“THERE are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true, the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher and social critic. 

Deception, particularly by the authorities, is clearly a surreptitious act committed worldwide from the United States right up to our very own backyard.

Just as the world is busy combating the ravaging Covid-19 pandemic, Julian Assange, who is the founder of the Wikileaks, is fighting his legal battle against extradition to the US at the Central Criminal Court in London.

The Australian is being accused by the US government of breaking American laws and is currently facing a total of 18 charges at the Old Bailey, including the charge of conspiring with ex-intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to gain access to classified information on the Pentagon network, and of publishing classified military documents.

What the Wikileaks published was a graphic video of an Apache helicopter killing 12 civilians in Baghdad in 2007, including a Reuters photographer and his assistant, and the rescuers who arrived at the scene a few minutes later in a van to save the wounded. Among the casualties were two children.

The US military initially said the helicopters had been engaged in combat operations against a hostile force. But the video shows otherwise.

Of course, this is not the first time that the American public were lied to. From 1964 to 1975, the US government continually lied to its people about the Vietnam War so that the war could be continued with public support; and their politicians lied in order to win elections.

In 2003, the US Secretary of State Colin Powell convinced the world via the UN Security Council that Saddam Hussein possessed biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction, that his regime was supporting international terrorism, and that it aimed to build nuclear weapons.

“Every statement that I made today is backed up by sources. Solid sources. These are not assertions. What we are giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence.” This is according to Powell and the US government he represented.

The Vietnam War eventually ended in 1975, four years after former US military analyst Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers that exposed the lies that the government told to its public. The Iraq War ended in 2011 but the world did not discover the weapons of mass destruction, the existence of which was assured by Powell. These lies were deadly.

Unlike the US, our country has seen few social turmoils since independence, and we are lucky enough to not be misled into man-made atrocities, such as wars.

We, nonetheless, have our fair share of lies spewed by our politicians. And no one should be surprised.

For years, Malaysians were made to believe that 1MDB launched in 2009 was nothing more than a Malaysian state fund, set up to promote development through foreign investment and partnerships.

It is not until much later that when leaked documents got published by the Wall Street Journal that the nation slowly came to realise that it is in fact one of the biggest corruption scandals known to the world.

Billions of ringgits had been siphoned off, some of which was allegedly used to buy luxury assets and real estate for Low Taek Jho and his associates, some to finance the Hollywood film The Wolf of Wall Street and some was alleged to have been channelled into Najib Razak’s personal bank account.

Billions could have been put to good use, like setting up a Covid-19 relief fund, had the public funds not been misappropriated.

On the other hand, as our country is trying to control the epidemic, it was hurled into yet another political crisis in February, which led to the untimely downfall of the Pakatan Harapan government and shameless power struggle that has plagued us to this day.

The contesting politicians claimed to have the majority support from MPs; all infested with treacherous politicians who switched party allegiance so easily, and all claimed to have done so in the name of “serving the rakyat”. Meanwhile, our public health system, economy, and even political institutions have taken a beating.

The truth is, there are only a few politicians who are not motivated to consolidate and expand their power. If compromising truth can allow them to manipulate their followers, to manufacture consent, or to conceal wrongdoings just to serve their narrow interests, most would probably not hesitate to do so.

More than once, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had assured the PH supporters that he would let Anwar Ibrahim succeed him, yet his actions showed otherwise. He also admitted that the coalition had over-promised reforms in their manifesto because they did not expect to win the last general election.

But perhaps there is another reason why politicians lie – because we let them do so. After all, were we not the ones who wishfully believed that Mahathir had turned over a new leaf without proof?

Are we not the ones who offered blind allegiance to “Bossku” even though the court had found him guilty as charged? Are we not the ones who had pledged our votes to the lesser evil no matter what, and by doing so giving them no reason to listen to us?

Very often, much of the political world is beyond our control. Once elected, many politicians tend to not keep to their promises they made during electoral campaigns. In fact, elites and organised groups representing business interests are more likely to influence public policies.

Unless we are willing to admit to the possibility of being lied to, be willing to question, challenge and hold politicians accountable when they lie, and be willing to denounce our support for them, exploitation of public ignorance for their political gain will continue. – September 28, 2020.

* Chan Yit Fei is a founding member of Agora Society. He is a cellist and educator by profession, and a biotechnologist by training. He writes to learn and to think, and most importantly, to force himself to finish reading books that would otherwise not see much of the light of day.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.