Aussie PM Adviser’s Best Twitter Rants
Because who cares what 246 million Indonesians think?
Australian political adviser Mark Textor, seen in a screen grab from an interview on U.K.'s Channel 4 news
Mark Textor’s Twitter account appears to have been closed today. That’s probably a good thing for diplomacy.
Just a day ago, his comparison of the Indonesian Foreign Minister to a 1970s Filipino porn star caused Australian-Indonesian relations to deteriorate further, forcing the Australian political adviser to eat humble pie and say sorry.
“I think I went too far this time and I unreservedly apologize,” he told Australian broadcaster SBS, after also tweeting his remorse to “Indonesian friends” and followers.
But just who is Mark Textor? And why — as many people have been surprised to discover — is he an adviser to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott?
Textor has been described as one of the most influential people in Australia, and the most domineering, divisive pollster the country has ever seen. For 25 years, he has made a living out of taking the pulse of public sentiment. His skills have helped secure election victories for top international politicians, including British Prime Minister David Cameron and London’s Mayor Boris Johnson, as well as heads of government in Australia and New Zealand. So it was a surprise to many that the experienced communicator made such a faux pas at a time when relations between his country and Indonesia are so frayed.
Textor has admitted he slipped up. ”Twenty-five years in politics, one or two mistakes, this is certainly one of them,” he said Thursday.
As we ponder what the other mistake of his career could be, here are some of his mud-slinging tweets preserved for posterity.
The one where he brought up the 2005 suicide attack in Bali and linked to a photo of the bombers
The one where he slammed Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s propensity to use Twitter
The one where he gave tips for saving on apparently alcoholic beverages to the leader of the country with the biggest Muslim population in the world
The one where he predicted journalists would find Indonesia’s relationship with Australia sexually arousing…
… but that anyone who mattered didn’t care if Indonesians were offended
The one where he described Indonesia’s ambassador to Australia as a chess piece
The one where he implied the Indonesian President was senile
The one where he re-tweeted a political reporter’s response to his porn star slur
When he reacted to the controversy over his porn star slur
The time he claimed Indonesia’s reaction to the spying controversy was fake
The one where he demanded Indonesia apologize for spying in 2004
The one where he took a dig at Australia’s public broadcaster and gossip columnists
Our PM actually is surrounded by advisers who make the kind of same faux pas, except they're called "the Cabinet."
ReplyDeleteA few recent favourites:
Shahidan Kassim telling Indians they're ok and don't need help, because 30% of doctors are Indian. Hence the community as a whole is rockin'. (And can be shot first, if there's evidence, chimes in Zahid. Zahid deserves a whole book to himself, but hasn't opened his mouth recently.)
Then, there's Ku Nan telling KL residents that he's actually doing them a favour by hiking rates. No dice? OK, boleh bincang, tapi sign Official Secrets Act first. Huh?
On the other side, there's Anwar telling Selangor reps to donate 20% of their huge pay hikes for education, when the correct solution was to smack Khalid around the head and ask him why the hell the pay hikes were so huge in the first place.
See? We have Textors all around.
Malaysia, Malaysia.
Such a beautiful country, such useless politicians.
In general, Australians are known to be racist. Last time when i go to Australia, i brought along some chinese traditional herbs, teas and other harmless stuffs. they confiscated it and then say things as if i'm stupid or not responsible. just herbs and teas, nothing dangerous unlike Australians who had this habit of smuggling drugs into bali and then pretending to be innocent. when caught, they blamed indonesia for being backward asian country out to get them. big-headed white trash.
ReplyDeleteIf Australians are white trash why do you go there? Kalau tak suka, stay out-lah, is the normal Malaysian response. Did anyone force you to go there?
ReplyDeleteI believe some of the comments here are coming from racist Malaysian trash, and I say this as a Malaysian. Why? Because it's the Australian government that is handling the situation terribly, and you people are too stupid to realize that.
ReplyDeleteNot all Australians are bad people, and Australia itself is a beautiful place with little comparison.
As for on topic, Mark Textor is just a hype man. An over glorified bald headed scum. It's not his fault, he does a job that someone else would do - and even if I disagree with what he says, I respect his right to say it. The most important part of all is this - Mark Textor is irrelevant. He's an advisor, not the Prime Minister, and a piece of advice, an advisor is simply just paid to talk, not to decide. Don't forget that.
If all Australians looked down on Indonesia, the Indonesian government would have blocked all the water channels by now, and every Aussie in Bali would be slaughtered. War should already have broken out, but why not? This to me is like a pot calling a kettle black.
So next time people get emotional over the comments of a balding egomaniac, don't forget, Australians died defending Malaysians and on Malaysian soil too. You're insulting their sacrifice.
Mr Angry,
ReplyDeleteLet me be the first to agree with you. Australia is a great country inhibited by a lot of great, cool people. A bit like Malaysia and Malaysians, too. There wlll always be rotten apples, langsat busuk, and out-of-this-world polticians.