“The ‘established’ narrative on why Tun Musa Hitam resigned as Deputy Prime Minister in the eighties is a complete lie. I also discovered that the reason the late Tun Ghafar Baba lost out to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had little to do with “Anwar paying UMNO delegates to vote for him” and a lot more to do with something else”
Raggie Jessy Rithaudeen
باڽق چريتا سجاره ڤوليتيك تانه اير د ميديا سوسيال دوڠيڠ
Politicians are generally lured by the promise of money and power. There is some level of morally and legally corrupt practices involved in most political domains and this seems to be a globally accepted fact. But the fact that something is globally accepted does not necessarily mean it is always right.
Truth is, politicians are not there to address each and every suspicion raised by an individual or groups of individuals. As some of you may already know, the road from legitimate suspicion to rampant paranoia is always a very short one. This is a fact even the most junior of politicians and (or) psychologists would be able to tell you.
As it stands, there are many other traits in human behaviour that has been studied well by philosophers, political scientists and psychologists alike. For instance, it is well established that the average human being is overly suspicious and thrives on negative news. That’s not me talking, but Political Science 101.
While we’re on the topic, it is also true that people are lazy when it comes to fact-checking, particularly if the ‘fact’ is disseminated through well-read media channels. The French were among the earliest to use the media as weapon to manipulate the minds of the people with fake news, and they accomplished this towards the end of the eighteenth century.
Sometimes, it isn’t so much about the news being fake but it being based on unnamed sources. Problem is, you never know if these ‘sources’ are telling you the truth, if they assume things or if they make stuff up. Sometimes, they just want to impress you so that you remain hooked on them.
For example, when you see the Prime Minister saying one thing and his deputy saying another, a source may tell you that a problem exists between them. Then, when the source says the Prime Minister disagreed with his deputy during a Cabinet meeting, you become convinced that their relationship is on the rocks.
It is easy for you to think that way because the human being is generally presumptuous. It is even easier when the source claims or appears to be ‘well placed’. If you’re a social media enthusiast, you’re likely to publish the story knowing that the news will spike your readership.
And it’s not just the social media.
Since the late seventies, the mainstream has delved into some level of conspiracy built partly on speculative journalism. It’s much worse today due to the advent of blogging and got out of hand when YouTube came into the picture. I’ve since become convinced that the overall narrative on Malaysian politics in the social media is completely upside down.
I discovered this together with a group of people who embarked on a very elaborate project that took months to complete. The project involved talks with the right number of people, going through legitimate records and getting stuff out of the people involved. We couldn’t cover everything, so we picked three historical narratives that were alleged to be “well established and known facts.”
The results?
The ‘established’ narrative on why Tun Musa Hitam resigned as Deputy Prime Minister in the eighties is a complete lie. I also discovered that the reason the late Tun Ghafar Baba lost out to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had little to do with “Anwar paying UMNO delegates to vote for him” and a lot more to do with something else.
Finally, the whole narrative regarding Tun Abdullah Badawi’s involvement with the “Oil-for-Food scandal” was exaggerated to Kingdom Come just to bring his leadership to an end. I, too, was guilty of believing ‘well-placed sources’ from abroad prior to the 14th general election and may even have contributed immensely to some exaggerations.
The little we dug on reasons Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Hussein Onn resigned paints a much deeper and meaningful picture than some of the stories we’ve been led to believe. Like I said, I’ve since become convinced that the overall narrative on Malaysia’s political history in the social media is completely upside down.
And there may be nothing we can do about it.
