By : DATUK TUNKU YUSUF JEWA, Kota Baru
IT was reported that China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao experienced the same fate as former US president George W. Bush at a gathering at Cambridge University on Feb 4, when a protester threw a shoe at him.
While it missed, I am worried that this behaviour is getting popular.
Thanks and no thanks to Muntazer al-Zaidi, the journalist who "introduced" shoe-throwing as a sign of contempt for unpopular heads of state. If it could happen to others, it could also happen to us.
Therefore, I suggest that should Malaysia invite any head of state to address a gathering, a net be erected in front of the rostrum. It may sound silly but one can never tell what kind of a crowd we could face.
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Hmm... That would be a blast. Giving a speech from inside a netted rostrum. Not unlike a chicken coop. If one is desperate enough, no layers of net will stop them. They won't be stopping at shoes. Reckon our politicians and heads of states are lucky that Malaysians are a tad subdued when expressing themselves. And what with written laws that could make you stay in detention without trial and unwritten laws that could make you just disappear altogether, I don't think our rulers, elected leaders or foreign dignitaries, regardless of how unpopular they are should be overly concerned with shoes flying their way. Not in this near future anyways.
But we'll never know. With the influx of foreigners who are not shy of fighting for their rights and ideologies, we'll never know. They could catch on with our sopan santun ways or their straightforwardness could rub off on us.
Some of us could prefer the 'unseen' missiles launched by witch doctors or bomoh. Mumbo jumbo, yes but when enough people believe as seen by the ever popular ghost serials and movies on the idiot box, it could probably be as painful as being hit by a size 12 shoe. Or worse.
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