“Choosing between an 84-year old, a 68-year old ans a 66-year old? I am sure thousands of school kids will be queuing up for this treat!”

Paul Bérenger has recovered from cancer. A near-miracle for which we are grateful to God. Now we pray for a real miracle: that he recovers his stature and leads an effective opposition offering a real alternative to the citizens of this country.

The view from here is that, as the faint smell of elections is getting gradually stronger, so is the irrelevance of the opposition. We are not talking herea bout the Remake – something which is sinking the MMM into even more irrelevance as it juggles with all the past mistakes, scandals and stained reputation of those it chose to associate with. We are talking about a democratically-run MMM with a strong infl uence of its youth wing, led by a man who has come back to fi ght. The MMM of yesteryears, that is. What we have today is a party which is a shadow of its former self, with no ideology – let alone a clear one – manifestly cut off from its youth and living in a world of its own. We have a party which has forgotten about democracy within its own ranks. The political bureau elections have been postponed so many times that no one thinks that they will ever take place. Those who are hurt by this and other decisions and non-decisions are not allowed to scream any more. The think tank within the party now keeps its thoughts to itself. The party ideology? You heard it from the horse’s mouth the other day: “We have to strike a balance between principles and getting into power.” Really? This, from the party whose leader fought and was jailed for principles and thus built resilience and grit. Shame.

Now, when it comes to the issues being raised these days, the less said the better. Every week, we are served one ‘scandal’ in the same way some TV viewers are served an episode of their best soap. The ‘scandal’ disappears as soon as the realisation dawns upon Paul Bérenger that he – but more often his ally – is guilty of the same thing. Then we move on to another one while waiting for the next.

Then non-issues start becoming hot-button issues, distracting from real ones. First Bérenger starts clambering aboard the ID card bandwagon – as being against the ID has become something to tout – before he moves on to another non-issue. The Asset Recovery Act, which he was waxing lyrical about yesterday suddenly – and for the reasons which our colleague Jean-Mée Desvaux made clear in his opinion piece on October 7 – becomes the biggest threat to our democracy. When this issue went nowhere and it became obvious that it was headed nowhere, a new debate started about voting at the age of 16! That is, our youth should be given the right to choose between an 84-year old, a 68-year old and a 66-year old! What a great privilege. I am sure thousands of school kids will be queuing up for this treat!

The upcoming budget? Who cares what Ali Mansoor left marinating or what the newly-hired Chef Manraj is cooking for us? Monetary and fi scal policy? Youth unemployment, the state of our economy…? Who is interested in these when we can talk about – please don’t laugh – China and Democracy, Socialism Today and other such preposterous topics?

Is the man badly advised? We prefer to believe that. It is kinder on him.