ARE THE DAYS OF THE PEA-BRAIN AND LOUD-MOUTH ORATORS AND PUBLIC DEBATORS OF OLD MALAYSIAN POLITICS OVER?

…CAN WE SEE BETTER EDUCATED AND QUALIFED MALAYSIANS OF ALL RACES TO COME TO THEIR SENSES AND GRAPPLE WITH MORE IMPORTANT AND PRESSING ISSUES WITHOUT MAKING A MOCKERY OF THE POLITICL SYSTEM AND THE CONSTITUTION – AND THEMSELVES?

By Mansor Puteh

Why are those people who are qualified shunning politics?

It seems those who are not so well educated are those who are eager to enter them.

The reasons are quite obvious. Politics do not require any other requirement; it is open to all and sundry.

The more a person can make a fool of himself, the more he is needed by the political parties.

So, few of those who are qualified had bothered to enter politics because they are not trained to do such things, which do not require and measure of self-respect.

Any self-respecting person who had other options would go elsewhere, leaving those who do not have much to lose, including their status as respectable humans who would enter the fray.

Some get to gain national prominence, while the others have to make do with local prominence at the state or district levels, where they can still benefit a lot from, as they always assume they have the connection and relationship with the politburo, further up.

The more a country is backward, the more such people can have their way.

In developed and advanced countries, they are left out in politics which only care for those who are qualified, as the ballgame is different, where the voters, too, expect them to be persons of high caliber.

Unfortunately, in Malaysia, which is a country which is not fully developed yet, so politics, too, are not fully developed.

And as such, those who enter politics have to insist that they belong there, and not because they have the minimum qualification to do so.

And unfortunately, too, in Malaysia, it seems that most of those who go into politics are mostly those who are not well educated.

Look at the faces of those who are making the most noise in the political rallies and the streets, they do not look like people who can lead anyone else to better himself; they also do not sound intelligent or interesting.

They are only so, because they know how to make noise and to distract others who do not seem to get bored listening to their diatribes dealing with topics which are pseudo-intellectual.

How many of them can do the same at other international forums? 

Most of them only have their first degrees at university. Even then they only pass through their examinations and did not excel.

So few of them are those who have impressive academic backgrounds.

Those who are better endowed with brains end up at the university teaching with some who find themselves working in government agencies.

In the end, those who know they do not have any future, with the unimpressive academic qualification are the ones who enter politics where they do and say anything they like.

Some of them managed to win in the party elections, but they always assume that they are also a test of their mettle, to prove that they have leadership quality.

They don’t. They are only good to administer their respective parties and not the countries.

Some of them end up in parliament, the state assemblies and cabinet.

So it is not a big surprise how the ministers of education and of higher education are those who do not have impressive academic qualification.

 And those who have been appointed minister of health are not doctors.

The deputy minister of health is a woman from Sabah. She is definitely not qualified to hold the post because she is not a good example of a woman who looks healthy.

She is obese.

In fact, she cannot be appointed to the cabinet because she is not a good example of anyone who knows how to look after her own body.

Once she gave a speech on a campaign to discourage young school children from eating too much, or else they could become obese.

Yes, she said that. This is a speech that was written by someone else who did not seem to realize how she, too, is obese.

In the past, when there were not too many Malayans who were educated, those who can shout the loudest can be heard more.

So they were said to be intelligent and who have leadership quality.

They can repeat the slogans that had been spouted by the others before them again and again.

And they were said to be good for the country.

But today, there are many Malaysians who are better educated and who have better qualification, so from this new generation of Malaysians can we count on to develop the country to take it a few steps further.

What use are those orators who can attract attention to themselves? They cannot do more than that. They do not have views that are good for the country.