A flood disaster that says a thousand words

“你是水灾的罪魁祸首，拨款迟迟不发下，才有此祸”。这叫做“得了便宜还卖乖”，也可叫做：“功劳我来领，罪责你来负”。搞政治搞到能“把责任推得干干净净，把赈灾光环尽往自己头上戴”，这种扭非为是，化腐朽为神奇的本事，的确令人叹为观止。
“you are the culprit. The long delay in giving the allocations have caused us the disaster.” This is akin to “I claim all the credit, you take the blame.” It is so amazing when the art of politicking can shake off all responsibility and claim all credit of the flood relief operation to himself.
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一场水灾的“千言万语” ☹️
A flood disaster that says a thousand words

洪水在狂风大雨护送下造访槟州的那一天，朋友容少刚好返乡探亲受困灾区，动弹不得。当时容少那已年过60的姐姐深信能期盼到林首长派人前来救援，但千期万盼希望终归幻灭。过了数小时，向他们一家老小伸出援手的竟是军人与马华志工团。后来作为槟州选民的姐姐说，这一定是林首长致电军队请求救援，他们才会来。

这位前媒体强人朋友不信邪，立刻致电报馆求证，得到的答案是早在林首长拿起电话筒之前，军队已在希山慕丁一声令下，漏夜出动赶往灾区。

他对姐姐这种一厢情愿的“护神”心态感到啼笑皆非，遗憾槟州百姓中毒已深，但也不得佩服火箭吹牛皮、装模作样，把“好事”往自己身上揽，把“坏事”往政敌身上推的那一套本事。

与开发山林没关系
这位朋友说，他身为前报人没有那么容易被蒙骗，但身在庐山中的亲朋戚友，却掏心掏肺尽信火箭人所说的那些“故事”：这纯粹是“天灾”，与开发山林、填海、山坡发展屋业一点关系也没有。他们还对林首长半夜三更致电阿末扎希向他求救感激流涕，却对“破坏自然生态”引来滔天大祸的责任，全无追究之意，甚至连此念头也不曾在脑海中闪过！

在大多数槟州灾民眼中，军队救灾，全是林首长“致电之功”，希山慕丁的“下令”一点功劳也没有；纳吉那句话：“即使林首长没求助，军队也会前来赈济”被看成是在“作秀”；四面八方纷至沓来的赈灾善款，包括邝汉光的那一百万，也是火箭筹募来的，功劳归火箭。

首相当机立断宣布中央拨出10亿令吉以进行排水工程的善意，得到的回应是林首长那句话中有话的：“其余的数十亿呢？”

弦外之音像是：“你是水灾的罪魁祸首，拨款迟迟不发下，才有此祸”。这叫做“得了便宜还卖乖”，也可叫做：“功劳我来领，罪责你来负”。搞政治搞到能“把责任推得干干净净，把赈灾光环尽往自己头上戴”，这种扭非为是，化腐朽为神奇的本事，的确令人叹为观止。

认清“神话”虚假
当朋友以“前报人”的眼光与认知对火箭提出质疑时，却引来外甥与外甥女的群起怒斥，反唇相讥，说朋友是“国阵媒体”的前报人，“中毒太深”，才会尽说林冠英的坏话。朋友如何“说之以理，晓之以大义”，他们全听不进去，到了辩无可辩，驳也驳不了之时，他们竟然抛出一句：“最多票我两边都不投”！

这场不幸的水灾使许多人因此而陷入心理矛盾的挣扎，也使一些人认清“神话”的虚假，看透只会耍嘴皮耍不出“政权”来的客观现实。

如果说“ a picture says a thousand words ”，那一场洪水大灾难是否也道尽个中真伪难辨、迂回曲折的“千言万语”呢？

王介英/南洋商报

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A flood disaster that says a thousand words

Flash floods caused by torrential rainstorm inundated Penang and on that day my friend Rong Shao was in Penang visiting relatives. He was held up in the flooded areas and could not go anywhere.

At that moment, his elder sister, who is over 60 years old, firmly believed that Chief Minister Lim would dispatch people to rescue them. After waiting for a long time, she gave up hopes eventually.

Several hours later, those rescuers at the door steps to help them turned out to be soldiers and MCA volunteers. Then his sister, who is a Penang state voter, said Chief Minister Lim must have phoned the army for help and thus they came.

My friend, who is a former media strongman, was not so gullible. He immediately phoned up the newspaper office for confirmation. The answer was  the army had been ordered to the flooded areas by Hishammuddin at midnight even before Chief Minister Lim made the call.

He found his sister’s protective attitude towards the “deity” ridiculous. On the other hand, he also had high respect of the self-promotion tactic of the Rocket. They made all the false pretensions, claiming credit for all the good things while blaming their political rivals for all the bad things.

My friend said as a former newspaperman, he could not be easily cheated. However, his relatives who live in isolated areas believe in stories spun by Rocket people, saying that this was purely a natural disaster and had nothing to do with forest clearing, sea reclamation and hillside housing development.

They were moved to tears by the fact that Chief Minister Lim phoned Ahmad Zahid pleading for help but never thought of those responsible for the environmental damage which caused the massive disaster. Such thought may not have even crossed their mind!

To most Penang flood victims, all credit must be given to Chief Minister Lim for making the phone call. Hishammuddin’s order deserved no credit. Najib’s assurance that even if Chief Minister Lim had not pleaded for help, the army would be there to help had been treated as a “show”. Donations from all quarters, including the RM1 million from David Kong, have been raised by the Rocket which takes all the credit.

When the Prime Minister made an on-the-spot goodwill announcement of RM1 billion allocation for flood mitigation projects, Chief Minister Lim responded by asking: “Where are the balance of the other few billions allocations?”

The unspoken meaning is that: “you are the culprit. The long delay in giving the allocations have caused us the disaster.” This is akin to “I claim all the credit, you take the blame.” It is so amazing when the art of politicking can shake off all responsibility and claim all credit of the flood relief operation to himself.

When my friend questioned the Rocket based on his former journalistic knowledge and experience, he was berated and mocked by his nephews and nieces, saying that my friend was a former journalist of a Barisan Nasional newspaper and had been “too deeply poisoned” and thus talked bad about Lim Guan Eng. They turned a deaf ear even how much my friend had tried to reason with them. When the argument and debate got stuck, they blurted out, “Then I would not vote for either side!”

The unfortunate flood disaster has thrown many people deep into mental struggle. It has also enabled some people to see clearer certain myths. They could see clearly the political reality where certain politicians could only talk but have no real political power.

It is said that “a picture says a thousand words.” Similarly, a flood disaster could also says a thousand words, revealing both the truths and falsehood!

http://www.malaysianchinesenews.com/2017/11/a-flood-disaster-that-says-a-thousand-words/
http://www.enanyang.my/news/20171113/一场水灾的千言万语王介英/