Last Friday may have been a "historical" moment in the political scene in Rawang. My father's Chinese association had invited the newly-appointed wakil rakyat and the former wakil rakyat to its 75th anniversary. And all the VIPs sat in the same table. I had actually taken photos of them but the photos are in my other computer.
So anyway, everyone seated at the VIP table were feeling a little awkward, I suppose. But like all dinner functions, everyone just put on a smile and pretend as though they were long-lost friends. And then came the time for speeches. As the president, my father started the speech session with a speech that I think(I wasn't listening to the entire speech :P) is telling the two political party to work together for the good of the rakyat. And then it was the Organizing chairman's speech. He is a stauch supporter of MCA but he didn't touch any political issues, merely reporting the figures and support that he received for the celebration etc. (Ooh...I didn't know that some people are seriously thick-skinned and would actually pull a Rudy-JJ stunt of inviting themselves to functions!!)
After that, it was time for the politicians' speech. Why did my father invite the former wakil rakyat, you might ask. Well, I think it's because the former wakil rakyat had been quite helpful to my father's association and anyway, my father's association is not a political one. So,inviting him is a gesture of appreciation for his generosity for helping the association and the people for so many years. And it is only right to invite the new wakil rakyat.
So anyway, the former wakil rakyat started his speech well, telling of his party's defeat and that he is no longer a YB but an ordinary citizen like us with a lot of free time on his hands. And then he turned the SPEECH podium into a debate podium and bombarded the new wakil with a lot of questions about his former mega projects that have stalled and the allocation of funds that he procured from the federal government during his time. And you could see the shaking of heads and smiles of disbelief in many of the audience's faces. And when I turned to the new wakil rakyat, her head was down as she was busy eating her bowl of shark's fin soup. SIGH~~~
After the former wakil rakyat's speech, the new wakil rakyat, a young woman of 27 years, was invited to give a speech. She had a piece of paper with her as well (oh, the former wakil rakyat's speech was written by a reporter but I don't think the list of questions was included because the reporter was very quiet and kept looking down and shake his head when the former wakil rakyat came to that part). I think she must have been an active member of the debate team in her school or speech. She hardly looked at the piece of paper that she brought on stage and she humbly accepted the former's "words of wisdom" that because she is still young, she has much to learn. And then, she calmly retorted the questions asked by the former by saying that she has already asked for a meeting of some sort with the former in the newspaper and personally to discuss all these issues because she knows that she is new to the place and does not know the place and people as well as the former. Whoa...TABIK, girl! For the time being, she's my new political idol, other than RPK (But RPK is not IN politics, is he?).
After her speech, her "superior", the representative of Selayang, was asked to give a speech. Ok, so I wasn't paying attention to the announcement because a fresh dish was served then. Anyway, I didn't hear his name and when I turned to isten to the speech, I saw a man with a very red face, swishing his hand from right to left and speaking in monosyllables. My first thought was "what the...why is the drunk on stage??" and then I turned to mom with a scowl and asked who he was. My aunt turned and told me that he is English educated while my mom told me his name. And I was like...O.M.G! This man is THE man whose poems and articles are published all over his party's website? I looked again and he was still standing there swishing his hand from right to left and speaking in monosyllables. After a few times of swishing his hand but no words came out, he spoke in Cantonese and apologized for his lack of Mandarin knowledge and that he had tried to learn the language over the past month but that he is still unable to speak much. I felt so sorry for him! He seemed a little relieved after his apology and he continued his speech in English. I was trying hard to listen to his speech because I have read his articles and poems and I thought he would be a very eloquent speaker. Hmm...with the rising noise in the restaurant because many of the uncles and aunties couldn't be bothered with this English speaking alien, he was almost speaking to a handful of audience and as I turned 180 degrees to listen to him, he would focus on my table (and maybe me) when he turns to his left. After a few repetitions about inflation and dunno-what, I decided to go explore a gimmick from a bank with my aunt. I feel guilty for not listening to his entire speech, but the noise level was so high that you can't really hear his speech anyway.
Hmm...so anyway, the whole point of this blog post is that, Malaysia's political scene is getting more interesting these days. I still hope that my aspirations of being a political spokesperson for animals and plants would be fulfilled - it's just which party to join when the time comes that is the question. Oh, and of course, that learning more languages is always a good idea (better than swishing your hand in an unknown sign language :D).
