Day in, day out, all they ever talk about are race, religion and royalty. There are more important matters than these 3Rs but why would she know any better?

This is her limited exposure, from the time she was born, to the day she was in court to receive her judgement for defamation.

Moreover, she’d seen how MPs who made racist comments were rarely punished, if at all.

Would the police charge her for making the provocative remarks? Umno-Baru’s Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh and PAS’ Kedah menteri besar, Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor escaped punishment for their racist slurs, and Siti probably thought she too was “an untouchable”.

Umno-shaped elephant in room

Interestingly, Siti’s problems can be traced to Umno-Baru, the party that now stands tall in the federal coalition government. Siti claimed that she had sourced her information from an Umno-Baru/BN election pamphlet which has since been discredited.

When precisely was it discredited? Before or after Siti was taken to court. So, is the rakyat expected to say, “Oh, it’s all right then! Umno-Baru is a coalition partner, so the Lims and Teresa Kok should not create a fuss.”

What has happened to the police probe about this contentious pamphlet? What excuse has the Umno-Baru president concocted about this “source”, which Siti once treated as her bible?

Umno-Baru commissioned this pamphlet. What does that say about the integrity of our Madani administration?

Don’t just blame Siti, because the system in which she was raised is also at fault.

More importantly, we should apportion a large part of the blame on successive leaders who failed to change the narrative about Malaysia.

Malaysia has never been led by “true” leaders. Those who claim to be leaders merely have huge egos. They’re too timid to make a real difference, and not brave enough to initiate meaningful change.

Spiralling higher education standards

Siti would have spent at least three years working on her PhD but by the end of her 45-minute speech last year, during campaigning in the Kemaman by-election, her integrity was thrown into the gutter.

Malaysia mass produces thousands of PhD graduates every year, from 1,247 in 2010 to 4,560 in 2021. Siti’s failure to fact-check and list her sources, caused many Malaysians to doubt her PhD and thesis. They are right to blame her recklessness and irresponsibility.

However, they should also question the quality of our universities and academics. If standards have slipped, what is the Education Ministry’s response?

The minister should be held responsible for the low standard of education. Quality matters more than quantity.

Aping her seniors

Siti was failed by the system. She could have done so much good to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Malaysians, especially the Malays.

She could have used her influence as an MP to lift Malay women out of the poverty trap and to exercise their women's rights, especially in conservative Malay communities.

She could have taken advantage of her position as a politician to unite the rakyat.

Instead of doing all the wonderful things we hoped our politicians would do, Siti decided to stick to the same well-trodden path as her party elders, to bash the DAP, Chinese, communists, and Singapore.

She tried to emulate the male MPs in her party and continue their rhetoric about saving Islam and defending the Malays, but this time, she decided to raise the stakes.

She made defamatory remarks about three DAP leaders having blood ties with communist leader, Chin Peng and the late Singapore prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew.

Did she think she had successfully earned the praise and attention of the PAS leaders? They did not come to her defence after she made the inflammatory remarks. Poor Siti, even PAS leaders failed her.

However, don’t just blame Siti. Blame the system and the failure of our leaders to change it for a better multicultural Malaysia.