Needing a feminine touch

One Man's Meat
By PHILIP GOLINGAI

As the latest political buzzword in TwitterJaya is anak jantan, perhaps we need more women leaders to make politics more ladylike.

WOULD the world be a better place if it were ruled by women? I had this thought when the machismo in Malaysia politics came to mind.

Last week, Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi challenged DAP, saying that if it was an anak jantan (a macho man), it would leave Pakatan and contest on its own in the 13th General Election.

Soon after the quotemeister’s statement was reported in local news websites, the phrase anak jantan was buzzing in Twittersphere. There were even counter challenges from opposition politicians.

On Wednesday, anak jantan became the buzzword of the day in TwitterJaya.

@philipgolingai (that’s me on Twitter) tweeted: “PAS Erdogans – to use Zahid’s fav word – must be Jantan @wansaiful.”

That was in response to Wan Saiful Wan Jan’s tweet (who is CEO of Institute for Democracy and Eco­nomic Affairs Malaysia and The Star iPad columnist): “PAS Erdogans must not be impotent.”
@philipgolingai also tweeted: “I’m bored with this jantan macho talk. Let’s talk about betina.”

On hindsight, betina is not a politically-correct word. A check with AK57’s Weblog (http://ak57.wordpress.com) revealed that “Betina is used to refer to promiscuous women (sluts) and also, I believe, to unmarried women who are pregnant. The reason is that these women behaved like animals by having illegitimate sex.”

Anyway, the point of my tweet is there’s too much testosterone (i.e. Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali) in Malaysian politics that women politician would give a gentler, kinder touch.

Would a woman politician make politics more ladylike?

Perhaps sexier? (Think Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin’s gorgeous sister who is running for Thai premiership.) Homelier? (Think Corazon Aquino, the homemaker who was thrust into the macho Philippines politics when her husband Ninoy was assassinated.)

Let’s look at American politics.

Sarah Palin? Not a good example. She is more macho than former California governor and Hollywood action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger (who did the most jantan thing a politician can do – fathering a child with a former housekeeper).

Palin, whose nickname is Sarah Barracuda, is into moose hunting in the Alaskan wilderness. Not only can she hunt, she can skin, cube and cure a whole moose.

She is so jantan. But sexy with her Kazuo Kawasaki glasses.

Britain’s Margaret Thatcher is also very jantan. She is not known as the Iron Lady for nothing.

Our own Iron Lady Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz is not your typical masak-masak (cooking) politician. She can outwit most of her former colleagues in the Cabinet. And she is not the type to mince her words; Rafidah allegedly called a rival female politician jantan.

How about Jelapang assemblyman Hee Yit Foong?

In June 2009, Aulong assemblyman Yew Tian Hoe sued his former DAP comrade for allegedly assaulting him with pepper spray during a chaotic Perak assembly sitting.

On Wednesday, @philipgolingai tweeted: “Zahid says DAP (is an) anak jantan if it leaves Pakatan. If Zahid had a fist fight with @teresakok, who would win?”

And @drshikin (Dr Wan Nora­shikin, Puteri Umno treasurer) replied: “Karaoke je.”

See, that’s a ladylike answer.

Such a tweet would have raised the blood pressure of some male politicians. YouTube is filled with video clips of male dignitaries shouting mari lawan (come and fight).

My personal favourite is the one where a YB kneed another YB in the groin in the Kelantan Legislative Assembly. Ouch!

Yes, we need more feminine politicians. Someone like DAP’s Sri Serdang assemblyman Teoh Nie Ching who sleeps with her Ubah doll (DAP’s hornbill mascot in the recent Sarawak polls), as revealed on her Twitter @teonieching.

The world indeed would be a better place if we had less anak jantan politicians.

You don’t think so? If you are anak jantan, mari lawan!