Jun 5, 2011
Europe tiring of bedroom antics
Dominique Strauss-Kahn's wife once famously said: It is important for a man in politics to be able to seduce. Since then, the French politician has been accused of attempted rape. While sexually predatory behaviour is a rare thing in the political world, bed-hopping is not. Here's a look at varying attitudes towards the amorous politician.
The arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn (above) has sparked debate in France over the tendency to ignore its politicians' private lives. -- PHOTOS: REUTERS, AFP, AP, GUANG MING DAILY, THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, ST FILE
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Britain used to be the one European country where a small sexual indiscretion meant the sudden end of a promising public career and, occasionally, even the collapse of an entire government.
The 1963 fling between then War Secretary John Profumo and showgirl Christine Keeler turned into the biggest British political scandal of the last century. It had everything a journalist dreams of: Sex between an attractive but uneducated woman and a rich, old man; a pimp who supplied Miss Keeler and her colleague to the country's political elite; and spying, since it was alleged that she shared her bed with both Britain's top security minister and a Soviet officer.
Prime Minister Harold Macmillan told Parliament that he 'was determined that no British government should be brought down by the action of two tarts'. Yet brought down it was.
In the 1990s, a number of British ministers were caught with 'their pants down' - as newspapers put it - just as then Prime Minister John Major heralded a return to traditional morality. Not surprisingly, it left his credibility badly dented.
Public mores have changed over the years: Up to 40 per cent of all British marriages now end in divorce, so news of extra-marital affairs no longer shocks. But, while castigating someone as just a 'sexual fiend' is not news-worthy, Britain's media can still concentrate on the gory details to grab readers.
Everything, from indiscreet e-mail messages right up to the athletic prowess of the couple, is published. And a 'public interest' angle is usually found. So, when Mr John Prescott, a deputy prime minister, was discovered to have had an affair with his secretary in 2004, newspapers wondered whether the historic furniture at his official residence could have resisted the strain of the exercise.
And sometimes, British papers use the excuse of concern for a mistress' welfare in order to delve into intimate details. A woman who claimed to have had an affair with Mr Nicholas Soames, a defence minister, was asked to describe her encounters, since Mr Soames was rather large. It was 'like having a wardrobe fall on you with the key still in it', she replied without blinking. Few politicians can survive such savage public ridicule.
Scandals involving homosexuality were always a British speciality. Previous generations of prime ministers used to console themselves when told that one of their colleagues had been caught in bed with a woman: 'At least it wasn't a boy,' they used to say. Ironically, however, the biggest gay political scandal erupted soon after homosexuality was made legal: In the 1970s, when Mr Jeremy Thorpe, the leader of the Liberal Party, was arrested and tried for conspiracy to murder his male lover. Mr Thorpe was acquitted, but the graphic details of his trial forced TV broadcasters to warn that their news bulletins were no longer suitable for viewing by children.
As a rule, British sex scandals involve male politicians. But a further refinement was introduced last year, when Mr Peter Robinson, the regional leader in Northern Ireland, was forced to step aside when it was discovered that his wife had been having an affair with another man. Mr Robinson did nothing wrong apart from, perhaps, marrying badly.
Politicians in Europe's other big countries fare much better. In France, the more powerful a man is, the more mistresses he is expected to have. Mr Francois Mitterrand, France's president for much of the 1980s, ran two families in parallel. When a cheeky journalist once asked him about these affairs, the answer was 'and so?'
'In France, most scandals are about money, and not about sex,' says Professor Dominique Moisi, a noted local academic.
In Italy, politicians' sexual encounters don't even require the cover of love; they can just remain brief transactions. Mr Silvio Berlusconi, the country's billionaire Prime Minister, denies allegations that he had sex with underage belly-dancer Karima 'Ruby' El Mahroug, or that he organised 'bunga bunga' parties with dozens of showgirls and prostitutes. But the 74-year-old never made a secret of his fondness for teenagers who could easily be his granddaughters. 'It's better to like beautiful girls than to be gay,' he once remarked.
Why do the French and Italians tolerate such behaviour? The closed, cliquish nature of the political elites offers one explanation: Nobody has an interest in breaking the silence.
France and Italy remain male-dominated societies, in which women are routinely treated as objects of desire. Some like this approach. 'A lot of my British and American friends, when they come to Paris, say, 'I feel a woman because men are looking at me,'' observes French political commentator Agnes Poirier.
But those who hate such unwanted attention usually remain quiet, because any legal complaint may open them to ridicule as frigid old maids. Most Italian men privately admire Mr Berlusconi, because they know that, if they possessed his money and power, they'd do the same.
The nations of Eastern Europe are not much better. Then Russian President Boris Yeltsin once tugged at the bra strap of one of his secretaries, in full public view. Everyone present just giggled at an act which in Britain or the United States would have spelt instant political demise.
Meanwhile, in Germany where standards of public governance remain high, extra-marital affairs are regarded - on principle - as nobody's business. 'German politicians don't have sex scandals; they just have sex, I presume,' jokes Mr Matthias Matussek, a journalist for Der Spiegel, the country's top political weekly.
And that, in turn, allows some women to turn the tables on men by using sexual hints as selling points. At a recent German election, an aspiring MP produced electoral posters of herself and Chancellor Angela Merkel, both sporting revealing cleavages: 'We have so much more to offer,' read the caption.
But there are signs that the mood in continental Europe is changing towards libidinous politicians. Italians, for instance, are tiring of Mr Berlusconi's antics, and dealt his party a drubbing at local elections held last week.
Fierce circulation wars have also meant that European newspapers are now less able to resist the temptation to unearth a juicy sex scandal. The Internet has also broken old taboos: If newspapers keep silent, bloggers do not.
And the shocking episode of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund now facing a charge of attempted rape and accusations of past harassment of women, has unleashed a serious public debate in France.
The days when predatory behaviour of a sexual nature was dismissed as just harmless antics of chaud lapin (hot rabbit) politicians are over.
So, paradoxically, while the British seem to have shaken off their old prudishness, the rest of Europe has suddenly rediscovered family values.
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Jun 5, 2011
In S'pore, private life matters in politics
Dominique Strauss-Kahn's wife once famously said: It is important for a man in politics to be able to seduce. Since then, the French politician has been accused of attempted rape. While sexually predatory behaviour is a rare thing in the political world, bed-hopping is not. Here's a look at varying attitudes towards the amorous politician.
Singaporeans would like people in high places to aspire to morals as lofty as their positions but are more forgiving of businessmen than politicians who stumble, say observers here.
'A lot depends on the consequences of the case on the company or institution,' said psychologist Daniel Koh of Insights Mind Centre. 'Singaporeans believe in dealing with such issues in a practical way. If the person can do the job, there would be compromise rather than making it into a big issue. But if it affects work, then bosses will tackle it in their own way.'
He is one of two analysts The Sunday Times interviewed regarding remarks made by the wife of disgraced International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned last month after being charged with the attempted rape of a New York hotel maid.
Ms Anne Sinclair had defended her husband's reputation as a ladies' man, saying 'to be able to be a politician, one has to be able to seduce'.
Both experts said Ms Sinclair's views were not applicable in the context of politics in Singapore. Here, 'divisions between private life and public role are not so distinct' and 'what one does in one's private life may have a knock-on effect on the individual's public role', says Singapore Management University's Eugene Tan.
Indeed, those who do not conform with traditional Asian mores may find their chances of gaining a foothold in Singapore politics severely limited.
While general attitudes have become more relaxed on matters such as divorce, certain expectations still remain for those who stand for public office. Mr Tan said: 'Where the private life of an individual has an impact on his public standing, there would be consequences.'
Shefali Rekhi
Jun 5, 2011
Sexcapades in Asian politics
Dominique Strauss-Kahn's wife once famously said: It is important for a man in politics to be able to seduce. Since then, the French politician has been accused of attempted rape. While sexually predatory behaviour is a rare thing in the political world, bed-hopping is not. Here's a look at varying attitudes towards the amorous politician.
In 2008, a DVD featuring Malaysian politician Chua Soi Lek and an unknown woman having sex in a hotel room was widely distributed (above).
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Strings of mistresses, children born out of wedlock, accusations of sexual harassment: The philandering politician is no stranger to Asian countries.
How they are regarded by voters and treated by the media, however, depends on how society regards the alpha male with a weakness for women.
For instance, in the Philippines, a society with a strong Latino streak, people tend not to be puritanical about politicians with steamy private lives.
Former president Joseph Estrada revelled in his reputation as a womaniser even as the Catholic Church shuddered.
Church leaders in the Catholic- majority Philippines were scandalised that the married Mr Estrada, who is now 73, fathered several children out of wedlock with different mistresses. They urged the faithful not to vote for him in the 1998 election. Yet the actor-turned-politician won a landslide victory.
In Mr Estrada, who made a screen career out of playing toughs from society's fringes, the masses saw a solidly red-blooded leader.
'Such macho types are admired in the Philippines, especially among men,' said political analyst Earl Parreno at the Institute for Political and Economic Reform. 'And it's no secret that some politicians have many women in their lives.'
It was only when Mr Estrada's presidency was mired in corruption scandals that his popularity plummeted, leading to his ouster in 2001. Philandering itself has rarely dented a political career in the Philippines.
Political science professor Benito Lim said: 'Filipinos generally don't consider this kind of behaviour a problem if it is done discreetly.'
Filipino journalists are as inquisitive about the private lives of their leaders as their counterparts in any country with a free press, but sleaze of the financial kind gets more attention in the Philippines as it provokes greater public fury.
Just how widespread philandering is among the wealthy and powerful is, of course, hard to gauge. But a self-help book titled Etiquette For Mistresses... And What Wives Can Learn From Them by columnist Julie Yap Daza has had 11 reprints since its first publication in 1993.
It used to be the same for Japanese politicians. At one time, no one in Japan would raise an eyebrow if told that a leader was having extramarital affairs.
In the case of former premier Kakuei Tanaka - one of Japan's most influential post-war leaders - it was an open secret that he had a mistress but journalists turned a blind eye. It was only in 1993, during inheritance proceedings following his death, that it became publicly known that he had a son born out of wedlock.
Flamboyant Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara too kept a mistress, a hostess who worked in the Ginza district, and has an illegitimate son by her. His affair, however, did not stop him from being elected governor of Tokyo after several terms as an MP.
The reluctance by the press and public to poke and pry and go into a moral outrage over what politicians do beneath the sheets is also characteristic of India.
Its founding prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, chroniclers of that era say, conducted an ill-concealed love affair with Lady Edwina Mountbatten, wife of the last Viceroy of India. His daughter, Indira Gandhi, was linked to a Cabinet minister and a yoga teacher during her years as India's leader.
If Indians in the land of the Kama Sutra knew about these affairs, they chose to look the other way. Besides, Nehru and his daughter were cautious about their image. For instance, Nehru loved his cigarettes but he never smoked in public for the simple reason, as he told a visitor to his office, 'Indian Gods do not smoke'.
Throughout his years in office as prime minister and out of it, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, a lifelong bachelor, has lived with a woman who was not his wife.
Like the Filipino press, India's media is dogged in chasing down corruption but the pursuit tends to stop outside the bedroom door. 'There is a respect for private lives here,' explains parliamentarian H.K. Dua, a former editor of several papers, including the Times of India. 'But more importantly, India is still largely a conservative society... Sex is generally considered taboo outside the bedroom.'
In the Asian context, traditional views about the perks of leaders have sometimes coloured attitudes towards politicians with numerous sex partners. Indonesian political analyst M. Asfar suggests that libidinous legislators in his country tend to get away with it because 'people explain such cases... as part of the traditions of the old kingdoms across Indonesia, where the kings may have had multiple wives'.
Indeed, Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, was proud of his reputation as a great lover and was married to at least seven women. In the 1960s, when the Soviet secret service tried to blackmail him with a secretly filmed video of him having sex with Russian girls, the whole honeypot scheme backfired. Instead of being embarrassed, Sukarno reportedly asked for more copies to take home and show in movie theatres. The people of Indonesia would be very proud of him, he was said to have told the flabbergasted agents.
But times are a-changing, and 'sexcapades' appear to be less tolerated these days even as politicians become more vulnerable to exposure, thanks to a growing array of video gadgetry and media platforms.
In 2007, a phone video clip of a senior Indonesian politician and his lover naked in a hotel room went viral. Mr Yahya Zaini, then 42, was the head of religious affairs in Golkar. His lover was a well- known dangdut singer.
Local newspapers went to town with the story while Mr Yahya became the target of much public criticism. The scandal died down only after the party pulled Mr Yahya out of the public eye by reportedly offering him a scholarship to study in Malaysia.
In Japan in 2000, chief Cabinet secretary Hidenao Nakagawa, then 56, found himself in similar straits. He and his lover were caught on camera by the paparazzi and the pictures were splashed in a weekly magazine. Hounded by the opposition, Mr Nakagawa eventually lost his Cabinet position.
In 2003, the political career of another Japanese politician, Mr Taku Yamasaki, then 67, collapsed after a woman claiming to be his lover came out with a tell-all book. A weekly magazine fuelled the fire with an article accusing him of sexual harassment, attempted rape and even taking part in threesomes.
The alleged victims were not identified but the scandal clearly turned off women voters. In the 2003 general election Mr Yamasaki lost his seat, which he had held for 31 years.
The dubious honour of being the highest-ranking political victim in a Japanese sex scandal goes to the late Sosuke Uno, who was elected premier on June 3, 1989. Three days after he took office, a magazine published an article in which a geisha claiming to be his lover complained about his stinginess.
Mr Uno, who was then 67, had apparently failed to provide his mistress with an appropriate sum of money for her upkeep, prompting her to go public. This failure rather than their illicit relationship became a talking point among Japanese.
Although the scandal did not unseat him directly, his credibility was shot, and Mr Uno quit after a scant two months in office.
Malaysian politicians too have had their share of scandals, particularly those involving videos aimed at ruining their careers. In 2008, a DVD featuring then Health Minister Chua Soi Lek and an unknown woman having sex in a hotel room was widely distributed. Dr Chua acknowledged that he was the man in the footage and stepped down as minister and vice-president of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA).
More recently, a video clip said to feature opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim with a female prostitute has emerged. Mr Anwar, who is also on trial for allegedly sodomising his young male aide, has dismissed the lurid charges against him.
In the Malaysian context, sex scandals are not career killers, said political analyst Ong Kian Ming.
Dr Chua, for instance, is now back as the president of the MCA. Even within the Islamist Parti Islam SeMalaysia, fiery orator Mohamad Sabu remains popular despite allegedly having been caught in a hotel room with a married woman several years ago. He is running for the party's deputy presidency this week.
Mr Ong said: 'From the perspective of the voter, as long as the politician is seen as doing his or her job as an MP or state assemblyman, that voter will most likely still vote for that politician.'
And for many Malaysian voters, there are bigger issues at stake. Fixing the economy and freeing up traffic jams count more than illicit bedroom romps.
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