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Friday, April 27, 2007

Ijok - bringing out the worst in us!

Ijok has brought out the worst in most of us, including myself because we perceive the stakes as high for our future, some more personal than others, while there are those of a more conceptual or idealistic form.

Let em start with myself. As a number of visitors remarked, why I have been ‘hentam-ing’ Anwar Ibrahim?

I didn’t start with Ijok. In that perhaps I am consistent, but certainly Ijok has made me put in more effort in blogging against Anwar Ibrahim. Therefore it can be said that Ijok has perhaps brought out the worst in me where my blogging has become neglectful of other equally important issues – for example, I haven’t posted anything recently on Palestine happenings or the nefarious Bush Administration.

To me, Anwar Ibrahim, based on his record as an UMNO minister, is a very dangerous man to support, He may not be the candidate for Ijok but he has imposed his presence on us. Who wins in Ijok is up to the residents, but I need to reveal the nature of this man.


Many said we have no choice as there isn’t anything else with his charisma, leadership and standing. The Devil has all that too, so should we be making a Faustian pact?

Why then can’t we forgive him?

Helmy Haja Maidin answered that in a
letter to malaysiakini (extract as follows):

Whilst I condemned the misuse of the judiciary in the disposal of Anwar’s political career, I dispelled the hubris that he ‘rose up against the government’ for the altruistic purpose of promoting truth and justice. My friends and I had a simple question – why had he not walked this talk back when he was in power?

Why wait until he (or his supporters rather) lost a political coup that was instigated in the midst of an international economic crisis? If he had started (in his various capacities as education and finance minister) the ‘reformasi’ before being kicked out, he would have been held in much higher stead.

Helmy also said what I have blogged before, as to why we can’t forgive the man’s past or work with him for the future: Anwar has not shown a single bit of remorse for his very dark records during his UMNO days, by at least acknowledging his various mistakes.

Instead, he blames everyone but himself as if he was lily-white all the while. He has been unrepentant for his conduct during his days in UMNO. A man who is unrepentant for his actions may be taken to still believe in those actions and likely to re-commit them.

For example, in his attempt to subvert the standing of vernacular schools, in sending non-Mandarin speaking principals and assistant principals to Chinese schools in 1987 which led to near racial riots and Operation Lallang, he has come under the campaign microscope of the Gerakan and MCA. What has he said to this?

His response to the matter was to cite ‘limitations imposed by UMNO then', but would not apologise on the matter. See what I mean, that this man is totally unrepentant over his nasty policies as an UMNO minister, and would always be blaming everyone else.

Najib has just struck back at Anwar and asked: "If you now say that you fight for Chinese rights, tell us what exactly did you do when you were education minister?"

And he might let us know too what he had done for us as Finance Minister and Deputy PM?


If Anwar didn’t have the backbone in UMNO to stand up and be counted, how then could we expect him to have the necessary backbone now (to fight for everyone) when he resumes power, assuming he becomes a future BA PM or worse, an UMNO PM?

And please don’t argue that he sacrificed himself in prison for years. He didn’t! He lost in an avaricious power struggle with a fiercer and more powerful tiger, and didn’t have any option but to remain locked up in prison. It wasn’t justice but the fact has been that there wasn’t a choice for him, so the argument of him sacrificing himself did not exist.

Has Ijok brought out the worst in you too? Did you succumb to double standards? Did you preach what you so freely and readily advocate?

‘Tis a time when our ‘world’ is in turmoil, yes, a time not unlike the biblical creature which will attempt to crawl to Putra ... Bethlehem to be reborn.

6 comments:

  1. Why say bring out the worst in us?

    Look at the bright side - it brings out the passion in us. Make us reveal our true colors, which is a good thing. It means we're being genuine and true to ourselves - at least for the next week or so.

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  2. Anon, well said - I feel much better.

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  3. KT..agree with you all the way - about Anwar the Hypocrite, I mean!

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  4. KT, You said, "Anwar send non- mandarin speaking principals and assistant principals to Chinese schools in 1978...." Tell us more, and also something worse than this, so that we can hate him.

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  5. KT, read Lim Kit Siang Blog,"1987 Ops Lalang..."

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  6. Let's not swing like the pendulum, from hero-worship to 'hate'. Suffice for us to know that Anwar is not a reformer or what he NOW claims to be. He is also a man unrepentent about his dark past.

    Even though Lim Kit Siang, whom incidentally I admire very much (as I admire Dr Syed Husin) has spinned that Anwar has apologised for his (Anwar's) attempt to undermine the standing of the vernacular (Chinese) schools, malaysiakini reported pointedly that Anwar has refused to apologise, citing that he was 'restricted' by his position in UMNO.

    Lim Kit Siang has made what I would term as a Faustian Pact with Anwar, to prepare for his (Lim's) wish or dream of denying the BN 2/3 majority by the next election. Lim is not stupid but he sees collaborating with Anwar as the only way of curbing the BN's excesses through the reduction of its current parliamentary majority.

    Look, I admire Lim for his looking at the 'big picture', and willing to make compromise and sacrifices as he had in 1999, then regrettably to the DAP's disaster.

    I believe he's due for a humongous disappointment when Anwar returns to UMNO where we'll see more of the same if not even worse. The only thing preventing (or delaying) the Greatest Return of Malaysia's Comeback Kid is the fear of many UMNO members' of the most aggressive faction its history had witnessed and expelled.

    If you want to know why I consider Anwar a person who's not worthy of our support, please go through my past postings, even way before Ijok. While I may want to see the BN curbed or even dethroned, I am not about to jump away from the devil into the deep blue, nay, green sea.

    I am one of those not caught by the anwarista euphoria, in many ways engendered by the BN (AAB) excesses as the original so-called reformasi euphoria had come about because of many people's deep hatred for Dr M.

    I realise many, including some friends, have been pissed off with me for posting anti-Anwar postings at a time they feel he can wreck havoc on the BN, but I don't share those impressions. I see him as a far greater threat. That's my choice.

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