Chinese at crossroads: Bossku or never again

Najib Abdul Razak is right. It is not Foon Yew High School’s fault for hosting him last week. They didn’t realise the irony until the former prime minister delivered his speech on the school’s podium.

Below him was the school motto, consisting of four characters representing four noble values. The final one was “耻” which translates to “knowing shame”.

Behind the podium was a person who has rebuilt his political career on the slogan “Malu apa bossku”, which means “what is there to be ashamed of, my boss”. Even the largest financial scandal in the world is nothing to be ashamed of. Even a 12-year jail sentence and an RM210 million fine is nothing to be ashamed of.

Then it got worse. Najib reminded everyone of the importance of being grateful, by bringing up a Chinese proverb “饮水思源” which means when you drink water, you shouldn’t forget who dug the well.

Being grateful is difficult. Today we are still paying off the RM50.7 billion 1MDB debt. Whatever assets we recover could only pay for a portion. Billions that are supposed to be directed to education, housing, and healthcare every year would be used to pay off a debt Najib created instead.

But it is not only Foon Yew High School’s fault.

A few days ago, Najib attended a Chingay Parade that assembles the five dialect groups of Cantonese, Hainanese, Hakka, Hoklo, and Teochew. It is ironic that the festival traces its origins to the Goddess of Mercy; a person who hasn’t admitted guilt or lay half an apology – is he deserving of mercy? But it didn’t seem to matter.

The crowd rushed to embrace him with cheers of “Bossku”, with parents bringing their children to take photos with Najib, in front of a crowd with a visceral cry of “Huat ah!”, typically a wish for prosperity directed to objects of wealth.

So it doesn’t matter where the wealth comes from as long as it is wealth? Clean politician or corrupt politician, if it has money, it is a good politician?

‘Huat ah!’

This doesn’t stop. A week later, Najib’s visit to the Perling constituency in support of the MCA candidate was equally as receptive. Many rushed to get a glimpse of him like how you would a celebrity; even for a blurry and small photo of or with him, or a light fist bump. “Bossku!” one Chinese let out from utter exuberance.

When people criticised Najib for the visits, he was quick to say that he was invited to these events. Is the Chinese rushing back to embrace the man they once cursed? Is this symbolic of the hyper-pragmatism of Chinese voters who follow where the wind blows? Is there no more shame?

I don’t think these are isolated incidents. While it may be true that the Chinese excitement might be to Najib’s celebrity status rather than his political place, or this excitement might not translate into votes, or this is a small but insignificant group unrepresentative of the larger Chinese community. But this shift might also be real.

Najib knows this.

That’s why in his speeches to the Chinese, he would always use words like “stable” and “strong” because the Chinese would vote for that even if it comes with “acceptable side effects” like massive corruption.

That’s what the Chinese did in the 1999 election when they chose business and a stable economy instead of punishing Dr Mahathir Mohamad for abusing the system and putting Anwar Ibrahim into jail. We still live with the consequences today.

In times of political upheaval, Malaysian voters have also developed a collective nostalgia for Najib’s time. We develop a sanitised version of history. We say, during Najib’s time, businesses were moving, projects were flowing, profits were growing.

Najib’s propaganda machine has also made you either question Najib’s guilt or downplay how bad 1MDB was to the country. A distant memory reduces 1MDB to a single incident, smaller and smaller in effect over time. A slow legal system lets Najib roam free, and you start believing his innocence.

A country without good governing alternatives makes you ask if the past really was as bad as you thought.

Unsanitised facts as they are

You forget the facts of Najib’s rule. The 1MDB is still one of the largest financial scandals in the world. Our institutions like the attorney-general, the MACC, and the judiciary was broken. Extensive cover-ups and lies permeated. Cost of living skyrocketed with GST. Our name lived in infamy to outsiders.

The Sedition Act was used 91 times in one year. Newspapers were raided and suspended. We ranked second in The Economist’s crony-capitalist index. Elections were rigged. 500 handbags and 12,000 pieces of jewellery, including 14 tiaras.

Do you remember the feeling right before the 14th general election? It was so close; we almost never got a chance to change the system. You were worried your children would inherit a country worse than when you found them.

I’m not arguing that the situation now is good, nor am I arguing in favour of the “necessary pain and suffering” during this period of transition.

I get frustrated every day seeing the opposition squandering their opportunity to present a governing line-up with fresh policy ideas, a vision for buy-in, and a strategy to win.

But it is essential that we do not buy into the historical revisionism that Najib seeks to present and think that the past is indeed better, and he will bring you back to that time.

We must resist this; our children won’t remember the handbags, jewellery, watches, cash, and tiaras that were seized from the Pavilion Residences. They rely on our truthful stories to them – we must tell them right.

There is a crossroads in front of us: Hard right or easy wrong. Will we start having red lines we will never cross, or will we tell our children “Chinese are always like that”?

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JAMES CHAI is a political analyst.