Ho Ho Ho Corruption Good Liberal Secularism Bad

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Apparently there was a celebration of some sort in Putrajaya last Monday. I wasn’t invited and I’m feeling slighted. Perhaps it is time to consider who my real friends are.
Could it have been a Christmas celebration, held a little bit early, I wondered. That’s indeed possible, because Christmas is celebrated very early in Malaysia. The next Christmas is only 11-plus months away, so it’s time to start hustling.
Christmas celebrations take short breaks for Chinese New Year and Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Aidiladha, then restart with a vengeance. As is traditional, the festivities steamroll over Deepavali, which lately is just a one-day break on the way to the 25th of December.
Supporting the likelihood that the Putrajaya celebrations was a Christmas one was the sighting of Santa Claus – that plumpish guy with white hair and dressed in Santa’s traditional colour: orange. He’s well known for bestowing (and receiving) gifts from princes and kings, though apparently he’s calling in some favours now.
That some of the people celebrating were in green backs this theory up. Green recalls the colour of the evergreen pine Christmas trees, which originated from the holy land of the Middle East.
The connections are there for all to see.
Only politics, not Xmas?
Some, however, claim it was a demonstration by members of the Islamic party PAS and its little brother Bersatu. There were a smattering of other parties as well, including a few I thought had gone extinct.
Prayers were also held in various places, including temples, to demonstrate how multicultural Malaysia is when it comes to Santa Claus.
I could be wrong, and I suspect there could be political explanations about these parades. After all, Putrajaya is not a holy site for any major religion, except for political pilgrims who congregate there regularly with wishes and prayers they want either the prime minister or the Almighty to grant.
Our Jan 6 moment
A couple of ex-prime ministers were in the crowd. I can’t identify which ex-PMs they were, because we have so many of them. Even the current PM could’ve been there for all I know, though unlikely to be flying any banners or singing any songs as in the good old days.
The headlines are claiming this was actually a celebration involving all the major Malaysian institutions such as politicians, the courts, royalty etc. I’m surprised it wasn’t declared a public holiday, though if the government changes soon, it could still be retroactively declared as one.
If you’re an ordinary citizen like me, you must be feeling rather shocked at what’s happening. Are we, like the US, having our very own Jan 6 moment in our political capital? Do we have a convicted criminal hogging the political headlines? Are we also trying to make something (corruption? cronyism?) great again?
The greatest sin
They’re clearly not trying to make another ism – secularism – great again. PAS has come out and painted secularism as the biggest of the big sins. It’s probably a bigger sin than the previous ism of liberalism, and I guess we’ll be hearing a lot more about it.
PAS and Bersatu and a few other political parties whose names I have forgotten were very excited about being in Putrajaya that day. Umno, which played it coy, decided to ditch the proceedings at the last minute, though it still was ably represented by some of the usual suspects.
I now believe the main reason they were there was the poor conditions of Malaysian prisons. In their mind, this situation requires a radical, innovative rethink, such as housing some convicted criminals in their own house.
If that’s so, I’d say more power to them! This is a time-honoured Malaysian tradition of taking public services and privatising it to politicians, whether current or retired. Funnily enough, it could be called IPP, or Independent Prison for Politicians. We’ve been down that road before.
Corruption, ho-hum
PAS, fresh from the triumph of whipping a man for committing adultery in Terengganu, has also gone on record as saying corruption isn’t a big deal. After all, it is just a matter of consensual give and take between two parties.
As long as there’s no illicit sex involved, they’re OK with showing humane treatment for criminals convicted of corruption.
I do wonder, though, where would PAS be if people convicted of corruption were also sentenced to be caned? That might be too good to pass on. So, what to do? Cane them in their own home, perhaps?
Becoming PM
DAP was there in spirit. Apparently they’re the most powerful political force in the country according to PAS and Bersatu and many in Umno too.
Given that many of these critics also harbour political ambitions of becoming a PM – or PM again – why not just join DAP, bring along enough seats to form a government, and later do a Mahathir Mohamad and kick out those who helped you become a PM?
That, again, is another time-honoured Malaysian political tradition, along with throwing your political opponents into prison, or perhaps house arrest, when you’re in power.
Been there, seen all that, nothing surprises me any more.
Be as corrupt as you can be, break whatever oaths or pledges you’ve taken, make sure you have powerful friends willing to come out on a working day to demonstrate on your behalf, and more.
But never ever be a liberal secularist fornicator. You’ll feel real pain in your backside if you are one. - FMT
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

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