Open letter to Malaysian: Why do we need to learn history?

Dear Malaysians,

1. Today, the Prime Minister has appointed a controversial figure (let us name him Mr KJ) to become a Minister. Since we are living in a free and open democracy, please allow me to give my opinion on this appointment.

2. Firstly, I respect the Prime Minister prerogative in appointing his cabinet but that does not mean we should stay silent.

3. Exactly 30 years ago, a controversial bloke (let us called him Mr AI) was appointed as a full minister - Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports. He was appointed to this ministerial position after he defeated SK for the Youth Leader position the year before. He was also at that time a member of Parliament after winning the PP seat.

Today, Mr KJ was appointed to the same ministerial position after winning the Youth Leader position and Parliamentary seat.

4. When Mr AI defeated SK for the Youth Leader position in a heated party election, there were cries of  'politik wang' or in a laymen term - rasuah. Coincidentally, when Mr KJ became Youth Leader in a heated election there were also shouts of rasuah...rasuah...rasuah.

5. AI was and still is considered the best in terms of oratory skill in Malaysian politics. Many of the world dictators are brilliant orator - Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini. Mao, etc . In Multi level marketing (MLM), you sell yourself and your product to get people attention. In Pasar Seni, fraudsters sells snake oil to get people attention and usually they will show documents and so called 'evidence' to get people attention.

Back in the old days, Mr AI used Islam as his products and his involvement in many different youth and Islamic societies as a testimonial of his abilities and capabilities. Back then, whoever tried to criticize Mr AI, they were chided as being jealous (the J-word). Of course, as Mr AI progressed in the political scene, he slowly changed his product from Islam to the Malay agenda. However, today, Mr AI talks about liberalization and acceptance of gay rights.

Similarly, Mr KJ is also a good orator. He uses his academic credential as his testimonial. When someone try to criticize him, his supporters will throw the J-word. His products? When he first came to prominence, he was selling the Malay agenda as his product. He was so adamant of this agenda that one of his goons  provoked the then Youth Leader to show 'the keris'. However, lately, he has change his tune and try to re-brand his product similar to what Mr AI did.

6. Just five months after joining a political party, Mr AI was appointed Deputy Minister at the PM Office. During this short period of time, he recruited a lot of his friends from ABIM, and at the PM office, he started scheming and planning. One of his friend that he managed to brought over was also known as KJ! In fact Mr AI has two close friends named KJ. When Mr AI became Youth Leader, most of his supporters are already well-placed in the party hierarchy.

 Similarly, Mr KJ also had a short but destructive time at the DPM/PM office. He did better than Mr AI by marrying the DPM daughter in 2001. When the DPM became PM, his status went from Special Officer to the DPM -> Deputy Principal Private Secretary to the PM. There, he recruited a lot of his pals from around the world. This period of time is known as The Fourth Floor era. The effect of misrule and silly policies from the Fourth Floor Boys is still being felt until today. If you do not know what the Fourth Floor Boys is and their effects to the nation, please ask Uncle Google.

 7. It will be most interesting to see in the next couple of years how Mr KJ will use his position to influence the youth. My bet is that he will exactly do what Mr AI did when he was KBS and then later on, Education Minister. Back then, Mr AI abused his position to make himself an idol for the youth. Instead of promoting UMNO as a brand, he was promoting himself as the brand. This self-branding was continued in a large scale effort when he was appointed Minister of Education.

For the past 5 years, Mr KJ has done nothing as Youth Leader to improve the perception amongst the youth towards his party. Instead, he was busy promoting KJ as the brand, as a result he is considerably well-known in the social media world. This is just a sample of things to come.

8. The fact that a lot of the so called 'anti-rasuah' generals and brigades are congratulating him is just sickening. It shows that Malaysian are forgetful lot (mudah lupa). It also shows that rasuah is not really a problem as long as the toll price, the car price, the petrol price, the price of groceries and whatever else are cheap.

9. There is no such thing as new politics. Politics is old. When Mr AI was DPM, he used his minions in the mainstream media to project an aura of 'greatness'. Mr KJ uses social media to project his 'greatness'. At the end of the day, the objective and the desired result is still the same.

Mr Prime Minister, you were with Mr AI since the Youth days, are you too blind to see that Mr KJ is exactly like him? I do understand it is politically suicidal if Mr KJ was not given a position since he has branded himself well especially amongst the youth. So in GE14, please put him in a mixed or Chinese majority seat in Klang Valley.

10. Sulaiman Palestine once warned TDM to be careful of Mr AI. Now, I would like to remind the Prime Minister and the whole Malaysian to learn from history.

* Images were taken from http://chedinsphere.blogspot.com/