Personality cult have existed from time immemorial.It generally started with hero worshipping a person which later can transform to personality cult when the person attained political power.This deification can eventually lead to dictatorship or absolute tyranny.
History has given us cult of personality in the regimes of Stalin,Hitler,Mao,Sadam Hussein,Kim II Sung,Pol Pot and others.It's more common in a totalitarian system but have also been known to exist in some democracies.Eva Peron and her husband Juan Peron are examples of personality cult in a democracy.
These type of leaders were presented as god-like and seen as infallible by those with blind loyalty.The degree of blind loyalty can extend from giving simple moral support to committing atrocities,murders and genocide to keep such leaders in power.
Since gaining independence Malaysia has not had such leader and even the longest serving Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad would not fall into that category.
The support for Anwar Ibrahim is dangerously turning into a personality cult.Some of his supporters wouldn't give second thought to resort to violence to deliver their message.
If Anwar's support on the ground is strong his support online is phenomenal.The huge support from political blogs and blog readers have made it unbearably painful for the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and an impossible task to turn the table against Anwar .It wouldn't be far off the mark to say that close to 90% of blogs and blog commentators were supporting him to be the next prime minister and Pakatan as their choice of government.
Any unceremonious story, past or present, on Anwar or his party members published by the mainstream media, true or false, would irk his supporters to no end.Some would counter such incidents with their own version of government conspiracy.Such was the case when 3 PKR Exco members from Perak were arrested for corruption.A pro-Pakatan blog has his story of conspiracy here
In the Permatang Pauh by-election Anwar would have an unassailable lead over BN's candidate Arif Shah Omar Shah.With a week to go to the poll not much change is expected to tip the balance in favour of the BN.
The BN, particularly UMNO screwed up the Anwar's issue big time.They have made a monster they are unable to control, a man seen by many a victim of government conspiracy.Its campaign against Anwar has gone completely gaga creating a bigger and angrier backlash instead of the desired outcome of bringing the voters back to the fold.
Sodomy II, named by his supporters, should not have been brought against Anwar even if there was a speck of truth in Saiful's claim.With the government's credibility at its lowest any attempt to demonise Anwar further would only bring more support to his side
Anything negative said of Anwar is incoherent to his supporters and majority would have no qualms using expletives and profanities to admonish anyone who dares to do so.A walk through Malaysia Today and Susan Loone's blog showed what a cause celebre Anwar is in blogosphere.
Harping on his sodomy issue and showing video of Saiful's swearing on the Quran is only going to add salt to the BN's wound and send charity knocking on Anwar's door.The BN campaign should have concentrated more on the 'whys' the people should vote for the BN candidate and the bigger benefits of doing so and less of the intrusion of Saiful's arsehole, which many Malay elders in the kampongs would find embarrassingly inappropriate subject to talk about over a cup of coffee.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, his cabinet and the government as a whole have to face the fact that the entry of Anwar to Parliament is imminent and face the fact that he is going to be a thorn in the flesh and a pain in the arse.
20 comments:
Dear Hantu,
In what way was Pol Pot a personality cult? Pol Pot the person, was not even known by many during the reign of Khmer Rouge, how can an unknown have a personality? let alone a cult....The cult was Angkar, Pol Pot was the character known as 'bother number 1', not unlike the present government with a character known as the 4th floor...
Regards,
Mr No Crap Please
Mao Ze Dong is the one still worship till today!
This is called Ketuanan Anwar...
Molongkolong
Well put.We are Fucked....Royally!
Dear HL,
Their present predicament is akin to a phrase I've read once, "kalah jadi abu, menang jadi arang".
Which ever way, all Malaysian Brothers, whatever they are going to say now, even if they reduce the price of petrol to $1.50, abolish income tax, free education, open up UiTM and all that is hogging the lime light, I have this to tell you as I am not involved in this election nor was I in the past few …… ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!
Mr Khairy, you may sound very convincing and look like an angel with all your talks … having worked and known politicians from both sides, including PAS, DAP, I am amused and think you are really thick skin. Yes you can resign from UMNO Youth, who would not do it after all this maybe UMNO’s death. If UMNO is not buried this time, I am very sure they will be buried and all members buried alive in a landslide the next GE.
But Mr Khairy, does it matter to you, I have since labeled you as a VIP Begger and knowing in Sarawak, there is money to be made, you are eyeing the goodies here.
Let me know when you come, I am sure, I will pelt rotten eggs at you as your company cause me to lose and cheated me of RM60.00 for collecting service charge that was not delivered!!!
I wait for you and please be a gentlement and announce your visit to Kuching.
At the end of the day, I tell you and all Malaysians this:
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH AND WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE AND MAYBE ALL TO GAIN BY THROWING OUT BARISAN NASIONAL STARTING WITH PERMATANG PAUH.
WE HAVE TRUSTED BN FOR 50 YEARS AND FOR MY CASE, EVER SINCE I STARTED WORK 30 YEARS AGO.
BUT, WE DO NOT SEEM TO MOVE FORWARD AND THIS MEANS WE HAVE GAMBLED AWAY THE BETTER PART OF OUR LIVE WITH BN. AS A MATTER OF FACT, IN THE PAST 10 YEARS, WE SEEM TO BE MOVING BACKWARDS AND WITH RECENT INFLATION, THIS IN ITSELF IS ALREADY THE INDICATOR THAT WE ARE NOT PROGRESSING WITH SHRINKING DOLLAR IN OUR POCKET AND QUALITY OF LIVE BEING AFFECTED AS WELL.
So fellow Malaysians, do not believe them any more, trust what I am telling you now, I rather gamble with a convict who have serve his time and realise and now know what is good than this bunch of Politicians in our government who are spoon fed or from poor backgrounds out to be a millionaire overnight at our expense.
VOTE DATUK SERI ANWAR NOW IS MY CALL AND THROW OUT BN. IF YOU ARE FROM PENANG, YOU WILL ALSO KNOW WHERE THE BN CANDICATE GOT HIS MONEY FROM. IF HE CAN TALK ABOUT HIS PHD FROM A BOGUS UNIVERSITY, AND RETRACT IT, THIS ALREADY SPEAKS VOLUMNE OF HIS INTERGRITY.
Ask any human resource lecturer or anyone involved in Human Resource Counselling or a person incharge of hiring and interviewing prospective employee, they are very sure a an important thing they are always on the look out would be “Past Behaviour”. This is very important as “Old Habits die hard, especially in telling white lies”
So with the recent lie dished out by Pek Mo in this by election, I am very sure he will lie and forever continue to lie (afterall, he have done it thinking we are all stupid and will do it again thinking we will not know).
I wish I can change my voting right to Permatang Pauh and give my one vote to Perkatan Rakyat and get my friends in Penang to do so, afterall, we have seen so many manipulations and billions of dollars flow in to cronies account in the past!!!
Once again, go for a gamble, vote Pakatan Rakyat and ask your family members, friends to do it …. even educated government servants in Sarawak are asking after the last price increase … “Do you still want or dare vote for Barisan”???
And with recent events affecting us … I am asking by friends and fellow Malaysian Brothers do you still want to vote for Barisan Nasional and suffer again.
GO FOR IT, DO IT FOR YOUR CHILDREN, YOUR FUTURE GENERATIONS PUT DATUK SERI ANWAR IN PARLIAMENT AND SEE WHAT HE DO FOR 5 YEARS, AFTERWALL WE HAVE SEEN AND SUFFERED FOR 50 YEARS. HOW MANY MALAYS HAVE LIVE ABOVE POVERTY LEVEL IN THIS 50 YEARS? 15% IS MY GUESS???
Suddenly you are an expert on cult of personality.
I can't recall you writing about it during the 23 years Dr.M was the PM and BN sycophants were grovelling at his feet.
A gamble with 5 years of DSAI at the helm of M'sia will be worth taking when th ealternative is 5 yaers of more racism, corruption and religious extremism. We will be no worse off.
http://donplaypuks.blogspot.com
HL,
I am pretty disappointed with your latest article.
You continuously cliam to be impartial yet your "animosity" towards DSAI is so "clear'.
What really sacres me is that if a person like you that I consider intelligent can "support" the corrupted, crooked, evil, Racist & Bigoted UMNO (notice I did not say BN as MIC, MCA & Gerakan are worthless), then what will the future be for Malaysia?
Hasn't the last 50 years of complete corruption thought you anything?
The truth is we don't know what DSAI & the PR will do (but seeing the last few months work especially in Penang & Selangor, gives us hope). HOWEVER, we know what UMNO will be doing the next 50 years (don't have to be a Rocket Scientist for that)!
Hantu
would you personally apologise if the arrests of RPK Exco members are found to be politically motivated.
would you condemn this government if it is found that it was a fabricated corruption case to embarass PKR as the key by-election in PP draws near?
for me, if these two PKR dudes put or attempt to put their hands into the till purportedly in respect of the housing project in seri iskandar and this really happens in a hotel room (as reported in some mainstream papers), i say without reservation, put them to jail and throw away the keys.
I am no blind loyalist for Anwar. it is his message and vision of good and fair governance that I support. Nothing more nothing less and if he deviates big time from the said vision, I will drop my support for him like a hot potato.
What has BN show after 50 years of rule or more like misrule? More racism? More discrimination? More corruption (and full of michaels roaming in Hong Kong)?
Hantu, let me say one more time. Many of us are not blind followers. many of us left BN coz its no longer the party for the people and for the man in the street.
Mr No Crap,
He may not be well known outside Cambodia but he certainly was well known among the Khymer Rogue who implement his policy of cleansing the intellectuals.
You don't have to be world famous to have personality cult.
edi,
How many million Chinese were killed during the takeover by the communists?
knights templar,
Other than corruption and misuse of power we are not that bad,there is still hope.
Dear Hantu,
Now it's clear that you do not know what you are talking about. What is your source for saying what you said? No, Pol Pot was not even well known within the khmer rouge circle, only maybe to the top tier of khmer rouge leadership. He was simply the character know as brother no 1. In whatever perspective you like, you cannot spin this fact, he did not have a personality cult. ‘Puppet master’ is more fitting for him to be called. Pretty much like a certain SIL until he decided to be popular and make himself known and throw himself in ‘democratic’ process for a certain party post without ‘contesting’….no balls :-)
Now, relating to your article, it is just as good as the examples you give….shooting in the dark unless there was a hidden agenda and that you prefer to see the country to drift under the direction of SIL. That would be really sad….I hope not because I had some esteems for your thoughts.
SIL will certainly be the continuation of a manipulated system, feudal, corrupt et all. Don’t tell me there is honor in that. The other choice is to change and unfortunately, changes can only happen through a catalyst called ‘Anwar’. I do not want to dwell on what type of a person Anwar is but he is the only catalyst for change that is realistic enough for the country.
Anwar might also screw us bad but that is not yet a certainty. Most importantly when the people could embrace change, then the people will embrace it again. So if Anwar screwed us then, we will screw him back!
In politics, we Malaysians are already beggers and beggers shouldn't be choosy...
Anwar, a personality cult? Not more than SIL……
Mr No Crap Please
donplaypuk@
When Mahathir was in power I haven't started blogging.
Anwar is ex-UMNO.He was part of the corrupt regime and a leopard will not change its spot.
If there were a fresh face,untainted politically, no history of corrupt practices who can be a leader and prime minister ,I will have no reservation at all.
ANWAR IS NOT AND NEVER WILL BE A PERSONALITY CULT BUT HOFFERS THE BEST ALTERNATIVE SO FAR TO RID THE COUNTRY OF THE PRESENT GOVERNMENT THAT DIVIDED RULED AND RAPED THE COUNTRY. I GO FOR HIS AGENDA TODAY. BUT WILL ABANDON HIM IF HE DIVERTS. I BELIEVE MOST SABAHANS NOW ARE GOING FOR HIM TO RETURN THE 20 POINTS. LETS REMOVE THE PRESENT SYSTEM NOW.
sm,
No where in my article I defended the current government.If you care to read with an open mind you wouldn't come to that conclusion.
The main thrust of my article was to highlight that Anwar winning Permatang Pauh is inevitable and he would become a thorn in the neck and a pain in the arse for the BN.
Many Sabahans knew about the banging of the table and throwing tantrum mentioned by the DPM when the Sabah CM at that time refused to issue a licence for the 4D gambling approved by him.Luckily he wasn't the PM.If he had been the PM, the CM then would have been sacked.
The irony is the CM then was Yong Tet Lee,the very same man who now wanted to join him to throw out Badawi.
During his term as Minister of Finance the number of clubs operating slot-machines mushroomed all over Sabah,including in small towns in the rural area destroying the family life of those in the low income group who took to gambling on machines that were not properly regulated and crookedly adjusted to cheat the player.
He is without any doubt a brilliant politician, has strong charisma and extremely charming in attracting certain kind of people to his side, but he is no saint and coming from the very culture that we wanted to change,I wish good luck to those who think those changes are forthcoming.
He certainly has built up a strong following because of the sympathy people have for him.This sympathy and his charisma have and I stand by what I have said earlier, made a personality cult of Anwar Ibrahim.
When one sees no imperfection in a person and are obsessed to a fault,that would be termed as blind loyalty.Sigmund Freud would probably have, in his study of human behaviour, a better psychoanalysis of the subject.
The story of Anwar is not much different from that of Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan who was jailed for corruption and now is back in active Pakistani politics.
Almost the whole of Pakistan said he was corrupted before and were happy that he was jailed but now the story has changed,because the hate for Musharraf was far greater, the Pakistanis find it morally acceptable, because of sympathy for his wife to bring back the crook and one who might even be the next president of the nation.
SM, This is a free country, we are free to chose anyone to be our leader and differences of opinion should not be a major setback to giving us this choice.
If you feel Anwar is your choice,you have every right to vote for him but you can't stop or chide others from making an opinion and not supporting him.
Isn't freedom of expression and the fight against corruption were the major issues you and those supporters of Anwar were fighting for.
Let us all be aware that the rights to speak out are not the privileges of Anwar's and Pakatan's supporters only.
anonymous,
Do whatever you feel is right.No skin off my nose if you vote for Anwar, me? I am going to vote for Avril Lavigne to come to perform in Malaysia.
To hell with those bigoted people in PAS with their unrestrained libido.
A disgrace to the ummah.
Mr No Crap Please,
I agree with you and I am actually beginning to notice the phenomenomn,all those that come under the name of 'anonymous'somehow are pretty smart people, smarter than the rest of us ordaninary mortals.
Who was Prime Minister of Cambodia 1976-1979 ? The Khmer people are stupid they don't know their leader,they don't know who is Saloth Sar,who is Pol Pot and they only know 'Brother No.1' and took orders from Michael Jackson to slaughter millions of their own countrymen.
It is fine not to be well-verse in history but it is appallingly pathetic to pretend to know something that you don't.
You can't change those dirty and corrupted BN boys for 50 years, what makes you think you can change dictatorial Anwar Ibrahim with the blink of an eye.
Anyway,the choice is yours.
hhunter,
It's your choice,mate!.Go for it.
Hahaha...yup...I'm an Anwarista.
BN could have chosen to run a clean campaign in Permatang Pauh, and while it still have been tough, some voters may have been persuaded to return.
Instead BN chose to day-and-night non-stop effort to tarnish Anwar with Saiful's declarations. A lot of people just switched off from this negative-all-the-time campaigning.
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