Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Why the local political scene is Like a Soap Opera with Bad Actors

If you were to go back about 15 years ago and asked anyone on the streets about the political situation in Malaysia, you might have just received a shrug, and perhaps if the person you asked was friendly enough, you'd get a small conversation on how boring it was. The conversation would have ended there, because there wouldn't have been much else to say. You might have even gone for coffee and discussed the situation (war) in the Balkans instead.

Fast forward to 15 years later, almost anyone can tell you about the exciting things that happen almost every single day, from catfights to uncouth behaviour. From arrests and allegations, ridiculous road blocks that cause massive traffic jams, to the news of an unlikely coalition which if it ever became likely would crush about slightly more than 1/3 of the people to little crumbling pieces of gingerbread men/women. In fact, at the rate things were going just about two weeks ago, you'd think that the socio-political websites would have been flooded with exciting articles. Funnily enough, some of them thought that it was too much, and gave up on giving each drama their 2 cents worth! With all these drama, why shouldn't we liken the situation to that we see in soap operas? Even the economy has dropped a little due to the frightened foreign investors (or so they say). (Yes, the economy has dropped, banks are being a pain in the ass and maybe the investors are a bit scared - who wouldn't be if they had to read soap opera-esque carefully spinned stories in the papers every day?)

Anyway, soap opera or not, and good acting or otherwise, the local political scene has just turned interesting and may stay that way for some time!

7 comments:

  1. Have to admit, when I think of Malaysia I don't often think about the politics. To be honest, I don't know much at all about your quant little nation other than that it has been recommended as a shopping destination. Australian politics can be fun but usually they're not.

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  2. it was all so exciting during the general election in march. All the more so for the legal fraternity due to the marches etc. But nowadays i don even watch the news anymore...all too overdramatic and phony for me....

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  3. its not just your country
    i think politics is like soap opera everywhere, the more horrifying the situation is, the longer it lasts

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  4. Orhan: I don't know much about Aussie politics except for the fact that Mr John Howard and M'sia's former PM had a rather bad relationship (politically - I think) But you're right... our political scene has always been subtle and quiet, until rather recently.

    Denise: Especially Tv3's news. That's why I get my news from Malaysia Today's website. Much more fun!! (But still dramatic, nevertheless)

    Tazeen: Yeah, that's true... but I choose not to say anything about other countries because I don't think it's fair since I don't live there. By the way, thanks for visiting my blog :)

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  5. It's all a farce designed to reinforce a manufactured dependence on government. Drama is a politicians way of pretending to work. It's mob rule. Keep the people distracted while you hijack the country.

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  6. Keep the people distracted while you hijack the country.

    I couldn't agree more

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  7. I am glad you agree. While that is not a specific indictment of the Malaysian government (I am not qualified to make judgements about the internal matters of Malaysia), it is more a statement about the unfortunate nature of governments in general. Manufactured dependence on bureaucracy.

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