By LIM MUN FAH
Translated by DOMINIC LOH
Sin Chew Daily

It has become a fad of late for people to go into politics in a high profile.

But to my understanding, this high profile is more of a phonetically high-pitched profile than anything else.

Being high profile should be noble in belief, thinking and objectives.

By contrast, being high-pitched is high in audible decibels and frequency. We are pampered to have a multitude of such instances here and abroad.

Ibrahim Ali, the Perkasa chairman, and former prime minister Tun Mahathir are classical examples of such people.

Of course, we have more than enough such professional talkers among our politicians, both in BN and Pakatan.

There are people who proposed the "penumpang" theory on one day, the theory of "threat" on the other, and then boisterously swung their butts, smashed up windscreens and people on yet another. Such blatant acts of extreme hooliganism are indeed very high in profile, but nowhere near noble and sanctified, and are hardly convincing.

There are then rumour-mongers who wrongfully accused others on one day, fried up issues on the other. Such loathsome and poorly conceived tricks are equally high in profile, but nowhere near venerable.

There are people who resorted to vulgarisms on one day, made empty talks on the other. There are also people who enjoyed gathering their friends and cronies to inspect drains, public roads and markets for some cheap propaganda. Well, these are all very high-key but completely unnecessary actions that eat into our valuable public resources.

Which sort of politics we have will spawn the same calibre of citizenry. In no way should politicians be allowed to act in such fallacious manners as to misguide our people.

We subscribe to democracy and liberty, but that does not mean we endorse populist tactics engineered to win public favour.

Sure enough racism could command as much applause, but that must never be translated into justifiable acceptance. Wake up from the thunderous applause, and the illusion that any act of extremism could be justified by such applause.

There is something we require of all our leaders. We need you to understand the roles you are going to play, and assure us you want more than just to win the election, but to put the country on the right track.

As the general election draws nigh, we expect politicians to step up their effort in putting up more exciting, emotionally charged, exaggerated and dramatic public shows. All that I want from you politicians is this: No matter how enchanting your shows could be, do bear in mind that we the rakyat want to see noble and refreshing politics in play, not depravation, confusion and high-pitched, rowdy, senseless quibbles.