Jokers We Put Up Jokers We Must Bring Down

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Before I start linking jokers to cabinet ministers, I must caution myself to be extra careful with what I pen here.
On Wednesday, a police report was lodged against social media posts and an article for alleged insults against Health Minister Dr Adham Baba. The report was allegedly filed by a lawyer on behalf of Adham over the Spanish Fly/Spanish Flu gaffe involving the minister.
I’m not sure if this was the first time that Malaysians who have poked fun at ministers were threatened with police action, but I’m sure it would not be the last.
To comedians Douglas Lim, Harith Iskandar, Allan Perera and Jason Leong, thank you so much for making us laugh amidst these dark days but better watch your mouth too, guys! There are overly sensitive people up there who do not understand comedy. Don’t say you have not been warned!
Ah, take note that you are not Jimmy Fallon, who could mess up President Donald Trump’s hair on national TV. Neither are you Fox News anchors who have been digging in at “Sleepy Joe” Biden’s mental faculty of late.
Oh, this is Malaysia, after all, and our ministers are extremely protective of this thing we call “face”. Some find it impossible and totally shameful to lose “muka”, although strangely enough, they were unaware that they were unfit for the job in the first place.
For this article on jokers, the inspiration came from former Dewan Rakyat speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof, who took part in an online forum hosted by OHMSI Perdana Forum this week.




Former Dewan Rakyat speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof
On the larger question of what was wrong with Parliament, in relation to some MPs’ poor or bad behaviour, Ariff was quoted as saying that everyone needed to ask themselves that question.
“We have to ask what’s wrong with us? What’s wrong with me? (That) we have a bunch of jokers who create problems in the House.
“We put the jokers there, through the political set-up.
“But there are many of us who would blindly follow, blindly toe the party line, come what may. This is where things have to change,” Ariff concluded.
Of course, the ex-speaker is right. We, the voters, put the jokers up there in Parliament. We were responsible for that mistake.
When they failed us, we have to bring the jokers down. That’s the right action to take and within our power to do so.
Critics have claimed that Ariff was a Pakatan Harapan speaker and Azhar Azizan Harun, a Perikatan Nasional speaker. Is this a joke? No, it isn’t? Neither is it funny.
Exactly a year ago, in July 2020, I wrote in this column that “the speaker’s job is too big for Azhar Harun”.
I think I was proven right. The poor fella had been having a torrid time dealing with rowdy MPs ever since because there was little respect from the floor for a “joker” on the chair.
So, what has our oldest MP in the world been up to of late?
Dr Mahathir Mohamad has turned into a “joker” of sorts this week. Happily announcing that his new Pejuang party has finally been registered, he also made many others unhappy by going on a racist rant in a video that went viral.
I do not wish to go into detail about what the nonagenarian MP has said, but I can tell you that many who heard him now think of our two-time former prime minister as a “joke”, not to be taken seriously anymore. Sadly, this is serious, not a joke.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin
Oh, Muhyiddin Yassin, the unpopular, the unwanted and the untenable. He knows it, but he won’t resign.
The prime minister is also aware that many of his ministers are detested by a huge majority of the people, but he doesn’t care as long as they support him as prime minister. And they had done so yesterday.
Wait! The prime minister has also appointed a deputy prime minister, elevating Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to the post. Which makes many of us wonder what Ismail Sabri could do differently as deputy prime minister that he could not as senior minister in battling the Covid-19 pandemic?
We really want to know, Mr Muhyiddin, is this a prank?
On the other side of the political spectrum, there are also jokers – not those who make us laugh but those who frustrate us and make us angry.
At a time when opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has a fairly good chance to be PM at long last, a familiar issue that has haunted him for the past two decades rose again – allegations of sexual misconduct.
Muhammed Yusoff Rawther filed a civil suit in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur yesterday against the PKR president over an incident dating back to October 2018. This case was previously closed, and Anwar has denied any wrongdoing. Here we go again. Is this another sick joke?
Will someone please take on Anwar with something different, not the same old, monotonous, stale joke?
And what’s this joke on DAP’s Lim Guan Eng this week? A discussion on a government contract at 2am, as a court heard. Seriously, at 2am to discuss the Penang tunnel project.
Whether true or not, this came from a witness’ testimony in Lim’s corruption trial linked to the Penang undersea tunnel project.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng
DAP leaders, particularly those in Penang, please take careful note. You have been in the opposition. You excel in whacking those in power. Now, my advice to all of you is this - do not even think of discussing government contracts in a businessman’s house in the dead of night (at 2am). It’s very fishy!
Government projects should be discussed openly in the office during office hours. You got that, DAP folks? Otherwise, you will become the butt of jokes. And that won’t be funny, believe me.
In June last year, I had written that my dream for a new Malaysia is a totally clean slate – a fresh start with 222 new MPs. Like Covid-19, we should aim to flatten the curve once and for all. Now, I’m painfully aware that I will still have to deal with the same jokers as nothing much will change.
Why? Out of the 220 surviving MPs (two had passed on), none is prepared to step down.
The only way to bring these jokers down is to vote for a new candidate, after which you have to hope and pray that he or she will not turn out to be yet another joker.

If so, good luck Malaysia. We deserve to be in the rut we are in now. - Mkini


FRANCIS PAUL SIAH is the author of Hijack in Malaysia: The Fall of Pakatan Harapan. Obtain autographed copies from [email protected]

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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