Malaysiakini : Keep in mind that the political persecution narrative is used by both sides of the political divide.
Everyone from Anwar to DAP chairperson Lim Guan Eng has sought refuge in this defence and it worked well for the base.
The
political persecution defence is a good galvanising talking point for
the faithful. The problem is that it is also a double-edged sword.
This
particular narrative is only effective when you are the underdog and
have a loyal base. Umno is not only unpopular but also “leaches” support
from PKR.
Umno now has an effective strategy in dealing with other political operatives that have pending charges by the state.
Tommy Thomas the main target?
After
all, if there was political persecution against one political
operative, why not others? The main target is, of course, former
attorney-general Tommy Thomas - who did himself no favours in writing
his memoirs the way he did.
I have no doubt the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) is going to quote from the memoir and establish a prima facie case that the executive branch was extremely influential in getting charges brought against specific individuals.
If you read Thomas’ memoirs, he makes it very easy for the disingenuous to make a case against the system.
Furthermore,
who was in government when the old maverick carried out these political
persecutions? The answer, of course, is the very people who are running
the show now, minus Bersatu.
The PN base is not going to look at
Muhyiddin Yassin, former prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, or even the
old maverick for answers. Why? It is simple, they want the people in
power to answer those questions.
Saying that PN did the same thing
is not going to put their voters into your camp. Mind you, it may work
if PN was currently in power but voters, especially PN supporters, want
to see corruption being tackled from the top down.
Keep in mind
that PN is a populist religious movement and when PN supporters see
elites getting away with alleged corruption, they are not going to hold
their leaders accountable - they are going to hold people with actual
power accountable.
And
the more you give life to the political persecution narrative, the more
you feed into the victimhood narrative of certain PN political
operatives.
Now when PN politicians are investigated by the state, they are going to whine that they are being politically persecuted.
They
always say this but now it carries more weight because the base sees
that the government will let off its friends but would persecute its
adversaries.
Besides laying the blame at Mahathir’s doorstep, it just creates more drama, especially when he responds to these allegations.
When
he does, I am sure Mahathir is going to throw many more people under
the bus and all this will be used by PN propagandists to paint a picture
of systemic malfeasances.
Honestly, at this point, the old
maverick is a spent force and I truly believe the mandarins in PN just
put his name forward as some sort of figurehead to troll Harapan.
Do
not for one moment think that I believe political persecution is not an
abuse by the state. I know far too many people who have been unjustly
persecuted by the state.
But when both sides engage in “whataboutisms”, it becomes a political theatre.
This is exactly what happened in Parliament recently. This is what the PN base wants to see. They want to see their political operatives standing up to power.
They want to see their chosen ones attempting to highlight governmental abuse in Parliament. They do not care about details.
This is the problem with partisanship. Nobody cares about the little details. It is about winning the perception game.
What
PN is successfully doing is portraying itself as the cleaner
alternative to the decades of Umno’s corruption, which the
then-opposition zealously highlighted but who are now kowtowing to
because they want to deny PN power.
This is a powerful, yet simple narrative that is being used effectively by PN.
Think
of it this way. The rakyat is going through economic difficulties. The
Madani government may very well be introducing policies to mitigate the
hardship but nobody can see it.
What they can see is how rich fat
cat political operatives who allegedly misappropriated money (when they
are already rich) are getting off the hook while they are struggling to
make ends meet.
And all PN has to do is put on a good show.
