Karim Raslan's journalistic ampu

The problem with essentialising is that you end up with large gaping holes in your thesis. It's a convenient trick in mass comm. It's also lazy. Yet all too often, op-ed writers tend to make broad assumptions like they know the world from the comfort of their leather seats. Even sadder, they expect the reader to soak it all up uncritically.

Karim Raslan, in his column in the Straits Times (Singapore), wrote:

Still, there’s no doubt that Najib is one of Malaysia’s smartest politicians. He is well-read and has a rigorous mind. His unflappable disposition is well suited to the demands of governance. He presides over meetings effortlessly, can summarise discussions succinctly and understands the importance of prioritising issues. In technocratic terms, he far surpasses both Prime Minister Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and even Anwar, whose flamboyant style is less suited to the tedium of Cabinet life.

Oh really? And how do you know that? Worked closely with every one of those folks, have you? Enough to go about passing judgment. How astute. Cos if Najib's all that smart and rigorous, why then did you quote him later as saying this:

“We (Umno) are dominant and we have responsibilities to other races. The other races look up to Umno.”

So *poof!* goes the columnist's Najib-is-so-smart claim.

i'm Malaysian. i'm ethnic Chinese, and i don't give two hoots about Umno. If i were to shed a tear when Umno self-combusts and disappears from this earth, it will be a tear of joy. (For that matter, ditto MCA and MIC)

Karim's piece also posits the scenario that ..."Historically, there have been two centres of authority in Malay society: the masjid and the Istana — the first spiritual and the second temporal. There has always been a degree of tension between the two. Umno’s links are with the palace. The opposition Pas has a tight grip on the masjid. Despite what Anwar may envisage, this year could in fact presage a historic shift in power to the masjid."

Presumably Karim asserts that the Malay society is still in this low-resolution stasis.

i say no. i firmly believe Malay society is transcending such definitions (as are the other ethnic groups). There is a new meta-Malay emerging - a Malaysian Malay which sees a sanguine fusion of masjid and istana, observing no conflict between the two - and this Malay is being self-sculpted and imaged in the bedrock of the Pakatan Rakyat even as we breathe. It is from this lens that we can possibly explain the March 8 phenomenon and Permatang Pauh. Karim conveniently ignores this.

Once upon a time i thought Karim was a decent writer. i thought he was, well, astute. But, ah, how we all change with time.