Coupled with this, the behaviour of their followers is nothing short of demented.

There is no boundary that they – both the demagogues and the mob – will not cross.

This is unrelated, but I think interesting.

I was reading up on Marie Antoinette, and felt like I was hit by a bus carrying a brick wall.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette

In particular, see this sentence: “The Diamond Necklace incident further ruined her reputation. Although she was completely innocent in this affair, she became known as Madame Déficit.”

I don’t know about you, but for me this is more or less the situation being faced by DS Rosmah. The diamond ring lie, the Altantuya murder, and many other lies.

Marie Antoinette was herself innocent, but was used to stoke the fires of hatred within the French people, which eventually led to the French Revolution.

Does any of this seem familiar to anyone else?

Hmm, the more I learn, the more reasons I have to hate PR.

Or will they say that the French Revolution was orchestrated by UMNO?

Thank you for the link, it was a very refreshing read.

I understand what you’ve said about the qualifications of our political speech writers. I also understand what the article said about “antiseptic oratory”, “toeing an invisible line in public speaking”, and about the coining of terms which mean little beyond a small bubble.

It is hardly surprising that these sub-par ingredients, haphazardly thrown into the black pot of the media, and cooked by innumerable chefs for public consumption, have resulted in something unpalatable. Throw in a lack of formal education in the arts, then anyone could easily mistake the whole situation as a sad mess.

But is it really a sad mess for communications in Malaysia? While I admit things could be a whole lot better, personally I feel that things are a lot more than they seem. I have a number of reasons for saying this, but, for brevity, I will share just a few with you.

Words have power. But too many people do not realize that that power comes from context. Context is everything.

For instance, without the background of mind-boggling poverty for the commoners in late 18th century Paris, would the phrase “Let them eat cake” have been so readily mis-attributed to Marie Antoinette?

Without the backdrop of racism at epic proportions, would Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” have left such deep scars against oppression?

And, without the Cold War and the threat of nuclear-dealt extinction, would Americans have responded so well to John F Kennedy’s “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” that they gave him their unequivocal support and America landed on the moon within that same decade?

Context is everything. And in Malaysia, the context is that the current Malaysian opposition is headed by a person who is the Dumbledore of words. The man is an absolute wizard at speaking. He has moved tens of thousands of Malaysians onto the streets, and they moved as his wrath.

Yet, over time, the magic of his words withered away, and so many of those he had played like puppet on strings are shouting for his downfall. For many of them, their favourite anthem now is “Anwar has never done anything good for this country.”

Apparently, the arch-foe of this former wizard knows it well, and has poured his energy into doing things the former wizard never did: the arch-foe actually did things. Things like the economic transformation. Listening to the rakyat. Changing laws (even those still necessary, unfortunately). Upholding the religion. Working together.

Although this arch-foe is not a wizard, many of the rakyat have begun to repeat his words, the spirit of his messages. This is word of mouth marketing, the most potent spell in all of word wizardry, and it is growing in momentum.

Of course, this is just my opinion. I speak as a speech writer, albeit one who holds no recognized degree in the arts. My main guiding principle is this quote by David Ogilvy:

“When Aeschines spoke, they said, ‘How well he speaks.’ But when Demosthenes spoke, they said, ‘Let us march against Philip.’”

Words should lead to action. Unfortunately for Anwar, it led only to the action of other people on his behalf, and he did not follow it up when he had the opportunity.

The PM, however, has shown that talk is cheap, and that he is not cheap.

Thank you for reading my rant.

Hajat di hati nak jadi pemimpin tapi akhirnya jadi penari tiang. Patut la kat Selagor makin banyak tempat maksiat kalau pemimpin sendiri pun suka berjoget. JAIS nak buat kerja pun dihalang.

Kalau memerintah dengan cara cuci tangan mengambil hasil kerja orang lain buat apa. Hajat dihati nak jadi selebriti. Tapi tidak pandai nak mesra dengan media arus perdana. Jenis pilih bulu.

Bila ditanya soalan cepumas sikit, dah melatah, tolak mic wartawan, angkat punggung terus blah. Mana ada pemimpin dunia atau selebriti macam tu. Kononnya berjiwa rakyat. Tapi hakikatnya, apa pun tak boleh. Yang pandai cuma jadi pelakon komedi didalam video untuk budak pra-sekolah. Kata dulang paku serpih.

Thanks Helen for the insights!

Dengan videonya, dengan tweetnya.. pembangkang paling low class dlm dunia.

orang2 DAP ni tak ada cermin kat rumah diorang ker – kalau tak mampu, mungkin leh join BR1M, pastu beli cermin besar2 .. tengok dulu cacat cela diri sebelum nak mengata orang.

Cehhh..so low class dan poor upbringing sangat2!

negara ini sudah banyak membangun, makanya apa yang diperlukan ialah pengagihan yang adil: satu untuk aku dan satu untuk kau tetapi bukannya “satu untuk kau 3 untuk aku, tiga untuk aku satu untuk kau”

tidakkah ungkapan itu mengingatkan kita pada 3 aktor iaitu Nik Pas Aziz, Ngeh Kor Harm dan Koir Meng Kick dalam filem “kroni didahulukan rakyat kempunanan”?

maksud saya, tak apa kalau mereka tidak bawa kemajuan baru tetapi jangan pulak apa yang telah sedia ada ini diagihkan secara tidak seimbang.