The highly unprofessional public conduct of Edi Rama has made international news, albeit in Malaysia of all places.
The MalayMail tabloid was first published in Kuala Lumpur in 1896 and reaches a wide audience via its online platform in the country. Quite how Mr Rama caught the attention of Malaysian journalists is unknown at the time of writing.
Describing the Prime Minister as “spunky”, a word usually used to describe a puppy or a teenage girl, it goes on to laud his mastering of “the art of the internet meme”. It also references the fact that unlike pretty much any other head of state, apart from resident dehydrated tangerine Mr Trump, he wages his political battles with opponents and members of the public across social media platforms.
The MalayMail also knew about the student protests that started in December where thousands of youths from across the country marched through the streets of Tirana, and it pointed out Mr Rama’s gross unprofessionalism, stating that his response was made via Instagram.
“But his call for dialogue was not a staid plea filmed behind a desk, but rather a meme showing a cut-out of his face pasted onto the gyrating body of a cartoon character. The animated figure was dancing to the lyrics of an Albanian pop song: “I’m waiting for you as usual…I still hope…because I know that you will come some day.”
The article also made scathing references to his response to being pelted with eggs, and the unprofessional comments made towards Sali Berisha. Quite why a head of state thought it was appropriate to stick his face on the body of American popstar Meghan Trainor is far beyond the reasonable though of most people, the key word here being ‘reasonable’.
With reference to the way in which he engages people on social media, considering his position, Rama responded;
“It is better to have a prime minister who has a sense of humour than a prime minister who kills, steals, destroys his country,” alluding to Berisha and making cheap political jibes instead of answering a sensible question.
It appears that the MalayMail asked Rama’s underworked and overstressed communications department for a comment, but none was forthcoming- probably due to the fact they are sat in their office, head in hands, rocking back and forth just waiting for his next monumental PR disaster.
The fact that his behaviour on social media and the way that he addresses the electorate, other politicians, and members of the public is outrageous even by Trump standards and would lead to dismissal in most civilised countries seems to have gone way over his head with Rama commenting;
“Don’t waste the opportunity to communicate with me about nonsense. Maybe we can talk about something useful.”
The fact that Mr Rama thinks he can harangue, abuse, and harass on social media to the point where a south east Asian tabloid pick up on it, but yet the countries media should all come under his control is just astoundingly hypocritical. His current push on legislation that will bring every single blog and media portal in the country under his direct supervision and threat of instant closure is at direct odds with the way that Mr Rama believes he can behave on social media.
Using “public morals” as a reason to push the censorship law, one could also say that his childish, aggressive, and embarrassing tirades that remind me of the coke fuelled 4am posts I come across on Facebook from some weird kid I once went to school with, are an insult to the same morals he professes to want to protect.
