DAP right to urge PAS not to take itself so seriously
From Terence Netto
DAP should be lauded for urging PAS to cultivate a sense of humour.
For what is seen as an excess of this humour, DAP Youth chief Wong Kah Leong is being investigated by police for being responsible for a caricature of PAS Perak chief Razman Zakaria that is viewed by some quarters as offensive.
This would be stretching things somewhat because caricatures are part of the rigamarole of cartoons which have long been recognised as part and parcel of political commentary.
In fact, Perikatan Nasional – of which PAS is a component – has resorted to comic imagery during one of its election campaigns recently by depicting in cartoon form an image of DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook as a figure with sealed lips and bloated face.
In tandem with this image of Loke, PN campaigners carried images of a mentally harassed Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim plagued by a host of pressing issues.
While the cartoonish images of Loke and Anwar were not really caustic – as was the depiction of Razman in the DAP caricature of him – it was within the range of what could be viewed in democratic discourse as fair comment.
Democratic discourse is enhanced, not devalued, by the latitude it provides for this type of political commentary.
Political discourse must not become so solemn that it does not allow resort to humour, either spoken or conveyed in cartoons.
Humour and its superior mode, wit, helps its practitioners hold people and problems in balance.
It can be a source of refreshment and perspective, and when employed well, becomes an essential part of the practitioner's apparatus of self-criticism.
Because PAS takes its religious mission in deadly earnest, the party is averse to anything that is redolent of human comedy.
Come to think of it, human comedy begins in the soul.
Terence Netto is a senior journalist and an FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
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