Now, in this post, I am not going to argue as to whether it is fair to categorize what BN Negeri Sembilan did to PH Negeri Sembilan as a betrayal. Instead, I am just going to attempt to give a framework as to how it should be judged, to provide us with a context as to how to judge it.
Now, for context, PH is building a narrative that the political crisis in Negeri Sembilan, which peaked to the point that it required a snap election to be called, is due to the betrayal of BN. According to PH figures like MB Aminuddin Harun and PH leader Anwar Ibrahim, what BN did is tantamount to a betrayal because PH and BN had a deal, but BN betrayed it.
Now, the framework that I believe we should use to judge this claim is the nature of the PH-BN relationship — is it a traditional relationship or a transactional relationship?
A traditional relationship is like a marriage — you are in it for the long run, through thick and thin, in good times and bad times, in sickness and in health. If you formed a relationship with someone on the basis of marriage, and you leave them abruptly in bad times or in sickness, it is a betrayal.
A transactional relationship, however, is event-based — each event is complete by itself, without any long-term implications. A transactional relationship, for example, is the one you have with a restaurant you frequent. Just because you have been to a restaurant many times in the past, it doesn't mean you have to go to it again in the future. Tomorrow, if you find a new restaurant offering a better price or better food, you can go to that new restaurant without the concept of betrayal defining your decision.
Betrayal doesn't define your decision, even if you leave abruptly or when the restaurant you used to frequent was having trouble, because every occasion that you patronised the restaurant is complete in itself — you take your food and pay for it, and every time you pay for it, the relationship is complete. After it is complete, neither do you owe the restaurant anything, nor does the restaurant owe you anything.
Now, if we see the PH-BN relationship as more of a traditional relationship, then we should judge it in terms of its tenure and as to who left whom in the lurch. If the relationship ended abruptly because one side is refusing to carry the other side in good times, or if one side is refusing to stay with the other side in bad times, then this amounts to betrayal.
But if we see the PH-BN relationship as transactional, then we should judge it in terms of what the agreement is, what the price is, and what was paid. If PH had a deal with BN today, and PH paid BN's price today, while BN gave PH what it wanted today, then the transaction is complete.
Tomorrow, PH and BN are not tied to yesterday's deal. Tomorrow, PH and BN will require a new deal. If either PH or BN cannot agree on a price and payment, or if either side finds another "restaurant" or "customer" that is willing to pay more or offer a better price, then either of them is free to form a new arrangement with the new party, without needing to feel burdened by the guilt that they have betrayed the other.
Now, when we judge the relationship between PH and BN, we should perhaps use certain helpful labels to define their relationship, to see just how much tradition and transactionality make up that relationship.
If we see their relationship as more traditional than transactional, then we should label their relationship as a marriage, and judge them as we would judge our husband or wife.
If we see it as more transactional than traditional, then we should label their relationship as a client-service provider relationship, and judge them as we would judge our client or service provider.
If we see it as half transactional and half traditional, then we should judge them in the same way we judge our colleagues at work or our neighbours.
As voters, this is how we should judge their relationship before giving our verdict, in the form of how we vote on polling day.
TheRealNehruism (nehru.sathiamoorthy@gmail.com) 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!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.
