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By Mihar Dias January 2025
We once met an elderly lady in a lift. Sixty floors is a long ride, but Malaysian politics has taught us that even a minute is enough to decide the fate of nations — or at least to form a strong opinion about who should be prime minister.
She didn’t waste time. Like a seasoned VC with a captive audience and a closing bell approaching, she delivered her pitch on Khairy Jamaluddin (KJ) somewhere between the 12th and 38th floors. It was crisp. Undeniable. And, like most things Malaysian, both hopeful and deeply ironic.
“Smart boy,” she said.
“Speaks well.”
“Knows the system.”
“And importantly — acceptable to everyone.”
That last word hovered in the lift like Muzak: acceptable.
Reading Fa Abdul’s sober, principled critique of the KJ–Ong Kian Ming fantasy alliance, one cannot help but imagine that elderly lady nodding politely, pressing the “close door” button on accountability, and saying, “Yes yes, all that is true… but we need someone who can win.” https://newswav.com/A2601_LCsBy5?s=A_M39vcK1&language=en And there it is. The entire Malaysian political thesis, summarised before reaching the 60th floor.
Fa is right, of course. Hope is not enough. History matters. Accountability cannot be postponed indefinitely like a broken lift stuck between levels. KJ did not merely pass through Umno; he redecorated the lobby.
During 1MDB, he wasn’t a whistleblower trapped between floors — he was part of the in-house sound system urging unity while the building burned.
But here is where the old lady’s pitch — cynical, worldly, unburdened by political theory — answers Fa not with denial, but with a shrug.
“Of course he defended Najib,” she might say.
“Of course he stayed.”
“That’s how you survive long enough to become prime minister.”
In sixty floors, there is no time for moral philosophy. Only for realpolitik.
Fa asks whether KJ has truly rejected race-based politics or merely polished it until it sounds gentler. https://newswav.com/A2601_LCsBy5?s=A_M39vcK1&language=en
The lady in the lift would likely smile and say, “Better polite racism than loud racism. At least the ride is quieter.”
This is not a defence of the system — it is an admission of it.
And here is the truly Malaysian twist Fa doesn’t fully entertain: KJ’s biggest endorsement may not come from Ong Kian Ming, Tajuddin Rasdi, or weary progressives yearning for a third force. It may come, paradoxically, from Umno and Anwar Ibrahim themselves.
Because nothing certifies a future prime minister like being harmless enough to the old order and hopeful enough to the disillusioned.
Umno can live with KJ. They raised him. Anwar can live with KJ. He neutralises Bersatu and drains Umno Youth nostalgia without threatening the moral high ground too loudly. Reformists can live with KJ because he speaks in complete sentences and doesn’t shout about religion before breakfast.
Everyone gets something. No one gets justice in full.
Fa insists — rightly — that a true third force must begin with values, not personalities. https://newswav.com/A2601_LCsBy5?s=A_M39vcK1&language=en
The elderly lady would counter, still smiling as the doors open: “Values don’t win elections. Coalitions do.”
And so KJ becomes not the break from the past, but the compromise with it — a man smooth enough to convince Malaysians they are moving forward while the building remains the same, only repainted.
Is that cynical? Yes.
Is it dishonest? Possibly. Is it believable? Entirely.
As the lift reaches the 60th floor, the lady steps out, turns back, and delivers her closing line — the kind Art Buchwald would have loved:
“Malaysia doesn’t elect saints. We elect survivors. And KJ has survived everyone.”
The doors close.
The pitch ends.
And Putrajaya, as always, remains several floors above accountability.
Mihar Dias (mihardias@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!
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