Why Anthony Loke’s 'express reform in six months' is doomed to fail

Nehru Sathia Moorthy 

Right after the DAP’s Sabah debacle, Anthony Loke announced he would take “full responsibility” for the party’s total wipeout.

“As the Secretary-General of the party, I take full responsibility for the shortcomings and the failure of DAP to win any seats in the 17th Sabah State Election,” Loke said right after the Sabah election results were announced. 

Now, when Western leaders say they are taking full responsibility, you can usually expect a resignation letter the next day.

When East Asian – say, Japanese or Korean – leaders declare it, the consequences may be even more severe. They might enter a room and never come out, and you will only learn they have taken ‘full responsibility’ from a letter that they left behind, if you catch my drift.

When Malaysian politicians say it, however, it probably just means they might have heard the word uttered somewhere. Maybe they read it in an article or saw it in a TV drama, thought it was a neat phrase and assumed that saying it would impress everyone, in the same way that the person who wrote the article or acted in the TV drama impressed them. 

In honourable cultures, saying you take responsibility means carrying the weight of real consequences – careers end, reputations collapse and sometimes even lives are snuffed.

In Malaysia, the phrase has never been more than just theatre. A noble person and an actor playing a noble person might look the same, but the difference between them is the difference between earth and sky.

As if to reinforce that his statement meant nothing, Loke returned with another hollow declaration – this time promising that the DAP will “accelerate the reform agenda in the next six months”.

After an emergency central committee meeting, he proudly announced: “After thorough reflection, we will compile all feedback received and work closely with the prime minister (Anwar Ibrahim) to accelerate the reform agenda over the next six months.”

Listening to Loke reminded me of that Tamil movie Annamalai, starring Rajnikanth, where Rajnikanth transforms from a poor cowherd to a rich millionaire in the span of one song. 

The movie is a Tamil movie, but I suspect Loke might have seen it, because he seems to be inspired by it. Like the movie, he also seems to believe something that is difficult can be achieved in a short time, just because the script demands it. 

Usain Bolt of Reformasi?

The way Loke is promising reform to be delivered in six months, you’d think he and Anwar are already paragons of reform – fully refined, fully reformed – and it’s the rest of us plebs holding them back.

Reform isn’t slow because the political elite lacks willpower or integrity, oh no.

Reform is slow because we plebs are slow, we can’t keep up with the political aristocrats, and that is why the political aristocrats must graciously move at a slower pace just so that we can keep up. 

Now that Sabah voters have clearly told them they are dissatisfied with the pace of reform, Loke seems to suggest he and Anwar will finally run at full speed – like they are the Usain Bolts of Reformasi, capable of sprinting ahead anytime they wanted to, but they simply choose not to – not because they cannot, but because they were being considerate towards us. 

The delusion is stunning.

Listening to Loke talk like this made me remember how my buddies and I used to prepare for our exams at university. 

We would calculate that there were six chapters and 60  pages to study, and assume that if we completed one chapter or 10 pages a day, all we would need to do was study six days before the exams and we would be able to pass our exams with flying colours. 

Thinking in this manner is a sure recipe for failure. 

The mindset that believes you can cram reform in six months is really no different from a mindset that believes that you can cram a semester of study in six days. It is not confidence. It is just self-deceiving stupidity.

Where this delusion comes from

This delusional attitude comes from three places:

A person who thinks they can pass finals with a week of studying or become a millionaire through gambling usually ends up failing exams and owing Ah Longs.

Similarly, a politician who thinks they can “accelerate reform in six months” will not only almost certainly not achieve anything, they will probably make things worse than they already are.

My prediction: 99.999% failure

There is a tiny chance that Loke might succeed, for if Fortune favours you, nothing is impossible. Otherwise, I am 99.999% sure that in six months from now, nothing of substance will be reformed in the country. 

Sure, they maybe there will be some cosmetic changes here and there. Maybe like Loke learning how to say “I will take full responsibility” without requiring him or anyone to suffer any consequences, we will also have some amendments here or some policy changes there without experiencing any real change in reality.

But on the whole, I am 99.999% sure that the Malaysian experience – where foreign football players with no connection whatsoever to Malaysia can become citizens and represent the country in a matter of months or where you can escape corruption charges just by paying a ‘compound’ if you are a well-connected person or where people can be ‘disappeared’ in broad daylight – will not only be the same, but likely get worse. 

It will not change, or it will be likely to get worse because when you put someone who thinks reform is a six-month cram session in charge, don’t expect sunrise.

Expect the night to get even darker.

Nehru Sathia Moorthy is a regular content creator.

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