In politics, labels matter

In politics, perception matters as much as reality. Political adversaries often try to craft “a label that sticks”, which can do wonders for political gains (and damaging if you are on the receiving end).

Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was labelled “the sleeping prime minister”. It didn’t matter that he suffered from obstructive sleep apnea and underwent surgery after his stepped down. When the label sticks, political opponents would exploit it and public perception will suffer a free-fall.

Under the current prime minister, opponents have not found a label that sticks – until now. Not even the ghost of a certain model hits a rhyme among the public. This RM 2.6 billion “donation”, however, will bring about severe backlash.

What’s the difference this time? It involves public office and public money. You can say it’s from the Middle East, but when this huge amount of money is perceived as a reward for some shady deals and mismanagement, people will think “it’s our money”. There are elements which can easily be construed as corruption, cronyism, abuse of power, and violation of electoral rules.

The construction of “the label that sticks” must have a certain amount of truth in it, of course. But the details are exaggerated for comic effect. Expect the opposition to bring up RM 2.6 billion at every opportunity, every ceramah, and every constituency. It would be an uphill task to defend the allegation.

What are you going to say? That it is okay for an elected representative whose salary does not come close to a million to hold RM 2.6 billion money in his personal account? That it is legal and “merely” used for party benefits?

And because the issue is not only well-known but admitted by MACC, this is not your typical sensational revelations from some random blogs. We are talking about The Wall Street Journal and a string of international (TIME, the Economist, etc.) and domestic media (Sinar Harian, The Malaysian Insider, etc.) which has since carried the story. In fact, on Thursday, “Najib Abdul Razak” was trending on Facebook!

Two years is such a long time in politics. During the 13th general election, Datuk Seri Najib Razak was more popular than Umno. He’s an asset, and hence the presidential-style campaign. Now, the leader is seen as a liability.

Whether Najib used the money for personal gains or for political funding, to benefit individual or party, or whether it’s legal or illegal, all that is secondary in the court of public opinion. The point is, RM 2.6 billion is deposited into the Prime Minister’s bank account. This would have caused a ruckus in any democratic country. In Japan, the leaders would have committed “harakiri” and stepped down.

The MACC’s investigation is halted by some forces. If this were to happen in other countries, we would say this is clearly a tactic of intimidation and obstruction to an ongoing anti-corruption investigation. They may have prevented legal criminal charges, for now, but ironically, this has only served to legitimise the perception of corruption and cover-ups in the court of public opinion. After all, if one has nothing to hide, why not just tell the truth? By the way, I couldn’t recall a time when public support for MACC is this high. This difficult time for MACC may also be the time for it to redeem public trust and restore the institution’s credibility and independence.

As for the prime minister, he would have to fight the “RM 2.6 billion” label for the longest time. Recent events will be dissected in history and academic journals; tainting his legacy as much as the Tun Salleh Abbas episode during Mahathir’s leadership.

His immediate concern, of course, should be containing the inevitable backlash in GE14. A walk in KL Sentral will not stop the incoming tsunami. Even some long-time Umno supporters are publicly rebuking and ridiculing the “donation” narrative. When the trust is this low, internal and external revolt can be expected. Umno Johor and Sabah are already “goyang” after the sacking of their strongman. This is what the opposition has been waiting for and Najib just gave it to them (This showed the extent of the risk he is willing to take). It may be that an individual is saved, but the whole party burned.

Anyway, I should stop here. You never know what’s going to happen next in a police-state. Suddenly, one can be arrested for “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy”. The law does not define what that means, so it’s a catch-all stipulation. Do you know what is really detrimental to parliamentary democracy? Passing and executing an arbitrary law which criminalises undefined “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy”.

By the way, RM 2.6 billion donation to a public office bearer with no strings attached? You must be part of the 3.85 CGPA club to believe that. – August 8, 2015. 

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