Believing in the art of the possible

A FOOL and his money are soon elected. Thankfully, Malaysia’s 14th General Election rubbished that old adage. If elections are all about what politicians stand for, this one showed what people would no longer fall for.

In the process, multiple spinoffs have emerged. In the 1970s, Nobel Prize laureate Linus Pauling, although no doctor, was the one who made the world believe that doses of Vitamin C could keep the common cold at bay.

Four decades later, a former doctor’s breakfast supplement could morph, Paulinglike, into an article of faith that could make people head for their local pharmacy.

A WhatsApp picture of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad having a meal with his wife has gone viral. Its caption read “I may have uncovered the secret of Dr Mahathir’s longevity.” The alleged secret: Berocca, an effervescent supplement rich in Vitamin B, C and enough minerals to keep red blood corpuscles in fighting trim. Vitacare has stocked up and is bracing for the rush. A church steeple affixed with a lightning rod betrays a certain lack of confidence. So too are full-page ads congratulatory of the new government taken out by certain people who, in other circumstances, would have rather had a hole in their heads. It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but it might also be argued that flattery is the sincerest form of lying. And the speed at which things have changed! Who would have thought that Astro Awani or Bernama TV might have ever become the TV channels of choice? The air of a confessional seems to be descending over the country with telcos admitting to slowing down the real-time release of electoral results because they were told to. A great many lessons will have been learnt in the aftermath of the election like the difference between politics and cricket. Answer: in cricket, you’re out if you’re caught stealing a run.

In Malaysian politics and, especially in Parliament, absurdity was never considered a problem. Hopefully, it will now be a thing of the past.

There is a palpable air of hope out there, a born-again idealism that, with sincerity and a little luck, a great deal might be accomplished. Let us honour that ideal by not regressing to old habits.

We should, for example, not repeat the knee-jerk excesses of the previous administration like police reports ad nauseam,and clamping down on people for “insulting” the new premier.

One hopes that with so many years in politics he is, or should be, big enough to take it.

Dr Mahathir is certainly old enough to take it. Indeed, the Fire Department is getting slightly concerned with his birthdays especially when the candles have begun costing more than the cake.

With the elections over, now comes the hard part.

And it will be hard for without the cushion of a goods and services tax or high petroleum prices, maintaining fiscal discipline is going to be difficult.

And it looks like there might be more than a little pain going forward. The Prime Minister has talked about 17,000 “political appointees”.

Unfortunately, these new agencies have hired staff over the last five years and now many of them could be facing the prospect of sudden unemployment through no fault of their own.

Life is also going to be hard for Umno. Making a credible comeback in the present circumstances will take more than a herculean effort. Once it was the best thing since sliced bread; now it’s toast.

Worse still, Pakatan has come up with a sure-fire tagline for the next elections.

Prevent repeat offenders: Don’t re-elect them!