September 16 - shall Malaysians 'rise above their goodness'?

I have to confess I like Nathaniel Tan, who writes at periodic intervals for Malaysiakini. He is a nice earnest young man who is apparently sincere in the politics he believes in, and in the man he reckons will deliver (on 916) wakakaka ..... incidentally I share with him some of his former beliefs BUT definitely, absolutely and irrevocably not his latter, wakakaka again.

Nathaniel used to work for Anwar Ibrahim – I don’t know what’s that political relationship now but you may bet he’s an Anwar Ibrahim supporter. He has just written for Malaysiakini an article titled Sept 16: What will 'cornered animal' BN do?

The title itself tells you where his political sympathies lie. To him, UMNO is the cornered animal just because Anwar has been boasting about katak-fication, whereas (again according to Nat Tan) Anwar who fled to the Turkish Embassy had merely dropped in for coffee at the ‘invitation’ of the Ambassador, wakakaka.

Sometimes I feel sad that a bright young man like Nathaniel can be so easily bewitched by a renowned snake oil salesman who will promise anyone anything so long as it serves His Brahma-ic Majesty to ascend the political throne.

Mind you, notwithstanding his bias for Anwar Ibrahim, Nathaniel wrote a number of truths in his article. He reckons UMNO may be about to turn nasty towards Anwar Ibrahim, and enumerated the various possibilities.

But he overstretched himself when he alluded to the possibility of political assassination. He wrote: Assassination, in all honesty, is probably still a bargain as well. Yes, there will be a massive uproar, Anwar will be martyred, and discontent will reach unprecedented levels. Yet, at the end of the day, police investigations will be inconclusive, Anwar will be gone, and Pakatan becomes eminently vulnerable.
I don’t believe Malaysian politics would ever sink down to such a level ..... racial riots (chop up a few Chinamen or Indians), yes ..... but political assassination of an UMNO or former UMNO bloke, absolutely no ..... there is a line drawn in the sands of the heartland that won’t ever forgive the person responsible for that. The assassin might as well politically assassinate himself.

The only assassination which occurred in political circles (UMNO) but mind you, not due to political reasons, was one that occurred many many years ago in Negeri Sembilan. The killer was pissed off with his fellow UMNO bloke for bonking his sister. He shot him. ‘Twas a crime of passion or honour. I wonder whether he aimed at the victim’s dick? Wakakaka!

Then, Nathaniel mulled over the possibility of another May 13. Yes, that could be possible but economically speaking, today such a genocidal act would be like UMNO cutting its own nose to spite its face.

Nathaniel was 95% correct when he said: One of the few factors generating resistance for BN/Umno to embark on any 'adventurous' tactics is the lack of unity amidst its top leadership. Ever since March 8, Umno leaders especially have had to fight battles on multiple fronts, exhausting their already stretched resources.
I haven't awarded him 100% because the UMNO disunity started way before 08 March (BTW, why must Nathaniel or Malaysiakini put the date in American style – I dislike this as much as I do the Malaysiakini favourite word of ‘helm’ - wakakaka).


In fact it has been this UMNO disunity, rather than the Anwar factor, that made their leaders look as if they are in disarray. Anwar has been having a free ride thus far. Will it come to an end before he makes more unrecoverable inroads (for UMNO)? That's what Nathaniel asked, and so do I.

Then towards the end of his article, Nathaniel put in his bid for Anwar Ibrahim. He wrote appealingly: One controversial option to forestall any such drastic measures by the powers-that-be is for Malaysians to push for a change of government – either by crossovers, or calling for a snap general election (a potential last resort for BN, which is good for democracy, but unlikely to forestall the ruling coalition's demise).
In other words, Nathaniel was justifying and asking the public to support the insidious political frog-hunting which Anwar had successfully demonstrated as his speciality in Sabah in 1994, when he turned Pairin from a democratically elected CM into opposition leader with just a few croaks, yes, that disgraceful deformasi subversion of the ballot box to seize power via the grubby back door.

He apologetically rationalized (fooling his own conscience and values): While less than ideal, these remain some of the few ways we can avoid a descent into chaos and desperation within BN, and by extension within Malaysia.
And before I end, a word from Anwar Ibrahim’s favourite author who had, in Anwar’s own words, succoured him while he was in prison:

...Hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear, and chastise with the valour of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round ... (Macbeth 1.5.25-28)

We are told that the ambitious Lady Macbeth (who wants to be Queen) said the above to persuade her husband to ‘rise above his goodness and accept her evil ways’ if he wanted to succeed.

Sounds familiar? It’s certainly vintage anwaristas-ism.