To gloat) in Japanese, the phrase tanin no fukō wa mitsu no aji , translates literally as "others' misfortunes are the taste of honey."

In Malay, perhaps Musa Hitam is gleefully saying: padan muka means "fits your face" but the more appropriate English translation is: "You got what you deserved"; In Thai, he would be saying som nam na, which can be interpreted as: "You got what you deserved"; "Serves you right"; or "I'm laughing at your bad luck". Arabic: shamaatah shamtan, taking pleasure in the misfortune of others)

Which brings me to this point. Who else can be described of being the same beastly and devilish thing in so many languages? The only one that comes to my mind is Lucifer, the Devil himself. I’d rather be a thorn in the flesh that this description.