Send in the Clowns

(With apologies to Stephen Sondheim)
Aidil Fitri is just not Aidil Fitri if there are no circus shows on tv.

It’s a long held tradition by RTM to have, and if my memories have not gone kaput, last year’s was the excellent Cirque du Soleil (Circus of the Sun).

(How the highly seductive piece got passed through the censorship board is somewhat a mystery but it’s a slip I am thankful of.)

The “normal” shows are usually quite passé and they would almost always slipped pass without anyone really noticing the amount of effort put in by the entertainers.

Even watching it live might not moved you beyond the time spent underneath the huge tents circuses normally come with.

Had it not been for my daughter freaking out during a photo shoot with a pony, I would not have even remembered anything when the Royal Circus of London was in town.

Before Cirque du Soleil, circuses are forgettable as you get a déjà vu that you’ve seen it all before.

And far from entertaining you, the always clowning clowns provide scant relief from this feeling that you are watching the re-run of re-runs. (Mother of all reruns?)

Political circuses, however, are of another breed of animal altogether.

The entertainers never cease to amaze you on their flexibility and the clowns their excesses in slapstick jokes.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, along comes a newbie with new tricks that makes it to the front pages of any self respecting journals for the masses.

Those intent on watching the show’s ending will sit through, squirming in disgust at the lamer tricks while laughing in delight at the niftier ones.

Those who don’t should just turn away and, just like it is during Aidil Fitri, carry on with whatever it is that they are doing.

The past few days gave Malaysians ample political circusey (?) tricks with allegations of buyouts, illegal virtuous acts, good money thrown to prove God knows what and more.

Don’t these CLOWNS know that after a while all they are milking is a crowd that is fast growing thinner and thinner?

There will be laughter. Oh yes, there will.

But it will be on the incredulity of it all.

Democracy is not a circus, and it should not be so tainted.