Anwar doesn’t seem to understand why there is so much fuss about pinning a badge of the Malaysian flag on the chest of Malaysian schoolchildren.
“Just stick it on. We’re giving the flag (badges) to the students for free, what’s so difficult?” he wondered out in exasperation, when so many people were making a mountain out of a molehill about the matter.
Many people, by the way , are indeed making a big deal about the matter of the schoolkids badge.
Yesterday ( 27 March), for example, Gerakan president Dominic Lau poured cold water on the initiative by urging the education ministry to look beyond such surface-level initiatives, and suggested that the school curriculum be revised to instil patriotic values and nurture interethnic harmony instead.
If you think that only opposition parties are making a big fuss about Anwar’s initiative, think again.
MCA’s education consultative committee deputy chairman, Felicia Wong, although welcoming the move on the surface, couldn’t help but pull the rug under the feet of the initiative, by asking the government to to focus on deeper education reforms and transparency in the procurement process.
It is not just politicians who are finding fault with what the schoolkids badge.
The Melaka Action Group for Parents in Education was even more direct in its consternation .
The ministry’s initiative would be a waste of time and money if children are not raised with values of unity and tolerance, it said, to let it be known plainly that of its disdain of the initiative.
Now if you understand Malaysian culture, you will understand that if Malaysians don’t like someone who they think is getting out of line, they will relay their dissatisfaction by picking on the tiniest fault that they can find in them.
As a writer, for example, I know that my readers think I am out of line, when they start harping on about my spelling, even if they understand what I wrote.
The Era FM DJ fiasco or the KK Mart Ham sandwich controversy are more national examples of how Malaysians have a tendency of nit-picking and exaggerating a small fault, in order to convey their displeasure at the person, race or identity group that they have taken offense against and compel them to toe the line.
Going by that reasoning, rather than wonder why people are making such a big issue of such a small matter like a school badge, maybe what Anwar needs to do is just understand that people are just displeased with him, and are using small issues like the badge to tell him that they want him to modify his behaviour or toe the line.
Why are people displeased with him ?
Well, if by people, we mean the non-Malays, then I would that the non-Malays are probably displeased with him with the way he is too concerned about the Palestine issue or how his government handled the Jalan Masjid India temple relocation or the KK Mart ham sandwich issue, amongst others.
Should he do anything about people being displeased with him?
I don’t think so – under the mood that we are in, I doubt that there is anything that he or anyone can do to make the majority of Malaysians like anyone in our government.
Regardless of whether it is Anwar or Muhyiddin, Hadi or Zahid, whoever it is that form the government today, will be disliked by the majority of Malaysians and there is nothing that they can do to change this situation, because if they try to make any segment of Malaysians like them, it will likely cause the other segment of Malaysians to dislike them.
I think the winning approach in the mood that Malaysians are in right now, is to make everybody dislike you equally, but not so much that they don't think that you are one of them anymore.
I think it is quite likely that from the blowback that Anwar is getting from the school badge issue, the ones that are disliking him now are the non-Malays.
This is not necessarily a negative development.
Previously, it is the Malays who disliked Anwar while the non-Malays were in turn, very appreciative of him.
Now that the non-Malays are starting to dislike him more, it will likely follow that the Malays will start to like him more.
If Anwar balances it just right, I am quite sure that he will arrive at a sweet spot where the Malays might just like him enough to think that he is not against them, which will then add to the percentage of Malay support that PH has, without making the non-Malays dislike him so much that they no longer think that he is one of them, and cause cost PH to lose their support.
Add the net support that he will get from this balancing act, with the advantage of power and position that the incumbent government has, while subtracting the losses that the opposition is accruing by not balancing their appeal, as well as subtracting the loss of strength the opposition is experiencing on account of the success that the government is having in hammering the opposition, I imagine that if election is held today, Anwar is still bound to win it, despite no one liking him, simply because no one dislikes him enough to not think that he is against them or not one of them.
All that Anwar has to do is bear with the irritation of being undermined for the pettiest and most trivial of issues, the schoolkid's badge issue being the latest example, without making it worse by lashing out excessively, and come election time, when people have to choose somebody to form the government, it will still be Anwar and PH that most people in the country will vote for, not because they have faith in Anwar and PH, but simply because they have nothing better to choose from.
I think the best that any party or political leader can do in the mood that Malaysians are in today, is win by not having anyone dislike you intensely enough to think that you are against them, even if no one likes you well enough to think that you are one of them.
TheRealNehruism 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 Newswav.
