Collective amnesia- The Malaysian Insider
April 4, 2013 — Five years is a long time in politics. In the hurly burly of the 24-hour news cycle, it is hard enough to keep up with the events of the day, much less what happened last year.
Naturally this works in favour of those at the receiving end of criticism for their actions who can take refuge in the knowledge that public memory is short.
This is especially true of incumbent governments who, in the absence of sustained follow-ups from the media and the public, will always prefer to retreat into silence on matters that may present them in a bad light. Even a cursory take on some of the hot-button issues of the last few years will back this up.
On the topic of racism, whatever happened to the perpetrators of the incident where cow heads were dragged through the streets? Or the racist school principal controversy? Or the infamous BTN course material? The whole Ketuanan Melayu story? The church arson incidents, Christians plotting to turn Malaysia into a Christian state, the Allah controversy? Perkasa, Ibrahim Ali and Zul Noordin’s propensity to shoot their mouths off?
On the topic of the economy, whatever happened to the much-touted New Economic Model? What is the status of the grandiose 100-storey Warisan Merdeka tower? Is the cost of the MRT RM36 billion or RM50 billion? Who is accountable for the massive over-run on the cost of the new palace or of stadium roof that keeps falling down? Is the 1 Malaysia e-mail project still on? What are the results of the government’s Blue Ocean Strategy to spur innovation?
On the topic of corruption, whatever happened to the MACC’s probe into graft allegations against the Sarawak chief minister? Or Anwar Ibrahim’s alleged billions? Will the money lost to the PKFZ scandal ever be recovered? Or of the Tourism Malaysia fan page? What action was taken to probe the report by the US-based Global Financial integrity (GFI) watchdog that found the illicit capital outflow from Malaysia was “at a scale seen in few Asian countries and the volume of illegal capital flight from Malaysia has come to dwarf legitimate capital inflows into the country in recent years”? What of investigating defence purchases allegedly involving massive kickbacks?
On the topic of politics and society, whatever happened to the government’s deal with PR consultants APCO? What happened to the promised soft landing on PPSMI? Or the butt shakers in front of Ambiga’s house? Is the poco poco dance still banned? Is child marriage and child genital mutilation still allowed? Is it okay to be Malay first and Malaysian second? Or the other way around?
This is by no means an exhaustive list and it focuses on issues affecting the incumbent government rather than the opposition as most issues of national importance are theirs to respond to, ensure action and change policies when required and put deterrence into place. It is entirely possible that action has been taken on all these issues, in which case there is a failure to communicate the results.
Silence on the part of the incumbent government leads to all kinds of suspicion. Having said that, this amnesia is not confined to only the government. Civil society groups and NGOs need to be more vociferous in making sure the pressure is maintained to ensure proper follow-up. Facebook rants remain just that if nobody is prepared to take up causes for the long term.
Given the fact that people in general are more focused on putting bread on their table, of equal importance is the failure by the media to invest time and resources to follow up ongoing stories as much as breaking new ones. If this collective amnesia persists, the winners will be politicians who, in the absence of accountability, can claim to know what is best for the country and even ask for gratitude from voters that things are not worse.
And the losers? Maybe a look in the mirror may not be out of place.
This is especially true of incumbent governments who, in the absence of sustained follow-ups from the media and the public, will always prefer to retreat into silence on matters that may present them in a bad light. Even a cursory take on some of the hot-button issues of the last few years will back this up.
On the topic of racism, whatever happened to the perpetrators of the incident where cow heads were dragged through the streets? Or the racist school principal controversy? Or the infamous BTN course material? The whole Ketuanan Melayu story? The church arson incidents, Christians plotting to turn Malaysia into a Christian state, the Allah controversy? Perkasa, Ibrahim Ali and Zul Noordin’s propensity to shoot their mouths off?
On the topic of the economy, whatever happened to the much-touted New Economic Model? What is the status of the grandiose 100-storey Warisan Merdeka tower? Is the cost of the MRT RM36 billion or RM50 billion? Who is accountable for the massive over-run on the cost of the new palace or of stadium roof that keeps falling down? Is the 1 Malaysia e-mail project still on? What are the results of the government’s Blue Ocean Strategy to spur innovation?
On the topic of corruption, whatever happened to the MACC’s probe into graft allegations against the Sarawak chief minister? Or Anwar Ibrahim’s alleged billions? Will the money lost to the PKFZ scandal ever be recovered? Or of the Tourism Malaysia fan page? What action was taken to probe the report by the US-based Global Financial integrity (GFI) watchdog that found the illicit capital outflow from Malaysia was “at a scale seen in few Asian countries and the volume of illegal capital flight from Malaysia has come to dwarf legitimate capital inflows into the country in recent years”? What of investigating defence purchases allegedly involving massive kickbacks?
On the topic of politics and society, whatever happened to the government’s deal with PR consultants APCO? What happened to the promised soft landing on PPSMI? Or the butt shakers in front of Ambiga’s house? Is the poco poco dance still banned? Is child marriage and child genital mutilation still allowed? Is it okay to be Malay first and Malaysian second? Or the other way around?
This is by no means an exhaustive list and it focuses on issues affecting the incumbent government rather than the opposition as most issues of national importance are theirs to respond to, ensure action and change policies when required and put deterrence into place. It is entirely possible that action has been taken on all these issues, in which case there is a failure to communicate the results.
Silence on the part of the incumbent government leads to all kinds of suspicion. Having said that, this amnesia is not confined to only the government. Civil society groups and NGOs need to be more vociferous in making sure the pressure is maintained to ensure proper follow-up. Facebook rants remain just that if nobody is prepared to take up causes for the long term.
Given the fact that people in general are more focused on putting bread on their table, of equal importance is the failure by the media to invest time and resources to follow up ongoing stories as much as breaking new ones. If this collective amnesia persists, the winners will be politicians who, in the absence of accountability, can claim to know what is best for the country and even ask for gratitude from voters that things are not worse.
And the losers? Maybe a look in the mirror may not be out of place.
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