Days of Irony

I

when it suits you
you chant the suqiu mantra

when it suits you
you revert to being the decades old ultra
the angry voice of the bumiputra

when it suits you
extremist communist long ago retired words
are marched out again to apply to the suqiu

who plead simply nothing else
except that we as a nation decide
to end this most arbitrary divide
this economic apartheid


II

when it suits you
as ultimate beneficiary
you summon the valkyries
of may thirteen nineteen sixty-nine

when it suits you
you raise the communal sword
cause your minions to cry this common chord
threaten violence like a feudal overlord
all these to keep the voters in line

when it suits you
operasi lallang rumours are dispelled
keadilan leaders are instead arrested in the dead of night
for what you call a riot
and not a basic human right


III

when it suits you
you say there are no bailouts of your favoured few
but taxpayers give your cronies
tajuddin ramli and halim saad life anew

when it suits you
you privatise an airline, highways, light rail transits
and cars built for national pride

when it suits you
you have us all the people buy it back
and you have taken us all for an expensive ridiculous ride


IV

these days of irony
are these last days of your tyranny
the nation sees through the lies you keep repeating

these days of irony
are these last days of your tyranny
will your end come in sudden uprising
uncompromising

these days of irony
are these last days of your tyranny
will your end, come in fleeing the people's taunt
as family and friends hastily retreat from the fount


V

these days of irony
are these last days of your tyranny
thousands flock in ritual to the opulence
you call the people's palace in putra jaya

these days of irony
are these last days of your tyranny
all agog and in awe to wish you this hari raya
do they come in homage or to bid you farewell
to an imperial icon we have come to know so well


VI

these days of irony
are these last days of your tyranny
you have just turned three quarters of a century
still desperately aching for a lasting legacy

these days of irony
are these last days of your tyranny
your rivals achieve more for the soul of this country
bullied beaten and imprisoned
than all the material monuments you have envisioned



Paksanno