Sour grapes and sore winners

The Malaysian Insider

There is really nothing worse than sour grapes, but in this case, they are sore winners — the Barisan Nasional (BN).

BN politicians still believe that the Malaysian public are uneducated —or, worse yet, plain stupid — when it comes to comments about how the various races deserted the winning coalition

The Malays are “greedy”, for supporting Pakatan Rakyat (PR). The Chinese, first blamed for pushing out BN in many seats, are now said to have been duped by DAP.

And that is how the popular vote went, according to these politicians.

But the only ones duped were the highly-paid strategists and the Umno leadership, plus their much vaunted war room (who incidentally leaked to the mainstream press that Nurul Izzah Anwar and Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang had “lost” their seats).

And they actually perpetuated and believed their own news that the two-thirds parliamentary super majority was in the pocket.

Now, instead of blaming voters and insulting their intelligence, why don’t they do some self-criticism and analysis, and ask whether it was congruent for a party that peddles 1 Malaysia to field the likes of Datuk Zulkifli Noordin and support Datuk Ibrahim Ali.

Also ask whether urban Malays enjoy watching Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud and Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil show little remorse for wrongdoings by their families.

There are many more questions to ask before the next polls, but please ask these questions of yourselves before it is too late. Before the people, and the next generation of voters, decide that all these leaders and their parties must be consigned to the rubbish bin of history.

There are many reasons to throw out such leaders but none of them are racial. Most of the Malaysian voters in Election 2013 decided to dump non-performing politicians and put the rest on notice.

You could delude yourself and keep giving them goodies and handouts. But they are a bit more mature now, a little more discerning about what is right for this country.

They want equity. They want a better government for a better nation. Walk the talk, instead of being sore winners. Reconcile, we must, but not when the first thought is about racial lines.

Malaysians have changed as much as the country has, and definitely more than politicians who still believe the people must be “grateful” to them and who see any snub as treasonous.

Learn this. Politicians owe their livelihoods to the people, and not the other way around. Call them stupid and see how smart they are in dumping you. Election 2013 has shown how true that is.