Politics, Truth & God

Politics, Truth & God

The Pope has recently canonized Sir Thomas More

As the patron saint of politicians.

More was the prelate who lost his head

At the command of his king, Henry the Eighth,

Rather than betray his religious principles

And above all the loyalty he owed

To his spiritual superior in Rome.

Nowadays, Sir Thomas More’s elevation

Has come a little too late.

The calibre of his politicians – and there are

Too many to count, is not something

To shout about or proclaim.

Only a handful do qualify to graduate with esteem

And honour from politicians to statesmen –

Those who care for country and plebeians.

-       who espouse not whether a Ferrari

Gives a better image than a Kancil mini;

-       who must be seen in a branded Gucci

From the most expensive boutique in the KLCC;

-       Who must dine at the Restaurant Lafite,

Be recognized by the Maitre d’

Rather than the nasi kanda stall by the alley,

Amidst those who foreswear the politico elite.

There are those who indulge in sports equine;

Drop balls in eighteen holes to win.

-       Who asked their developer friends to build

Luxurious condominiums for the rich,

And neglect the dispossessed and impoverished;

Leaving a trail of landslides, floods and misery

To inherit and remember them till the next election.

Can we then expect More’s flock to keep their principles

And sacrificed their heads for the sake of country and nation?

Politics and truth are strange bed-fellows.

Politicians through their spin masters espouse Truth

As they see it their way.

They control the media and the hack writers write

What the politicians want them to write.

Let the people hear what the politicians want them to hear,

Accept and act as only the politicians want them to accept and act.

There is no other way but to believe the Truth

Portrayed by the media and the political spin masters.

Must the Truth be the monopoly of politicians and hack writers?

Why cannot it be the other way round,

For the media to control the politicians?

But who then control the media?

The rich or the poor?

Or God Ultimately?

(IPolitics, Truth & God) – Continued.                                       2.

There are those who say that God’s Truth

Is now owned by the politicians.

There are others who say

God has nothing to do with politicians,

For his own spin masters had been elevated

To prophets ages ago.

The way Truth has been used and abused,

One wonders whether Satan has an equitable interest

In God’s portfolio – the Truth as politicians see it –

Their own inequitable way – all for themselves.

Is there no way out for the real Truth to come out?

For some unseen power once again to rescue Truth

From those who had painted it from a palette

Of a single colour – black, black and only black,

Until you cannot even see the grain of the canvas?

But hiding the image of you know whom –

The devil incarnate himself!

Beware Politics and Truth are strange bed-fellows.

                  -  Khoo Soo Hay

                   - 11.01.2001