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By Mihar Dias (C) Copyright February 2023
One morning, during my walk at the Lake Gardens in Kuala Lumpur a fellow walker asked me what I knew about the Madani concept.
When I told him that I have a vague idea of what Anwar meant, he went on an unstoppable tirade giving me his unsolicited views of why it would never be fully transmitted to the grassroots and that it would fizzle out just like all others developed by the three previous prime ministers, like Najib, Muhyiddin and Ismail Sabri.
"Of all the four, MADANI has a meaning that reflects on what is really happening in the country. For me, it means "Mad About Doing Absolutely Nothing Important".
"Why would you say something like that about a concept based on the Prophet's effort to bring unity among warring tribes of Medinah in Saudi Arabia in the 7th century?" I enquired.
"By the way Anwar never said that!" he replied.
"Oh, ok. Sorry I didn't know that. I thouught he did mention over TV recently. Ok so what are you driving at?"
"You see, Madani government started by talking about getting alternatives. If the chicken was expensive the government said, eat something else. If coffee was above RM3 then try another brand. Then if a restaurant's price was too high boycott the place!"
That reminds me of an MP who said “Bettering cost of living is closely related to grassroots implementation and enforcement, not just simply advising on boycotting shops and goods.”
"I know all that too. What am I supposed to do here?" I asked him.
"They are mad! Mad dah ni. You tell me, if you're a minister you do not want to advocate a boycott if you're planning on promoting harmony. You don't ask people to get alternatives if they can't get chicken at a fair price. Do you have any alternative to chicken? Birds? Madani is for birds! Yes, sir!"
Just then we passed by a flock of pigeons. He turned around loudly pronounced, "Next they'll tell us to eat pigeons since there's no chicken, you'll see."
"Yes, after all we're already eating quails. So, pigeons are quite similar, aren't they?" I egged him on.
He nodded his head in agreement.
"You know this Madani government is also passionate, madly obsessed with eggs for the people. In all the years, I have lived here, we never imported eggs from India. Chilies, spices, onions, potatoes and Alfonse mangoes may be but never eggs." My fellow walker went on.
"Why would you say that?" I asked.
"Because we are a nett exporter of eggs. We export our eggs just like we do, our chickens. Mostly to Singapore." He replied.
He's right. I thought. When our chicken price was sky high, the last PM stopped exports of the birds and price stabalised. We were not popular with Singaporeans but we had chickens.
"In January and February, vegetable prices hit the ceiling. The growers said bad weather destroyed crops. Some smart cookies said not to eat expensive vegetables. Then everyone in the government advocated growing our own. Mat Sabu assured everyone by June there'll be plenty of vegetables again because we are planning to grow more. Meanwhile, February is hardly over and my wife complains about the price of vegetables in the market!"
I responded, "you seem upset with our Madani government!"
He replied "I told you the government is passionate to the point of being madly in love with what they are doing. But how does it affect us. They go on a witch hunt about the opposition, the Pandora's papers, the corruption, nepotism and cronyism amongst their predecessors. What do they do for innocents like us?"
"I heard they called former PM and finance minister, arrested some big shot from BERSATU when it's going to end?" I enquired.
My fellow walker who is suffering from bipolar disorder replied "You know something they have their own definition of nepotism. That is if you work for free for your dad it's ok! The Speaker and Ministers may do so without it being considered as nepotism. Do you remember a former PM's wife who was caught on tape saying, 'Darling, darling can I advice you something' she also did provide same service on pro bono basis. But was later charged in courts for rewarding herself with millions from project funds! That's nepotism of the highest order. It's almost like incest!"
I thought that was rather extreme. But I was not about to contradict him wanting to avoid bringing out the worse side of his personality.
I knew PMX was making a mistake appointing his daughter to advice him as Finance Minister. Then when people objected she was moved to a joint Secretariat of an advisory council for the Finance Minister.
Anyway, I was about to explain to my bipolar walker about an attempt by the administration to address the issue of nepotism when I was cut off. "That's still advising the Finance Minister as a member of the secretariat. They can fool some people some of the time! But I can see through the smoke screen!"
We walked past the giant canopy in the Lake Gardens a second time around and he said, "This government makes a big deal about fighting corruption but the elephant in the room they don't want to see! Gajah depan mata tak nampak?"
"What elephant?" I asked him.
"The DPM!"
Oh, I see. He meant one of the Deputy PM who's facing corruption charges in courts.
Just then my friend the walker decided to raise the point about PM flying off to Turkey on Valentine's Day.
"Then the PM spent government funds to fly to Turkiye for a day while Parliament is in session. Isn't that mad?"
I didn't reply.
He went on. "Lately, we are mad about hemline of skirts at police stations, hospitals, government offices and when visiting an MP at the Parliament. Don't we have anything else better to do? Also, I am not happy about our leader washing dirty linnen in public. Everywhere he goes he talka about corruption in Malaysia. That's bad!"
I share his views but chose to remain silent.
"But the worse part of this madness is the idea about raising taxes to pay of our trillion ringgit debt. We don't need a minister to think of a solution like that. Just tax the people more, any dumb guy could suggest that!"
He started to walk away from me and before he said goodbye he turned around and stared at my face and blurted out loud, "Our country "Mad Dah Ni, real mad dah ni!"
In sum, I tend to agree with what Hishamuddin said in Parliament recently, “I’m sure the government is more capable than that!".
"Hishammuddin highlighted the issue of rising costs of living as important and of concern to the nation. He lamented that increasing costs of basic necessities are impacting the people’s pockets.
"Despite the problem of the high cost of living being a global phenomenon and not limited to Malaysia, he urged the government to still play a role in mitigating it." (The Vibes)
Anwar's 100th day in office is almost upon us. I hope you guys have a lot of good things to say about him. More than just being mad dah ni like my fellow walker, the bipolar guy!
Mihar Dias is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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