BN the frog that slowly boiled to death, says author

Gan Pei Ling Gan Pei Ling Updated 5 years ago · Published on 9 Jul 2018 8:14PM · 8 Comments

The rapidly disintegrating Barisan Nasional has been likened to a frog who boiled to death because it did not notice the growing heat underneath the pot of cold water it was in. – The Malaysian Insight pic, July 9, 2018.

BARISAN Nasional (BN) suffered its first electoral defeat after 61 years of power because its leaders had become complacent over time, said author Dr Vaseehar Hassan.

“It’s called the boiled frog syndrome: when you put a frog into a boiling pot of water, immediately it will jump out. “But if I put (it) in cold water (and) slowly heat up the water, the frog won’t notice.

“This is what happened with BN. They did not see the heat growing underneath and they were boiled to death,” said Vaseehar in a public forum on Malaysia’s changed political landscape at Sunway University, today.

BN leaders became out of touch with the people and the realitiy of their hardships and discontent at the corruption scandals that erupted during the time of prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, said the author of The Malay Leadership Mystique.

Although the first three prime ministers of Malaysia were of the ruling elite class, they would go out on the ground to listen to the commoners and understand their struggles and sentiments, said Vaseehar.

As a commoner, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, a well-known Malay nationalist, could empathise with the low- and middle-income earners.

“(But in the years) after him (Dr Mahathir), even cabinet members (with ordinary backgrounds) behaved like pseudo elitists,” said Vaseehar. – July 9, 2018.

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Comments

  • They are very good at paying lip service. All the struggle this, struggle that is nothing but b..s...

    Posted 5 years ago by Henry Mancini Jr · Reply

  • So true ...

    Posted 5 years ago by Dr James Jeremiah · Reply

  • BN didn't really fail, they were only human who succumbed to human weaknesses. What really failed was democracy. Democracy does not work when there is enough lazy, ignorant, simple minded people in the electorate.

    Posted 5 years ago by Xuz ZG · Reply

  • It seems a very terrible kind of analogy to draw, using the poor hapless food giving creature to some..

    Posted 5 years ago by MELVILLE JAYATHISSA · Reply

    • But it is a good analogy nevertheless, if solely to point out to the New Umno the fresh path that it should now tread & avoid the past pitfalls that brought the old Party down. Revamp & come back even stronger than before to continue heralding a New Malaysia to gain the support of all Malaysians..

      Posted 5 years ago by MELVILLE JAYATHISSA · Reply

  • 100% true. In fact, even until the today, Dumbno is still in boiled frog syndrome.

    Posted 5 years ago by John Nabu · Reply

    • Just put all the members and supporters in a big big pot and boil them all together.

      Posted 5 years ago by Bennie Goh · Reply

  • The better analogy should be cocoons which encapsulate themselves with the things the eat and spew onto themselves. Eventually the die in their own making.

    Posted 5 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply