Friday Jottings: The travails of blinkered honesty
OF late, one particular commenter on a social media platform urged those reading media reports relating to Government leaders’ announcements and explanations, to give some attention to emojis at the bottom of the posts.
Quite a number of the emoji clicks about reports from the government and its leaders reached more than 1,000, which is considered very high.
But what the commenter wanted to highlight was that most of the clicks were the “laughing” emojis with a small fraction of them the “like” emojis, which is taken to mean that those who took the time to click on the emojis were not taking the government and its leaders seriously.
The extreme interpretation is that these reactions found the government and leaders to be a joke while the lesser would be that their opinions are of no consequence.
Neither were the comments complimentary.
However, advocates of the Government and its leaders dismissed such development as not reflective of what public sentiments across the board would be.
To them, these are the work of cyber troopers engaged to carry out the tasks of undermining the current administration.
Such arguments are reminiscent of the time during the tail end of Najib Razak’s administration when there was widespread public opinion against them on social media, which was dismissed by Najib’s minders as misleading and not what the actual situation was.
After that, polls and opinions were published, predicting victory for Najib and Barisan Nasional in the 14th general election, a few even forecasting a two-thirds majority for the incumbent.
Whether the Najib administration had themselves believed the prediction or it was mere propaganda to dishearten the opposition, is anybody’s guess.
But if they did believe it themselves, the result of the 2018 polls proved how detached they were from reality.
Back to the current administration – while the “laughing” emojis continue to dominate – a random poll seeking public opinion on the present government and the opposition saw an outcome of a nearly equal percentage between those supporting the government and those who were non-committal while supporters for the opposition were less than 17 per cent.
While it is not a properly commissioned poll which should be taken as definitive, the point is that with more “laughing” emojis, more “polls” would be conducted.
However, if the Government and its leaders are keen on not repeating the mistake of the Najib administration, they should probably listen less to their sycophants and keep an ear to the ground.
One of the problems with sycophants is their tendency to defend the actions of their leaders by drawing parallels or comparisons with previous leaders and administrations, forgetting the most basic principle that two wrongs don’t make one right.
Furthermore, the current Pakatan Harapan-led Government and leadership, given their extended years of being government-in-waiting, had made too many promises which today are obviously beyond their ability to fulfil.
Ignoring or denying such promises were made actually contributed much to the vitriols they face currently.
Then attempts by their “thinkers” to insist that their leaders are still the better ones at hand for the nation and comparing them with previous leaders, in particular Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Once, a DAP man pointed out that it took a few terms before Dr Mahathir were able to build the infrastructures which were being enjoyed by the public and as such, the current leader, who is only in his second year, should not be judged on his delivery.
Simply put, if he were able to rule for a few terms, he would be able to do as much, if not more, than Dr Mahathir.
While such an opinion sounds sound, using Dr Mahathir as a comparison only affirmed that he is the benchmark for current leaders and in the future.
Given the disaffection the present leadership had shown towards Dr Mahathir, it only exposed vulnerability, if not incompetence and hypocrisy.
Sentiments aside, the comparison is also flawed, as the current leadership is judged based on their inability to fulfil promises which were supposed to be done overnight after securing power.
The reduction of the price of fuel, electricity tariff, free education for all, abolishing student loans, abolishing toll charges among others.
These are not promises which were meant to be fulfilled over several terms but rather to be put into effect almost immediately after being sworn into office.
Making it worse, not only are the promises unfulfilled, but some are even being increased and subsidies withdrawn.
Apart from that, having self-styled themselves as the paragon of virtue in the fight against corruption and abuse of power, protectors of the independence of institutions, they seemed to have reneged on these very promises.
How do they explain themselves when they made a person, facing dozens of corruption cases with prima facie being established, hold the second highest office in the political echelon.
Nepotism and cronyism, which were their battle cry for years, now become muted as their appetite for such indulgence seems far from being whetted.
Enter another DAP man who, in his attempt to defend the position of the leader had urged Dr Mahathir to be more honest in his criticisms against the present leadership.
He attributed Dr Mahathir’s criticisms, which he described as incessant and an obsession, as one driven by ego and unable to accept that the present leader had become Prime Minister.
Indeed, Dr Mahathir had questioned and criticised the leadership frequently but that shouldn’t have bothered anyone in PH and DAP as the PM had promised to make Dr Mahathir irrelevant.
Apart from that, more often than not, Dr Mahathir was responding to accusations made against him.
If the DAP was demanding honest criticisms, how much more honest can Dr Mahathir or any other critics for that matter, be when what had been raised is due to the perceived dishonesty and hypocrisy of the leadership?
If he is honest, he would have been able to see that all the flaws, hypocrisy and reneging on promises committed within. And if he is honest, he would probably join Dr Mahathir and the rest.
After all, honesty, like charity, begins at home. - TMR 28 Feb 2025
Shamsul Akmar is an editor at The Malaysian Reserve.
