Ex-VIPs need to accept changes

By V.K. CHIN
IT is extremely tough for those who have enjoyed the trappings of power to give up the perks, which go with such high-profile political positions.

They are so used to the VIP treatment everywhere they go that they will find it really difficult to adjust to life as an ordinary citizen.

This is why many of them will try to use whatever means available to them to remain in office, as life without such privileges is really unthinkable.

In fact some are said to suffer from a form of withdrawal symptoms when losing their jobs.

The first few weeks or months will be the most trying and they will have to get used to the peace and quiet.

The phone will stop ringing and “friends” will stop coming over to the house. It will be hard to come to terms with such a situation. Depression will creep in and it may be quite a while before they can behave normally again.

The worst is when they have to travel since they will have no secretary to make the arrangements for them and so they will have to do so on their own.

If they should go out, there will be no bodyguard or assistant to carry their bags. They will have to learn to do things on their own and some of them will not find this easy.

Perhaps what they miss most is that they will be no invitations to important functions or parties thus depriving them of the chance to rub shoulders with the rich and famous, something that they have become accustomed to.

This is what they will have to give up and after the hustle and bustle, life after politics will be pretty dull and boring.

The mental strain on those who have been dropped would be tremendous.

This is especially so if they had expected to be re-appointed to their government jobs. At least if they had not been chosen to contest again, they would realise that it was the end of their political career.

However, once they had been re-nominated, there was no reason for them to suspect that they would not continue with their government posts.

But those affected would have to come to terms with the changes. While the Prime Minister would no doubt like to retain everyone, this was just not possible, as some would have to make way for new people to take over.

As a strategy, it would be better to re-nominate even those he would like to leave out of his government as his intention was to ensure that the Barisan Nasional would win as many seats as possible.

There was no doubt that those in the list would win their seats and leaving them out could result in their supporters giving the new candidates trouble during the campaign.

The Star - 1/4/2004