The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| Posted: 15 Apr 2013 04:47 PM PDT
APRIL 16 — Hobbes held that humans are preoccupied with the notion that self-interest must be held forward, that all other considerations must be trampled beneath the feet and labelled as semantics. Hobbes' argument is a damning one, yet not altogether untrue in the world of politics. Some politicians accuse each other of politicking; we are served with news of buyouts and party-jumping. Others hurl endless invectives, searching for scandals to create discord, and feed a sense of injustice. For evidence, please visit a table filled with uncles at your nearest coffee shop. Listen to the vulgarities that people can spew as they speak of our leaders. On both sides of the political divide, you will find both angels as well as demons. In Utusan Malaysia, for instance, national leaders are held to do no wrong, and respectable people are slandered with unfounded allegations. What of opposition publications? The reverse is true. Leaders are demonised, perceived injustices are played for shock value and emotions are heightened. For insight, please read the comments on online news portals. I plead guilty for my role in this toxic cycle. I am a writer, and I ask you this: "Do not trust me." I don't mean don't listen to me entirely, but please don't listen blindly. I could tell you at length about hundreds of different things that cannot be published in the newspapers and will never be published in the newspapers. Yet, these things will never be said in public, and will only be designated as hearsay. I could talk to you about all the hundreds of little idiosyncrasies that characterise our politicians of today, the interesting things told to me in confidence. But I do not, because I cannot. While there is often smoke in every fire, many things are often lost in interpretation. The average Malaysian has very little access to the world of politicians, save for through news portals. We are the direct lifeline to people's information, the ones who decide on angles to the stories that the newsmakers decide to air. This is called setting a news agenda, by which the shape and flow of the national conversation is set. As journalists, we have the ability to change it and shape it. Perhaps that's why the media is so powerful — because we control minds. Indeed there's a divergence in perception and reality, but not necessarily for the reasons some parties would have you believe. However, let's not talk about which side is more right or wrong here. Let's limit our discussion to this perception. We have a public that mistrusts the mainstream media, politicians that distrust the mainstream media, and an ongoing national debate about whether the mainstream media betrays the interests of Malaysian stakeholders, or that "alternative media" stifles pro-BN speech by removing comments. I will not comment on the truth value of the latter allegations, but at heart, I realise that there is no such thing as unbiased journalism. Self inevitably bleeds into paper, and parochialism is unavoidably cemented into bricks made of ideas as time goes by. I realise that many of you will never see the things that I see, will never realise that some of the politicians you hate are actually genuinely good people. They are just men and women with families and a sense of humour. Many of you will also never realise that those you love can be maniacally power-hungry, seeking no more than for the lion's share. The lens that I attempt to create at my workplace, and I believe all journalists should, is the clearest one possible. A lens revealing the best truth that we can reveal, that conveys the most revealing side that we can possibly convey. Yet, I beckon you — do not use the extent to which you agree or disagree with our words as a measure of truth. Do not force your emotion squarely down. Do not blindly trust us. Treat us with the scepticism you would a stranger wearing a trench coat on the street corner. Never consider yourself informed until you can dissect our words, deconstruct them, and paint a picture for yourself. Perhaps this may seem bleak news against the backdrop of a world that is meant to liberate and to protect, to govern and to heal, to strengthen and to uphold principles of justice. But my personal philosophy is that this is a bleak world, full of unknowable, confounding variables. Know, however, that diamond mines are often deep and dark. I encourage you to take the red pill, and to look, see, understand, and feel. Don't trust anyone on the basis of authority. Trust yourself, and trust your reason. Trust your internal sense of decency. Trust that you, too, will someday find a path. * This is the personal opinion of the columnist. | |
| Pakatan Rakyat pelengkap sistem dua parti Posted: 15 Apr 2013 04:41 PM PDT
16 APRIL — Sama ada orang suka atau tidak suka, akui atau tidak akui kelahiran Pakatan Rakyat yang lebih awal dan lebih tua dari pentadbiran Perdana Menteri Najib Razak adalah pelengkap kepada kewujudan sistem dua parti buat Malaysia. Wujudnya dengan bentuknya yang tersendiri, ia diakui sebagai zat yang mendua Barisan Nasional dalam erti lembaga itu yang mengancam kuasa dan pengaruh BN sekarang. Kalau BN dan Najib tumbang dalam PRU13 ini, maka yang menumbangkannya ialah Pakatan Rakyat, bukan PKR, bukan PAS dan bukan DAP tetapi ialah Pakatan Rakyat. Jika ia berjaya menawan Putrajaya, bukan yang menawannya itu Anwar Ibrahim atau Abdul Hadi Awang atau Lim Kit Siang, tetapi ialah Pakatan Rakyat. Tidak kira ia ada nama yang didaftarkan dengan RoS, atau ada lambing-bendera yang satu atau ia sebuah parti berdaftar menggabungkan tiga parti pembangkang terpenting di negara ini, tetapi semua tahu ia wujud sekali pun tidak dapat dilihat, sama dengan kewujudan malaikat yang tidak dapat dilihat oleh semua manusia kecuali nabi-nabi dan rasul. Adalah benar PR tidak sujud sebagai sebuah parti gabungan seperti Barisan Nasional yang ada seorang pengerusi dan ada lambang iaitu dacing serta didaftarkan, tetapi apa kurangnya dari segi peranan dan pengaruhnya dari BN? Betul tiada calon bertanding atas nama Pakatan Rakyat dalam pilihanraya, tetapi semua tahu calon yang bertanding atas nama PAS dengan lambang bulannya dan DAP dengan roketnya dan demikian juga PKR dengan apa jua panggilan simbolnya tetapi semua orang tahu bahawa mereka adalah calon Pakatan. Jika ia menguasai majoriti Yang di-Pertuan Agong tidak memanggil ketua Pakatan Rakyat menangkat sumpah membentuk kerajaan, tetapi seorang yang dinamakan oleh gabungan tiga parti itu untuk membentuk kerajaan. Tetapi semua tahu dia adalah Perdana Menteri Pakatan Rakyat. Sekali pun Yang di-Pertuan Agong tidak menyebut kalimah Pakatan Rakyat ketika memperkenan wakilnya menjadi Perdana Menteri, tetapi dalam titah pembukaan Parlimen penggal yang baru, baginda akan menitahkah juga nama parti gabungan yang didaftarkan itu. Oleh itu apa cacat Pakatan Rakyat bagi memenuhi kewujudannya sebagai sebuah parti yang melengkapkan kewujudan sistem dua parti itu? Tiada apa kurangnya dan tiada ia melanggar peruntukan perlembagaan. Walaupun BN ada kelebihannya, tetapi kekurangan Pakatan itu tidak menghalangnya berkuasa jika ia beroleh majoriti cukup. Mungkin ia tidak sama dengan parti-parti negara yang ada sistem dua parti seperti di Amerika, Australia dan Jerman, tetapi BN sendiri tidak sama dengan Parti Demokrat di Amerika atau Parti Buruh di Britain. Parti-parti tersebut adalah parti tunggal, bukan parti gabungan seperti BN. Tidak penting Pakatan mesti sama dengan BN. Orang kembar tidak mesti semuanya serupa. Masing-masing ada kelebihan dan kekurangannya. Manusia bukan semuanya hitam, ada juga yang putih. Yang penting dalam sistem politik dua parti itu ada secara bergilir satu parti memerintah dan satu lagi menjadi pembangkang. Dunia politik itu dua objek yang saling bertentangan. Seperti ada Adam, ada iblis. Ada Nabi Ibrahim, ada Namrud. Ada Nabi Musa, ada Firaun. Ada Nabi Muhammad SAW ada pula Abu Lahab. Ada Konservatif, ada Parti Buruh. Ada Demokrat, ada Republikan. Ada PAS, ada Umno. Maka ada BN, ada pula PR. Berapa hari Pakatan bertahan? Allah saja yang tahu. Tiap yang bernyawa pasti merasa mati. Setiap yang baharu tidak akan kekal. Jibrail yang wujud sejak wujudnya alam akan merasa matinya angin sangkakala yang kedua ditiup. Kalau Pakatan yang ada kekurangan akan mati, BN yang ada kekuatan pun akan mati juga. Yang penting menjelang PRU13 ini kita sudah ada di tengah sistem dua parti, tidak lebih dan tidak kurang. * Ini adalah pandangan peribadi penulis. |
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