One of the claims that that we frequently hear in Malaysia, is that the common people in Malaysia actually loves our multiracial composition and are given to live in harmony with each other, but it is our politicians that frequently stir division and enmity amongst us, by focusing on our differences in a bigoted and prejudiced manner.
When we meet our fellow Malaysian on the street, we might be inclined to believe that there is a truth to this claim, because none of the people we meet will appear to us as being prejudiced or bigoted against us on account of our race, religion, colour or creed, although a big part of our political discussion tends to be centred around race and religion in highly bigoted and prejudicial manner.
On the face of it, this discrepancy might indeed validate the claim that it is not the people, but the politicians that are causing the issue of prejudice and bigotry to arise in the country.
However, this is another explanation to this phenomenon, which is that our experience of everyday Malaysia is not mired in prejudice and bigotry, but our politics is, because the common people in Malaysia might simply be sub-contracting their prejudices and bigotry to their politicians.
We might subconciously inclining ourselves to vote for politicians who are willing to be racist and bigoted on our behalf, so that we ourselves don't have to be racist and bigoted in our own lives.
That is why in person, most of our politicians are actually not as bigoted or prejudiced as their public persona might indicate them to be.
They might have just developed a bigoted and prejudiced public persona, because politicians quickly became aware in the course of their career, that unless they are willing to carry out the bigotry and prejudice of the people they represent, they will not be able to reach or connect with their target audience.
In other words, they understand that in order to win the vote of the people, they have to advocate for the racism and bigotry of the people, while at the same time resigning themselves to accept the accusation that it is because of them that racism and bigotry is rife in the country, to allow the people to continue to live under the pretension that the people themselves do not have an ounce of racist or bigoted bone in them, and that if the country suffers from bigotry and prejudice, it is only because the politicians are causing it.
For doing the dirty work of the people so that the people can continue to believe that they are clean, the politicians will then feel justified to steal from the people.
That is also why most decent, fair and principled people tend to shy away from politics, although a career in politics, on the face of it, offers a lot of opportunities, satisfaction and can even be considered a job that offers lucrative perks and income.
They tend to shy away from politics, because they instinctively realise that people will not be in favour of them for their virtues - they will only be able to attract people to vote for them, if they display a willingness to represent the bigotry and prejudices of the people.
Einstein has once observed, that “the world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it.”
When we study his observation in the light of the relationship between a politician and the people, we can perhaps surmise that the world is not in a peril because politicians commit evil - it is more likely in peril because common people tend to encourage, tolerate and empower their politicians, only if they are willing to manifest the worse impulses in the people.
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