The missing plane and our Mulla Nasrudins

Mulla Nasrudin, the proverbial Sufi saint, was one day crawling on his hands and knees on the road, frantically searching for something under a streetlight.

A passer-by, seeing the sight of the man in a position unbecoming of a Mulla, asked, "Mulla, what have you lost?”

“I am searching for my key,” replied Nasrudin.

“I'll help you look,” said the man, and joined Mulla Nasrudin in the search.

Soon both men became exhausted. After some time, the man asked Nasrudin, “Tell me, Mulla, do you remember where exactly you dropped the key?”

The good Mulla pointed at the darkness, saying: “Over there, in my house. I lost the key inside my house.” The shocked passer-by shouted, “Then why are you searching for the key out here in the street?”

“Because there is more light here than inside my house," was Nasrudin's nonchalant reply.

This parable from the exploits of Mulla Nasrudin comes to mind when reading the frustrating news reports over the last week on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370.

But the question is not whether we are searching in the right place, for if it's the right place, there is no need to search. The question is, are we searching in the right direction? With countless contradictory statements from countless spokesmen, we have missed the chance to show leadership to a shocked world.

The disappearance of the plane came at a time when there were talks of a second Reformasi, following the court judgement on opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim over something where the sun doesn't shine. The main purpose of relaunching such a movement is to highlight injustices to a world audience. The last time it happened, in 1998, it caught the imagination of youngsters who had then just graduated only to find lack of jobs to commensurate their academic qualifications. They poured into the streets, punching the air with shouts of "Reformasi" and soon caught the attention of the world media, which by and large sympathised with their plight. The Malaysian government never totally recovered from the damage to its credibility.

The news of the missing plane, however, totally eclipsed whatever second wave of reformasi was being planned. Yet, the truth is that the worldwide attention to Malaysian authorities which followed the incident has proved more effective in exposing the Malaysian government than any number of protests or tear gas attacks could.

It was perhaps never imagined even by the most cynical Malaysian that the plane incident would turn into one of embarrassment rather than tragedy. For a crisis of this proportion, Malaysia would have gotten all the sympathies it deserved. But alas, the media comments on Malaysia's handling of the situation paint a completely different picture.

Contrast this to the immediate hours and days after the 9/11 attacks in New York in 2001. Despite the arguments, and justified ones, by critics of American policies that the attacks were a case of the chickens coming home to roost, there was still an outpouring of sympathy for the US. This is in spite of the fact that the only difference between the 9/11 attacks and the US military's continuous bombings of Afghan villages is that those behind 9/11 used human missiles, while the US military was behind a video-game-like console to launch so-called precision missiles. Of course, that sympathy was squandered by whatever took place in the weeks after September 2001.

While it is no fault of MAS or our government that the plane could not be located despite the most sophisticated equipment at their disposal, the way politicians and ministers jostled to get a slice of the rare global limelight is shameful and would indeed be comical if it weren't for the fact that 239 people might have perished. Even former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein saw the need to appoint only one spokesman to address the global media in the weeks leading to the US invasion of Baghdad in 2003. The fact that Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, or Comical Ali, turned out to be a comic is another matter. At least the government had one voice (which was probably why it made invading Baghdad a walk in the park!).

The New York Times' observation of the servile nature of our leadership is apt in as much as it is a chilling reminder of the way this country's leaders have managed every sphere they got their hands on.

The Mulla Nasrudins are littered everywhere, from ministers to department heads, dangling out non-solutions to a host of problems. Whether it is the economy, public transport, the education system or religious bureaucracies, they have gained notoriety for their problem-solving and crisis-management skills.

Of course, by saying this, one is not absolving the head honcho of the blame, as is the case with some rare commentaries published by our mainstream dailies, which usually have a free hand lambasting ministers while sparing the prime minister and his inner circle.

It is tragic that the lives of 239 people may have to be sacrificed for the world to see the mentality of our government leaders.

The good news is, when this crisis is long over, hopefully with a miraculously happy ending, the world will forget the incompetent people at the helm of the crisis and we can still salvage whatever pride we have as Malaysians.

The bad news is: these same incompetent people will be back to their old task of managing our affairs. – March 15, 2014.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.