IT is interesting to note that of the myriad of issues facing Malaysians, it was decided in the Anwar Ibrahim-led government’s first cabinet meeting that the number of 4D special draws will be reduced from 22 times to eight times.

If we accept that this announcement has a political goal (it certainly has), we will have to ask – has it worked?

There are two ways to look at it.

The first is the anti-corruption angle. There are some insinuating that the earnings from those draws have gone into Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) alleged RM600 billion war chest for the recent general election.

So far, no credible evidence has been produced. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has only begun to ask for information. The attack seems to have fallen flat.

The second angle is one about exposing hypocrisy. It calls out the PN government – especially PAS – for taking gambling money, despite all its self-righteous religious posturing. The alleged action goes against the proclaimed standard.

One may argue this attack has worked as it forces PAS to be on the defensive. After all, it made PAS President Hadi Awang respond.

But I fear Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders do not quite get how exposing hypocrisy can work in politics.

Here’s how it won’t work:

1. If the target audience deems you more morally bankrupt than the accused “hypocrite”. Imagine a lousy ex-boyfriend criticising the current boyfriend for being lousy. At best, you get a “kettle-calling-pot-black” situation. Perceived as the less religious party, whether rightly or wrongly, PH has no right to question the religiosity of others. This is because the target audience already has a set of normative ideals they are committed towards, independent of the hypocrite. For example, if the conservative audience wanted “more Islam” anyway, exposing the pious “hypocrite” wouldn’t give the “liberal” any extra points. He may be the hypocrite for the conservative audience, but you are the lost cause.

2. If the accused “hypocrite” can and is willing to make amends, but the accuser can’t. In this case, the “hypocrite” will gain sympathy, and the accuser will look disingenuous. This might have happened already. PAS has upped the ante by challenging PH and Barisan Nasional (BN) to ban all gaming shops. They have already done so in Kedah. PH, which has to be mindful of its core non-Muslim constituencies, will end up looking like a halfway house, filled with hot air.

There must be an angle of unfairness and injustice for exposing hypocrisy in politics to work.

The most straightforward example is how Boris Johnson’s approval ratings plummeted after he was caught hosting garden parties when the country was in lockdown. “Partygate” was quite a significant development because Johnson had, by that time, survived all sorts of scandals, including bungling the UK’s Covid response, leading to tens of thousands of deaths by some measure.

Why did it work? Because the elites were shown to have been enjoying something they asked the country to abstain from. And it only worked because the country, and especially the Tory voters who were more sceptical about the lockdown approach, wanted to enjoy the freedom and company Johnson had.

In other words, only by showing suffering is unequal that public anger will mount, as it connects to a sense of unfairness.

You see that happening in Malaysia as well when elites were shown to have flouted Covid rules or skipped queues in vaccination. It contributed to the downfall of the Muhyiddin government, after all.

The hypocrite might not be able to live up to a standard of morality, but for a standard believer, they are still less awful than the liberal who has no standards at all.

Indeed, the conservatives seem to have figured this out. That is why they have attacked the liberals for wanting to destroy the institution of (heteronormative) marriage.

PH is misguided if it thinks that the point is about exposing the fact that PAS politicians lie. People have long known that politicians lie.

Exposing the hypocrisy of politicians will only work if you can prove to their supporters that these politicians think the people are stupid and can be taken advantage of. – December 13, 2022.

* A Forensic Science-Asian Studies hybrid, Nicholas Chan is interested in how authority is shaped, exercised, and more importantly, resisted in Southeast Asia.

* 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.