IT is a sad day when the government is the laughing stock of Malaysian social media. Not because the government doesn't deserve it; but because the people don't deserve the government they've been having these last two weeks.
In typical form, Malaysians have converted their anger, hurt and disappointment into satire and memes that only the common man can appreciate. And thank goodness for these outlets of expression, for it is these means of letting off steam that have kept Malaysian streets peaceful.
The hurt and disappointment is profound not only for those that have genuinely given their support to the government of the day, but also to all Malaysians who love this country and are concerned by its apparent lack of leadership commitment.
Consider this: A week after the floods, and faced with mounting public anger, the prime minister had to instruct all ministers holidaying abroad to return home immediately. That they had to be publicly ordered home speaks volumes of their professional conscience.
One member of parliament, whose constituency was among the badly affected areas, had the gall to share on social media pictures of himself supposedly doing humanitarian aid overseas, while, bodies of his constituents were being fished out of the floodwaters.
Wisdom has it that when dining out, one should never tip the waiter until the meal is done. The same should apply to public servants. Slightly over a week before the floods, the federal government celebrated its first 100 days by awarding itself a 90 per cent score and throwing a multi-day party.
Then, hoist on their own petard and with Parliament in recess, an unrevealed number of cabinet members went abroad on holiday. And although every worker deserves some time off, and no one could have predicted the disaster that would befall the Klang Valley, December/January is known to be the flood and landslide season in several states in Malaysia, so, it stands to reason that leaders should be here, on standby, to lead or assist in the rescue and relief efforts.
Since being publicly shamed for their poor flood response, federal political leaders have tried to make up for it by blaming the victims, asking the public to donate, going down to the ground in occasion-inappropriate clothing, and, all smiles for the cameras and with shovel in hand, awkwardly redistributing mud around.
That this has been going on for days, with different political leaders getting their 15-minutes in, suggests that they have completely lost the plot. This is not the campaign trail.
These are the scenes of disaster where people have lost their lives and most of their possessions. The people need leaders, not extravagantly paid inept cleaners. In any case, with a disaster of this scale, there would always be the need for the civil society to step in and help with the relief efforts.
What was sorely lacking in the immediate aftermath of the disaster was centralised leadership and coordination, which should never have fallen to ordinary civilian volunteers.
Cabinet members' time would be better spent doing a post-mortem of what went wrong, as they have been asked to do so by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and making corrections so that human error will never again compound natural disasters. The first 100 days was the honeymoon period. And that time is well over.