Flagrant Fallacious Fable of a Freedom Fighter

This letter to malaysiakini is what I would term as a flagrantly fallacious fable. It is obviously an exercise in damage control (and to the author’s credit, a sophisticated one) for a party that’s racked by abandonment, not just by Nallakaruppan and ‘those’ Indians, but by some of the core Malay members including one of its founding fathers.

The coup de grâce was when Ezam Mohd Nor left in disgust and with a parting shot of an accusation of 'dictatorship' against his once-revered leader, mortally wounding the world’s ‘greatest’ political reformer.

In attempting to put a positive spin on a meltdown situation the author of the letter has stepped into the realms of fable-making when he extolled the so-called virtues of the de facto dict.... leader. Read this following extract, which is sheer unadulterated nonsense.

“He later turned politician, not at the behest of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, but because after establishing intrinsic power in himself as a freedom fighter, he saw the political opportunity offered by Mahathir as a broader theatre to establish his truth. The real freedom fighter in Anwar surfaced when he chose to go prison instead of politically tacking when confronted by Mahathir.”

I was caught between wanting to laugh aloud at the author’s naivety and secretly admiring his brilliant gyroscopic vortex of bovine dust – yes, bulldust as it may be but of such pseudo-magnificent cyclonic proportion. According to the author of the damage-control spin:

(1) de facto leader did not desert Abim for UMNO, but because he saw the UMNO membership as a, get this, ‘broader theatre to establish HIS TRUTH’ – how noble, how Buddha-like, indeed how creative!

* bolding of words 'his truth' are mine

And the greatest fable of all,

(2) “The real freedom fighter in Anwar surfaced when he chose to go prison instead of politically tacking when confronted by Mahathir.”

“... chose to go to prison ...”?

Get real – he was dragged to prison screaming and wailing. He didn’t have a damn choice. That he was probably framed would be a good argument in his defence, but to spin that he chose to go to prison instead of ‘politically tackling’ Dr Mahathir (whatever that means) is contemptible, loathsome, and despicable rubbish.

And didn’t he send his followers out on to the streets of Kuala Lumpur, in a scene frighteningly reminiscent of May 13? Yes, come to think of it, it was more than just screaming and wailing.

This is the sort of fable making that not only have some naïve people thinking he’s a political reformer, but even the man himself believing he’s all that, and perhaps beyond. And most of all, Anwar is no martyr by any measure so let's not attempt to spin him into one and perpetuate such a lie.

Well, here’s something about the so-called intrepid ‘real freedom fighter’ that I blogged on one year ago in Anwar Ibrahim - Pot Calling Kettle Black

Anwar Ibrahim told malaysiakini that the MCA, Gerakan and MIC ministers have no balls to dare speak up for Chinese or Indian interests in the cabinet.

[…] read my posting for the full article

He said: "My experience in the cabinet, the non-Malay leaders unfortunately don't take the issues up ... even if the issues are not very sensitive to the prime minister. They won't say: ‘We consider whether this brilliant Chinese academic could head this public university’. They wouldn't dare! But what will they ask for? (They ask) can we participate in the Klang Port privatisation?”

But when malaysiakini asked him what about decisions he had made when he was at the Treasury, he replied:

“Even at the Treasury, sometimes with the best of intentions, the Treasury gave strong advice but I was not able to do it, like the airport you said I was appointed chairman of the (Kuala Lumpur International) airport, but only because the prime minister appointed me”

Should we be surprised that he blamed someone, especially Dr Mahathir?

Reminded he was then in charge of the Bakun project, he explained: “And the Bakun dam project in Sarawak - I said that it would proceed after the evaluation by the EIA (environmental impact assessment) but Mahathir announced it before the evaluation was made.”

Again Mr Faultless didn’t have anything to do with that project. T’was that evil Mahathir again.

Finally he said “Some said that I should have been more firm but I wasn’t. But if I had done that, I would have been sacked in 1993.”

"I would have been sacked in 1993"! Poor frightened little Anwar.

But well, here’s an admission of being afraid for his own position from someone who had just criticised MCA, Gerakan and MIC ministers for not having the balls to speak up.

But then, he’s Anwar Ibrahim, isn’t he?

So what happened to him establishing 'HIS TRUTH' when he was in the 'broader theatre' of UMNO?

Here’s another recollection on what former Bar president Zainur Zakaria said of the so-called freedom fighter, when the ex-deputy premier had claimed to have been helpless to make changes while in government. He asked (of Anwar):

“But look, you were there (in government) for 16 years. Then, what were you doing all those years? What did you actually do when you claimed you couldn’t do anything?”

As I blogged in Zainur Zakaria Zapped AAB & Anwar Ibrahim, Zainur then showed Anwar the honourable example.

“(Former deputy premier) Musa Hitam resigned on a matter of principle because he couldn’t agree with Mahathir. If Anwar doesn’t agree with Mahathir, why didn't he resign?”

He stated that the option to quit the cabinet could be taken by any member of the cabinet if they disagree with a decision. Therefore Anwar Ibrahim cannot simply shrug off his participation and responsibility in the old Mahathir cabinet. I had blogged that every time Anwar condemns Mahathir, he cuts off a slice of his own nose.

For the full posting, please read The haunting of Anwar Ibrahim

As I wrote in the posting: Unfortunately Anwar Ibrahim has too much baggage from his previous political life as one of UMNO ‘high & mighty’. It’s not just his [former] membership in UMNO per se that’s eroding his credibility as a political reformer, but his policies and decisions as [Education] minister and then DPM that many like KTemoc still remember with anger and contempt.

He has made that record worse by blaming everyone else except himself, making him sound like a sore loser, only bleating reformasi (reformation) when he’s no longer in the position of power.

And the fable-maker concluded with:

Until Anwar decides, Malaysians will have to put up with poor governance, mostly exemplified by weak management, corrupt enforcement, incompetent prosecution and suspect judiciary, to name but a few.

“Until Anwar decides …”! By this stage of reading I was hysterical.

Until His Majestic Magnanimous Magnificence descends Mount Mera to bless us lowly mortals with his presence, politics and participation – indeed, as if we haven’t been pummeled enough already by the defective de facto dissemblance.