The Malay Mail .. Shed Pele

Of mood, agility and impulses

By Rashid Yusof
February 09, 2009
Categories: Opinion

For some time now, a 24-hour relentless news and opinion-peddling culture has made politics appear more animated and irritable than it actually is.
The ceaseless news-commentary cycle coupled with shifting moods must have taken its toll on our collective political mind. Consider the need to be unfailingly agile negotiating political mood despite the hours. How about sleep, peace of mind and attendant objectivity?
After another 95 minutes of EPL action, a friend emailed, seeking views on politics rather provocatively. Elsewhere, agitated commentators have been jumping out of bed or seem to simply materialise, swarming a new blog post at surprising hours. Don’t they ever sleep?
The appearance of a two-party system induced by the March 2008 elections has, meanwhile, created two neat columns of "for" and "against". Notice how rapidly opinion was sorted out in the Perak episode.
One may have been admiring the erudite personalities making up the monarchy but when a decision falls in the "for" or "against" column, the admiration is inexplicably thrown into some doubt when the circumstances have actually been altered.
Will the two-party system remain? There are those who suggest the top-most Pakatan leader is irreplaceable or that it is (Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim, more than anybody and anything else, who has glued the disparate parties together. We should not underestimate the availability of talents in our midst either.
Our two-party system could be as lasting as the American one or turn out to be more complicated as Israeli politics has demonstrated. We grew up reading about Labour (doves) and Likud (hawks) sharing the 120-seat Knesset. There are more parties now; everyone, it appears, is for bombing the Palestinians. "The doves have died," proclaimed a BBC reporter.
Should the two-party system survive the next elections, chances are everyone will be wiser because this is a road we have traversed. Still, mood, impulses and prejudices shall figure.
On the contrary, if a single coalition regains the dominance, they are unlikely to repeat past mistakes. Incorrigible optimist?
In either case, those "for" and "against" persuasions should not be terribly predictable and confrontational. Which is why a big concern is the worn-out crowd – those who suggest they are exiting politics, citing its conduct as a put-off. We are too young a nation with too many young impressionable voters. We cannot afford the luxury of losing the brains, the talents, because of disillusionment with politics; we need them to enrich discourse.
Still on mood-shift and agility, I didn’t like the shrill-tone of my email-reply on Sunday morning, accusing those who don’t care about politics as "cowards". That, despite a Liverpool win. They, the disillusioned must have their justifiable reasons.
Yes, the conduct of politics can be tiresome but these are sideshows; sometimes they are inevitable. The outcome of the Perak State elections in March 2008 was inconclusive, thus making sure ensuing politics was always going to be fluid.
Pakatan Rakyat, much to its credit, was able to put together a workable government but like a great many new coalitions throughout the world, it crumbled. The Ruler has since turned to the other party, the one led by Umno which could have in fact tried to cobble together a minority government in the days after the March elections.
A surplus of opinion has visited us since. A friend said she "is at a loss as to who is right". The issues are perhaps more intractable than we are prepared to acknowledge. For instance, when Anwar promoted the idea of mass party-hopping to facilitate Sept 16, some activists and intellectuals were muted, only to tear into the manner the BN government of Perak was instituted. This is baffling.
As I was conceiving this lengthy note, the blog owner of Mana-Mana called. He argued that in opposing the ruling by the Istana, Pakatan should know that its dealings with the Istana have not ceased. Win the next general election and it will have to return to the Istana to be sworn in.
Better manage impulses and prejudices? Try making a political argument when we are properly awake, physically fit, objective and cheerful.

● Rashid Yusof (che.rashid@gmail.com) apologises should the tone of this column come across as preachy. The intention is to be upbeat and hopeful.