Tuesday, May 15, 2012

More of Tunku Aziz, and less of wannabe Che Guevera

Malaysiakini DAP wants Tunku Abdul Aziz to stay


Absolute correct decision by Lim Guan Eng!

Tunku's disagreement was not with the concept of Bersih - in fact he supported it - but with the conduct of the protest. He didn't support the insistence of Bersih to gather at Dataran Merdeka because it would have been an act of defiance against the law, no matter how bad the law was.

To understand a law-abiding man like Tunku, one only has to read Josh Hong’s brilliant analysis of the man in Malaysiakini’s Tunku Aziz and the Dewan Negara.


Hong eruditely provided us with a glimpse of Tunku’s psyche when the man “… related how his father was a stickler for rules who would not tolerate it if his son cycled home without a lamp. This anecdote illustrates his father’s fastidious adherence to the rule of law that certainly has had a powerful impact on the Tunku’s future political understanding.”

“But the Tunku did (and still does) harbour political ambitions, perhaps not aspiring to be a government minister of sorts but at least to be able to effect policy changes to some extent. Umno, that is universally known to be corrupt to the core, was out of the question, leaving the DAP the only viable option.”

“Indeed, it would take an enormous amount of courage for someone with dignity and prestige as the Tunku to join Umno of the present days.”

“In some way, the DAP’s ideology matches that of the Tunku. When the left-wing forces were boycotting what they saw as sham elections in the 1960s, the DAP filled the vacuum by contesting in most of the winnable seats and becoming the largest opposition party in parliament, a position that it went on to hold for the next three decades.”

“Again, the party’s faith in what the leftists and socialists would describe as capitalist parliamentary democracy reflected that of the Tunku’s.”

Hong also explained why Tunku didn't bother to join PAS or PKR, especially the latter which Tunku probably viewed as “… made up of a bunch of rabble-rousers and law-breakers.” Wakakaka.

And wasn’t Tunku’s fears proven correct about Bersih likely to be abused to incite mindless morons to deliberately break the law?

That the police went unprofessionally berserk like hoodlums and attacked Bersih supporters doesn’t hide the fact that a number of Bersih participants (from a particular party) misbehaved. As Dina Zaman wrote in The Malaysian Insider’s The Bersih that wasn’t:

But now I see videos of protestors breaking down the barriers and committing acts of violence. And yes, while the police showed more restraint this time they were behind some of these as well. Al-Jazeera journalists reported via Skype that their equipment was smashed by policemen to prevent them recording some of these acts of violence.

Despite suffering from the teargas effects I myself have not the spirit to summon the moral indignation I would like to have, because although they should have done so lawfully I cannot blame the police for taking action against violent protestors.

What can we Malaysians expect post April 28 2012? With a video circulating showing that Anwar Ibrahim and Azmin Ali had ordered the Dataran breach, this does not bode well for Pakatan and the rakyat. This is a massive public relations disaster. The average Malaysian like me can only tear her hair out.

And now we are told that the duo were signalling to the police. What is this — Tonto and the Lone Ranger?

As I said on Twitter all this resembled a Hindustani film. Throw in a tree and a pair of sarees and we'll have a great sandiwara.

By contrast, Tunku’s brand of politics is like those practiced by Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh and Lim Guan Eng, where politicians in the finest tradition of Westminster parliamentary democracy debate in gentlemanly fashion issues pertaining to national policies rather than personalities, and certainly not bite policeman nor wear a flak jacket while rushing off to hide at the Turkish Embassy wakakaka.

Nor is Tunku the type to descend down to the grubby grim gutter to utter childish words like Mahakutty, Raja Buntot, Najlis, "I'll tell about what happened in Port Dickson", etc. Tunku was always a man who would ‘jaga standard’.

Unfortunately, thanks to UMNO (and its splintered clone) in the last 15 years, politics have become a conflict of personalities rather than policies. UMNO and their PKR clones keep amazing us with new depths of dirty poisonous politics, such as 50 dalil kenapa Anwar tidak boleh menjadi PM, Sodomy I and II, video of Rendezvous at Haadyai, mocked funeral for Altantuuyaa by PKR members wearing sack cloths in pretend mourning for a dead woman they in reality didn’t give a sh*t for, rejoicing in meaningless childish antics like ousting Rosmah Mansoh prematurely from completing her term in the honorary position as chancellor of a Selangor State university, etc etc etc.

I suspect there are some who have a Kafkaesque (wakakaka) infatuation with uprisings, student protests leading to change in government and revolts, preferably of the unarmed variety though not necessarily restricting or rejecting the ‘otherwise’.

Inspired no doubt by incidents such as Tiananmen Square protest, Lama Uprising in Tibet, Self Immolating Buddhist Monks in Vietnam, Students Protest in Indonesia, Myanmar Buddhist Monks protests, Rwanda’s Tutsis' fight-back, Thailand’s Red Shirts rally, etc, they probably would be fantasizing a more successful outcome for their own uprising.

The most recent such movement to capture their imagination has been what has come to be called the ‘Arab Spring’ movement.

Could it be to those infatuated, the process of the ballot box is deemed far too slow for their hungry ambitions, requiring unbearable years of modest incremental gains, or not flamboyantly explosive enough. Mesti ada style ler, and probably wistfully wishing that after their wannabe uprising has successfully overthrown the authority, they would be borne on the shoulders of supporters, preferably shielded by a yellow umbrella, into Putrajaya to claim the political throne, which of course they would ‘humbly’ accept wakakaka.

Yes indeed, there are some who, while screaming for democracy, whispers for revolt. Incongruous? Nay, only hypocritical convenience or convenient hypocrisy! The ultimate aim is to seize power, whatever it takes, whatever needs to be said, whatever flag has to be flown, or whatever frogs have to be enticed.

These people dream of being a successful Che Guevera. And Wikipedia has this to say of the iconic personality:

Guevara remains both a revered and reviled historical figure, polarized in the collective imagination in a multitude of biographies, memoirs, essays, documentaries, songs, and films. As a result of his perceived martyrdom, poetic invocations for class struggle, and desire to create the consciousness of a "new man" driven by moral rather than material incentives; he has evolved into a quintessential icon of various leftist-inspired movements. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, while an Alberto Korda photograph of him entitled Guerrillero Heroico, was cited by the Maryland Institute College of Art as "the most famous photograph in the world".

So iconic, so many accolades, so many superlatives – if he was Malaysian he would have been garlanded with the world’s biggest lei and borne aloft on the shoulders of our world-famous bodek-ites (& don't forget the yellow brolly too).

But our wannabe Che Guevera lacks the real semangat of a leader of mass struggle, a job already responsibly, diligently and painstakingly assumed (previously and currently) by people like Professor Syed Hussein al-Alatas, Wang Gungwu (Emeritus Prof of the Australian National University), Ahmad Boestamam, Kassim Ahmad, Dr Tan Chee Khoon, Lim Kean Siew, Dr. J.B.A. Peter, Veerapan, Lee Lam Thye, Karpal Singh, Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng, Dr Jeya (PSM), etc.

What we have in our modern wannabe Che Guevera are those who love to say ‘CHARGE’ but would be nowhere in front. I would call them not Che Guevera but rather Cheat Lu-Wira.

Thus we need more civil-minded gentleman politicians like Tunku Abdul Aziz. I hope he ignores those mindless moronic Myrmidon-ish and totally idiotic guttersnipe accusations in various interactive media portals at his resignation from DAP, and accepts DAP’s appeal for him to remain in the party.

27 comments:

  1. Sorry to say but "nasi sudah jadi bubur". The man said that he would have liked another term as senator and knowing him for his principles, they should have shown their magnamity to him and proof to BN that they are not childish, democratic and not "siew hei"... After so many days, now the crocodiles are starting to cry.

    I'm from the old school of V. David, P. Patto, Lee Lam Thye... tired of playing charade... with the Lims.

    The comments made on the poor guy... not sure what Malaysians and especially these PR morons are looking for in leadership. OK. Not need response to that... just follow the leader.. My Blycream Wonder Kid).

    Minda Bebas

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  2. Incidentally Tunku today said he told Lim GE not to re-nominate him for the Senate. The DAP didn't strip him from that role nor institute any disciplinary action against him (other than Lim GE merely chiding him for stating his oopposition to Bersih going to Dataran publicly); Tunku himself volunteered to stand out of the Senate.

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  3. kt, let's just admit it, lge is stupid.

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  4. I see son pleading Tunku to stay. Father wishing Tunku all the best.
    How can he stay when he's reprimanded for his Bersih stand.
    Whatever, it's proof to the world that DAP is undemocratic.
    How can a man of upstanding and integrity take back his words.
    Just move on lor, DAP. Don't pretend to cry over spilt milk. Nasi sudah jadi bubur.
    No apologies lah. After all Tunku is just a Malay name to shore up Malay support.
    There are two types in the DAP: Untouchables and Touchables.
    The untouchables like Karpal can say what he wants.
    Woe-betide the pariahs or untouchables.
    Like to see who will take over Tunku's post. Sakmongkol to show a Malay-friendly party?
    Wouldnt those who served long and eyeing post be mad?
    And KT stop spinning. I saw Tunku on TV saying he was told by LGE that his senatorship will be renewed.
    But he revoked it because of the Bersih.

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  5. To quote Tunku Abdul Aziz in the NTV7 interview

    "Give them (Barisan Nasional) a chance to show that what they are doing is for the benefit of all,”

    "called on the public to support the Barisan Nasional government’s ‘transformation’ programme. "


    To me, Najib's "Transformation" programme looks more like the Decepticons.

    Given what he has revealed of his real political thinking, I really don't think I want to see more of Tunku Abdul Aziz.

    I wish him well, but if he decides to reappear as a "BN friendly independent" there will be no quarter given..

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  6. KT, stop behaving like a kai tai, wakaka. But knowing u, if u stop bashing DSAI, u might as well kill urself as life would be meaningless to u.

    Bershih 2 was a sucess, so why stop there, somebody has to do the dirty job by exposing BN dirty deed. I doubt by writting ur pathethic wakaka blog will help this country at all.

    With Bershih 3 tainted by few irresponsible trouble maker, at least the rakyat now esposed to the government bullshit and police brutality LIVE, surely most of us know what to do in the coming election.

    Like RPK, I'd like to give u a scenario, our FLOM is overseas again and mostlike shooping is on her agenda, and if her bad habits strike again, do u think ur wakaka blog can help ? Trust me in Malaysia, there will be ministers who came out and claim it was just a PR excercise or maybe she was buying for a friend in Malaysia,wakakaka

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  7. Bro.
    Let me share with you what happen in the last week meeting between Najib and UMNO Political Commitee and Tun Mahathir and Tun Daim.They discuss the reported presented by Special Branch ,Army intelligent,Kemas,Rela,and PM dept research dept.

    The summary of the report as follow.BN can safely win 80 seats and another 50 seat blur.Assuming this blur 50 seats all goes to BN,they can only win 130 seats,less that what they won in 2008 election.
    Tun Mahathir vary worry.

    So my point here,no matter what the media or paper said about opposition,people have made up their mind they want to change the govertment.

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  8. "(other than Lim GE merely chiding him for stating his oopposition to Bersih going to Dataran publicly)"

    Come on KT, it was LGE that was trying to cash on the public sentiment by "reprimanding" Tunku for the valid concern raised by him.

    LGE is not so elegant as you potray him to be ;-)

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  9. [LGE is not so elegant as you potray him to be ] - by Anon 2:34

    Guys, guys...before we go overboard with the quibbling, let's be aware that there's always more to it than meets the eye.

    Do we know what's really behind the scene ? Could it be that the Tunku has been airing his 'support the BN govt's transformation programme and let's give the BN a chance...' to the top DAP brass for quite a while and the final straw was when he publicly went against the Bersih demo ?

    May be Najib's 'reform efforts' have made an impression on the Tunku and he truly believes that the PM is sincere in his so-called reformed agendas? So that could explain the parting of ways between him and the DAPs....but the Tunku could still be considered a man of principle inspite of supporting the 'enemy's' camp ?

    There are so many ways to read this....and the masses will go on chattering, 'jousting' with each other on the blog sites, each analysing and forming their own conclusion.

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  10. tunku aziz might have done a lot for the country. but he is nevertheless a running dog la..dap top leadership has refrained from slamming him over bersih but he tried so hard to keep the drama rolling by resigning his senatorship. when the lims ignored him again he resigns from the party and does it by announcing on a bn controlled msm without notifying the party first. and of course he needs to praise bn in the process. if this isn't running dog what is.

    now lge is asking him to come back. i don't think he is sincere anyway. it's just an action to show that dap has done it's best and tunku aziz is the kechik hati bad guy here. wonder how he'll react.

    the problem with many of us is we think if he's an honorable man he can do wrong. it's the same mentality with the anwaristas. the fact is everyone has a price. some low some high. tunku aziz is a seasoned statesman/politician in his 70s. he can't be political naive. in fact he is anything but a man of principal. don't judge him by his words or past actions. judge him by what he is doing now. the reason he left is more than meets the eye.

    to me it's good to weed out these running dogs before the ge. the fact is bn is so worried by bersih that they need to dish out their triumph card in dap even before the election.

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  11. Tunku already expressed that he had no confidence in PR to rule but have confidence in BN to rule, so why should he remain in DAP. Who will he votes, of course, that party he had confidence in. So, he cannot be in one party and vote for another. If he is a man of principle, he should leave and also if he is a man of principle he should not join any corrupt party. It is best that Tunku resigned from politics. I don't think he is made for politics since he himself do not want his senatorship to be renewed and was not stripped off. People just like to twist the fact.

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  12. Wow ! Tunku Abdul Aziz calls Lim Guan Eng "biadab"....

    http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/tunku-aziz-i-dont-trust-guan-eng/

    I fully agree

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  13. Forget Tunku Abdul Aziz.

    The guy looked good on paper, but when it came to the crunch, he proceded to kick DAP in the face.

    Looks like you'll need Che Guevera a while longer....

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  14. Hope this episode will open eyes of LGE and DAP however unpleasant words spoken by Tunku Aziz regarding his resignation. Take those words as bitter medicine to cure or improve DAP as what said by Aziz was revealations and his inner thoughts with regards to weaknesses of LGE and DAP.

    I do not know Aziz personally but I think he is an honest and sincere person. Be a gentleman and do not label him sweepingly just because he resigned.

    If he is such a bad person, why appoint him as VP and senator in the first place? Even old Lim wishes him all the best and young Lim wishes him to reconsider.

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  15. Another day, another view of the situation (on going news) but to me it's still remains the same... (or worst on how one wants to see it).

    Perception in politics besides integrity and honesty is upmost. In adat orang Melayu, a younger man should approach his elder in respect not rebuke him in public.. In Chinese culture... ummmmh maybe modern culture or Anglophile culture, we can shoot the old horse? This was DSAI greatest fault... allowing Gore to spit on us in our own house when we laid a kenduri for him. Then he went for his elder (for right or wrong is not the issue - perception mattered).

    Seriously, LGE needs to decide whether he wants to be CM of Penang and do the job well or play robocop in every domain of Malaysia. Furthermore, he needs to hire a good publicist for a very serious make over. Both speech & the way he turns out in photos seems to show that he is hostile, unrelenting with a mean Chinese attack dog look. This doesn't go well especially with certain communities.

    Minda Bebas

    PS. At least Che looks cool and hip esp. with the Havana cigar sticking out..

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  16. I'll take Che Guevera any day over Old Foggy

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  17. Is Lim Guan Eng going to learn anything from this episode ?
    Be a bit less confrontational ?
    Listen a bit more to your critics ? They are not all wrong.

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  18. The DAP sympathisers are akin to their PKR counterparts. No substance but suited only to paint all black to dissenting voices, with the same modality of PKR – accusing alternate views as turn coat, trojan horse etc.

    And for the LGE, so much for aspiring the elegancy of westminster politicians.

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  19. Nosing around the Net and reading what people say, both pro-BN and pro-PR, the distinct impression one gets is that LGE is perceived to be rather arrogant and brash. As the saying goes, there's no smoke without a fire. So, there must be something to the allegation.

    That means, it would do LGE no harm, but more likely a world of good, if he embarked on a course to improve his EQ (Emotional Quotient). Coming to think of it, this shortcoming in his personality may have contributed considerably to his troubles during that episode when he attempted to help an underaged girl who was allegedly sexually abused by a VIP.

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  20. Its DAP's turn to have MMM (Monstrous Mindless Myrmidons) come out of the woodwork...attacking Abdul Aziz...though they do seem to be fewer and more level-headed than the PKR types......

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  21. Got this from the star's article on Tunku Aziz.

    "The former Transparency International head for Malaysia also said that a phone call from Guan Eng on Sunday offering a new post sped up his decision to quit.

    “I do not know if it was an act of compassion or the need to compensate me for the loss of the senator's post. He offered me a senior fellowship in the Penang Institute dangling travel as an attraction.

    “Then yesterday, Zairil Khir Johari (Guan Eng's political secretary) called and repeated the offer and stated there was a stipend of RM50,000 to go with it.

    “I regard the offer as totally insulting. It came from someone who had no sense of respect. Did he think I was that sort of a person?” said Tunku Aziz, adding that he considered the move as an attempt to bribe him."

    Now LGE is CM for Penang, bribery is by offering positions and RM50k.

    What if PR becomes Govt of Malaysia? how much money would he offer?

    The extent of corruption is only limited to how much power you have.

    The bigger it is, the bigger the amount.

    BN and PR is a prime example. The only difference is, PR acts as if they're Angels sent down by God to save us all.

    Ktemoc, and the reason you're supporting DAP is because? I still don't see how DAP is any different from PKR, UMNO or MCA.

    You're better of as a fence sitter, come join us and we'll have a party.

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  22. DAP deserves all the condemnation it gets

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  23. This so-called gentleman of high principles and integrity has been deafiningly silent lately about the massive level of corruption continuing to occur in the BN/UMNO regime.
    In the NTV7 interview, he instead calls upon the public to support BN's transformation program.

    I smell a rat...

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  24. What is the point of having a very highly educated person- man of principle? I would held a higher respect for a coolie, cleaner if he returns a lost and found item. As a senator, what are his achievements? So far what has he contribute? There are many others and they should be given a chance to perform as the senatorship is a gift to Penang.
    History shows that many non malays join malay inclined parties like PAS and PKR but no the other way round. No wonder one see more non malays venture around the world and adapt to them rather cocoon in the kampongs

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  25. hmmm, obviously someone's back from Haadyai in a rage and out to vent his frustrations - failed in his n-th attempts again? wakakaka

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  26. People may say Tunku to be a principled man but to go to biased state controlled media and calling the secretary general of the party he has left certainly does not exude class or principles to me. To top it up saying that the govt is on the right part ( knowing full well how the govt was going to twist that statement and use it against DAP and the opposition ) also shows a poor sense of judgement . I think it was ok for Tunku to express his view before BERSIH but to repeat is stand after the event I think left DAP with no choice . And any principled man would have left quietly and quit the party if he felt that he did not belong there than to go whining to the MSM. He just comes across as another ezam, nalla , Chandra and a whole lot of people without principles who dominate Malaysian politics . I really thought highly of Tunku and I was astonished at the way he chose to vent his fury in public and call LGE biadap. He may be an elder but he must be professional enough to know that no one is beyond a reprimand if they conduct themselves in a manner the party considers to be damaging to itself . And praising the govt as going the right track when large parts of the population are despairing at the amount of corruption , abuse of civil service and repackaging of oppressive laws into more oppressive law but sugar coating with new names is insensitive . Are there no more principled genuine leaders left in this country anymore . People like ambiga and Cynthia Gabriel, dr jeyakumar , di hashim , Samad said come to mine but they are either not politicians or do not carry their clout at a national level. Sigh !

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  27. Just look at Malcom Turnbull. He agrees with some of the policies make by Abbot. The same goes for Joe Hockey. But did they undermine the Party? So what principles does TA has? He think is the Uncle and everyone has to respect him. He think of himself but not the Party, the alliance and the country.

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