Waiting for the durians to fall

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B5675

LONG WAIT: The durian is going to fall soon.

These days I feel as if I am sitting under a durian tree … waiting for the fruits to fall. I guess you know what I am alluding to. Yes, I am talking about the general election. It has been a long wait.

“It is not really that long, just about twelve months,” chipped in my friend Bob.

Well,  may be it is not that long in real term but I am not a very patient person and my patience is wearing thin. Very much like how I felt when I was sitting under the durian tree in the pre-dawn darkness with my uncle. Like the promise of the election there were also many false signs.

However, this time, barring some rather radical manoeuvres by the power-that-be, the day of reckoning when all those of sufficient age and holders of the blue identity cards (whether by virtue of birth or long residence in the country, or by the virtue of the generosity of a certain former prime minister) will be able to determine the future of this country. Like the ripening durians its time has come.

So, constitutionally the election has to be called soon. However, I think there is another reason why it is prudent for the Prime Minister to call it now. It is the strategy of ‘striking while the iron is hot”.  I have one word to say in relation to the heating up of the iron – ‘Suluks’. The so-called Sultan of Sulu reckless misadventure, whether by providence or accident is most opportune. Now that we realised that the so-called Royal Army of Sulu is merely a band of delusional desperadoes and that we have the capacity to bludgeon them to pulp, we are crowing like a cockerel. We report the number of enemy soldiers killed like updating sports scoreboard. Sadly it was not a clean sheet on our side. At least eight of our policemen were among the casualties. They were recognised and decorated posthumously as heroes and rightly so too. In the meantime as we score more success in the battlefield our sense of jingoism increases proportionally. There are great photocall opportunities for our leaders to go around giving rousing speeches and attired in the fashion of heroes – the combat fatigue.

Didn’t our hearts swell with pride when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said: “We will not allow even an inch of our beloved land to be lost to anybody.” As one patriotic journalist wrote, “This is a true leader of the people who is willing to defend the homeland to his last drop of blood”.

“What about the giving away of citizenship to about 200,000 foreigners?” retorted Bob provocatively, referring to the on-going Royal Commission of Inquires interim report…

Well, I have to disappoint my friend Bob. That is an argument that I am unable to indulge in a public forum like this.

Anyway, the fact is there is nothing like armed external enemies to rally support for the ruling government. I recalled in 1982 the dipping popularity of Margaret Thatcher, the then Prime Minister of Britain, was arrested by the declaration of the Falklands war (between Britain and Argentina). It seemed Thatcher became the darling of the masses when she declared triumphantly, “Just rejoice at that news and congratulate our forces and the marines” after the successful landing of the British forces on Falklands.

Similarly, the ruling government popularity is at its highest while the nation is still swaddling itself with the flag of patriotism. Thus, constitutionally and strategically an election in the next couple of months (at the most) should be a reality.

What about the long foreplay leading to the election? Well, it is beyond our hands. Subject to constitutional constraints the ruling government has the prerogative to call the election at its whim.

There is a saying “every dark cloud has a silver lining”. It appears that the dark cloud of the long wait for election does have its silver lining.

Firstly, during this period there seems to be a sudden burst of get up and go attitude. Let me just give one example, for years we have been suffering the lack of parking spaces in the Sarawak General Hospital in Kuching. Patients, families, doctors and other medical personnel are at their wits’ end driving around
the hospital ground looking for the goldmine of car parking spaces.

We have the ground with which to build a decent multi-story car park. But no, the plan to meet this very urgent need has been put on the back burner for years. Now I read it the newspaper that the Prime Minister is going to visit the hospital soon and declare that a multi-story car park will be built soon. Hurrah!

In the meantime political candidate wannabes have suddenly found a taste for friendliness to all and sundry. Recently, I bumped into a politician and was surprised that he greeted me like a long lost brother. I must admit that it felt great to bask in the glorious glow reflected off the VVIP.

At the same time the government announced that there will be a second round of the RM500 BR1M hand-outs and promised that this “give a man a fish” tactic could be a continuing feature in the future.

The durian is going to fall soon, the 64 million-question is — will we have fruits in the interim period between elections remains to be seen.

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