THE CICAK.com

Pak Lah in chains? Political bloggers frustrated

By JASON LIM

The panel, comprising (from left) Lim Guan Eng, Jeff Ooi, Khoo Kay Peng, Shahrizal Shaarani, Oon Yeoh, Lim Kit Siang, Tony Pua and Nik Nazmi. Photo by JASON LIM

It was a little bit like being in a courtroom, watching a family breakdown case unravel. A line-up of eloquent “kids,” took turns to speak up against their father figure, expressing their individual feelings of being let down by him and what they planned to do given their current situation. I use the analogy of “kids” here because of the way the government and mainstream media, like indifferent parents, semed to have sidelined their opinions almost entirely.

In actual fact, I was attending the Young Malaysians’ Forum, held on October 11 at the Kuala Lumpur & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall. The topic was “How to set Pak Lah free?” And while it may now be obvious to you who the father figure in discussion is, the “children” were a unique bunch of bloggers comprising Screenshooter Jeff Ooi, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, Khoo Kay Peng (the only non-blogger on the panel), Tony Pua, Shahrizal Shaarani, and veteran politician Lim Kit Siang. The forum was moderated by journalist and pod-caster Oon Yeoh and officiated by DAP member Lim Guan Eng.

(For more information on the forum and panel speakers, please click here.)

The premise of the forum was based on the opinion that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, affectionately known as Pak Lah to Malaysians, in his third year in office, has not fulfilled his promises to the Malaysian public such as coming down hard on corruption in the government and improving the economy.

Some disgruntled Malaysians, through blogs and alternative publications have speculated that this is a result of various obstacles - from Pak Lah wearing too many hats, to being controlled by members of his inner circle. Apart from being the prime minister, he also is the finance and internal security minister.

As can be expected, given the slant of the forum topic and the background of the panel speakers, (whilst I wouldn’t generalise them all as pro-opposition, they were all indeed very critical of the government), the forum was dominated by opposition sentiments.

Jeff Ooi and Lim Kit Siang, the two eldest “children,” talked about losing faith in Pak Lah’s abilities to fulfil his promises. Jeff was downright bitter about having been duped into voting for a man who he thought would be “Justice Pao” but had “turned out to be Pao Ka Liao.” Both their testimonies were mainly focused on instances of how their leader had let them down.

Nik Nazmi, the youngest speaker on the panel and a reformasi supporter, spoke on how he thought Pak Lah once had the chance to institute real change in the government but lost his freedom when he failed to reform the Cabinet. From his speech, Nik seemed to have faith in the prime minister’s good intentions for the nation, but first, “Pak Lah has to set himself free.”

Tony Pua, Sharizal Shaarani and Khoo Kay Peng touched on the need for all Malaysians to free their mindset first from a third-world mentality and apathy, before expecting change in the system to gain momentum. In their speeches, the three seemed to veer away from political pundit-ing and suggested activism instead as a means to induce the government to institute change upon itself.

All in, the forum did not turn out to be an all out rant against Pak Lah and his administration. Certainly harsh at times, the underlying theme of the forum was a forward looking, positive note, aimed at rallying Malaysians to constructively question the quality of their leadership. While this is well and good, what may really be the case, is the lack of answers from the man himself - a communication gap waiting to be filled.

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JASON LIM is assistant director of theCICAK.