Living in the Glass House

 

I like it when people like Jocelyn Tan writes about politics. Proximity to politicians and their wives doesn't confer on anyone superior inside knowledge on the life of politicians. More so when such proximity is measured by how many times you run after politicians' wife like the bag carrier that you are, or the near orgasmic rupture you achieved when taken into the inside circle of politicians.

As I have said the internet is a welcome development in the world of media. It has allowed us to break the myth of the omniscience of the written word written by journalists. The boundary between a career journalist and anyone who can write credibly is no longer inseparably demarcated. Many of those who write through their blogs can offer credible reasons which can make conventional journalist appear as charlatans or a shameless apple polisher. That of course isn't a description of Jocelyn Tan. She is accepted as an accomplished journalist (by other journalists).

Unfortunately, the word of the journalist is not that. However extensive Miss J Tan writes on politics, she cannot really fathom the world of politics. Sorry, you have to be one to know how these creatures think. In this instance she wrote about how the PKR candidate has a less than sanguine personal life. Zaid he says has properties in Australia and London.

She of course writes from the point of view of the establishment. This is not to immediately assume that what she writes is an honest description of Zaid. The accounts describing Zaid may be true but her rendition may not be honest in the sense that it's done in the pursuit of higher values. We know that it's done to inflict damage to our opponent. The other apt word for this approach is that it's done with malicious intent.

Zahid is said to have other peculiar hobbies. He is nor partial for instance to intoxicating drinks. And maybe other things. Plus, the DPM when announcing the candidate Kamal, Alan or Nathan insinuated the colorful aspects of Zaid's lifestyle. See how we stretch things to incredulous levels.

Zaid was right when he said; he isn't perturbed by all these personal vindictives. The very same things could be said of UMNO leaders. I was also thinking- this line of attack will only open UMNO leaders' cupboards which are full of similar and perhaps even more bizarre hobbies. People will tell the story and exploits of a braggart of a Malay Minister whose second home is the club at Shangrila. People will tell the story of UMNO ministers with houses in Gold Coast Australia, Perth, and Melbourne and of course in the favorite city of 'arrived' Malaysians- London.

People will also tell the story of Muhyidin who cried at his mother's funeral not because he was expressing filial sadness- but because he was crying for realizing that the plot on the grave is the only land space he hasn't conducted business with. By the way, I am not the only person saying such things about our DPM. Musa Hitam was saying such things about Muhyidin a long time ago as part of cocktail jokes. People will also talk about the rumors of a senior Minsiter buying a male singer a Ferrari car. Seems to me, Anwar Ibrahim's alleged hobby is also practiced by UMNO ministers. Malays call this kind of character- belukang or a person who considers anything with gills, a fish.

So you have the caveat of the old age adage- people living in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. So Jocelyn Tan, don't go moral preaching on us. Spare us the agony. I am an UMNO guy- I am tired of this holier than thou teaching.

Because that will expose that UMNO campaigners have no substance to work on other than getting personal. That's the way of the loser. They are going about this election on the wrong footing. People will want to talk about the economic agenda of the PM, his leadership. The 6000 Felda Settlers are not going to enthralled by Mawi any longer- they as much as I want to know of the corporate maneuvers of Felda Plantations Berhad. People are remotely interested in UMNO trying to APCO something out of nothing such as by disingenuously segmenting Kamalanthan's name into kamal( Malay) Alan( Caucasian) and Nathan( Indian). Is this the kind of rubbish we want to sell as an idea to the voters in Hulu Selangor?

Then we have the strange lament by jilted Palanivel that this election in HUlu Selangor is UMNO matter. So what we have actually is a disowned MIC son in the person of Kamalanthan. Are we right to assume then, that MIC will not be pulling its full force behind this election and may even punish UMNO for its obstinacy by going over to the dark side? That seems to be the course of action preferred by some of the MIC operations room boys.

All of which can affect the outcome of this election. You have an Indian ostracized by his own people. We have a candidate who now has to rely increasingly on being UMNOised which means he; the candidate, needs to have lots of money to keep the UMNO election machinery working enthusiastically. He needs to, because UMNO members have to face an electorate who prefers to have someone who could offer the Fatihah supplications when they move on.