IN 1946, George Orwell wrote that political language is expressed in vague or meaningless words because it was intended to hide the truth rather than express it.

It is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity.

Doublespeak makes the bad seem good and the negative appear positive, and limits and corrupts thought. It disguises the nature of the truth.

Unemployment is on the rise, but no one gets fired. The company is right-sizing, re-layering , downsizing , re-engineering or having a workforce imbalance correction and you are let go , laid-off or offered career alternative enhancement or early retirement so you can ‘pursue other interests’ and ‘spend more time with the family’.

Job flexibility often means no contract and little or no job security. Reducing costs mean cutting jobs and salaries.

Banks don’t have bad loans or bad debts; they have non-performing assets, which are rolled over or rescheduled.

The danger of doublespeak – most often heard from politicians and bureaucrats – is that it obfuscates meaning.

One of the reasons most politicians now shy away from using the term ‘increase in revenue for the government’ is because the public stripped away the shroud and called it what it was: taxes.

The recent political speeches by Bersatu and Umno leaders, Muhyiddin Yassin and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi respectively, to their parties are largely the defence of the indefensible.

The political language from both of them clearly demonstrated a large gap between their real and declared aims, begging questions and full of insincerity.

Their ability to use lies, and choose and shape facts selectively, blocking out those that don’t fit an agenda or programme – knowingly or subconsciously – and to get away with it is mind boggling.

It was Muhyiddin and his party that withdrew from the Pakatan Harapan coalition – resulting in the collapse of the government – later to team up with Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) to form a new government.

Thus, the bellicose language used interchangeably by Muhyiddin – with calls for the voters to reject BN in the next general election when it was he who invited BN to join his party and became the new government in February 2020 – is doublespeak in action.

If not for the treachery of Muhyiddin and his party, BN would still be in the opposition now and fighting against an incumbent government.

Instead, BN is now going into the general election once again as the incumbent.

As such, the ruling coalition has easier access to campaign finance, as well as government resources that can be indirectly used to boost its re-election campaign.

Some 5.5 million Malaysians voted for the ouster of BN in May 2018 but due to the treachery of Muhyiddin and his party, the coalition that was ousted returned to govern the country against the wishes of these voters.

Now Muhyiddin is calling for the same voters to reject the same coalition, which invited to join him against their wishes.

Does he think Malaysians are mentally challenged?

How these voters will cast their ballot in the next general election remains to be seen but for sure they will never vote for Bersatu, Umno, or their respective coalitions.

Meanwhile, Zahid, in his speech on Saturday, claimed that from day one of the collapse of the PH government his party has been calling for the mandate to be returned to the rakyat.

Such magnanimity.

If BN was sincere from day one, then upon Bersatu betraying PH, BN should not have sided with Muhyiddin.

At that time, 5.5 million Malaysians vociferously demanded the mandate to be returned to the rakyat.

Instead Umno and BN ignored the voices of the rakyat.

They gladly affirmed their support for Muhyiddin to form a new government of the day.

Not once, but twice.

The second time was when it later dumped Muhyiddin, resulting in the collapse his administration.

Did Umno called for the mandate to be returned to the rakyat when this happened?

Nope.

Instead, it proposed Ismail Sabri Yaakob take over as prime minister.

Yet, since then, it hypocritically continues to snipe at Ismail, a member of the party, to call for an early general election.

If Umno is sincere in wanting the mandate to be returned to the rakyat, it does not require a rocket science approach.

Just withdrawing from government would then leave Ismail with no choice but to take the country to the ballot box.

The wishes of the rakyat are not for the politicians to manipulate at their own will and fancy.

In February 2020 and August 2021, Umno had the chance to walk the talk, but chose to ignore the rakyat.

For the rakyat, once bitten twice shy.

If the rakyat still believes in the doublespeak of Muhyiddin and Zahid for the 3rd time, the rakyat truly deserves to be tagged a fool. – August 29, 2022.

* FLK reads The Malaysian Insight.

* 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.