Mahathir: Pakatan Messiah or Public Mafulat?

In more than 13 years of blogging I've never agreed with relevant views of Nathaniel Tan's articles ('relevant' as to my 'interests'), chiefly because he was PKR and I supported DAP, wakakaka - like cheese and chalk, oil and water, etc.

I teased Nat as a denizen of an Ivory Tower 

Though I believe we haven't reach a point when we barked viciously at each other, but yes, we might have used written words that smacked of sarcasm, verbal leg pulling and perhaps occasionally verbal jabbing in the side, wakakaka again.

In Nathaniel Tan's article today in Malaysiakini titled 

Mahathir: Approve or disapprove? I must admit I agree with an extract of what he wrote because I reckon he has been absolutely correct on that section - he wrote (relevant extracts only):

... my estimation is that a large number of people who strongly disapprove of Mahathir have in some way personally been a victim of oppression under his government.

There are those who were hunted down during Ops Lalang, along with their families and supporters; and there are those who were in institutions that Mahathir went to great lengths to cripple, such as the judiciary and the Malay rulers.

I strongly believe that such individuals have a full right to their opinion; even if that opinion is that Mahathir belongs in jail, not in the PM’s office.

Whether or not we support Mahathir becoming PM again, it is really not our place to ask people to set aside or disregard what they suffered.

I do not feel either that we should use arguments like: If Anwar Ibrahim’s family has forgiven him, why can’t you?

In many ways, what Anwar or say Lim Kit Siang suffered is separate from what others felt under Mahathir’s oppression, and no one has the right to "forgive" Mahathir on anyone else’s behalf.

In that same vein of course, I believe it is not anyone’s place to disapprove of anyone who does decide to "forgive" Mahathir.

Ultimately, this is a personal decision and I believe everyone deserves space to make that decision on their own, and for that decision to be respected as is.

We can accept or criticise Pakatan vis-a-vis its nomination of Mahathir as its PM-designate, but we cannot or rather, should not, demand people stop demanding Mahathir must apologise sincerely and specifically for his past 'wrongs' or to stop people from accepting Mahathir's 'insincere' apology.

Nurul Izzah has accepted Mahathir's apology but Dr Kua Kia Soong has not, wakakaka.

I have come across very vicious vile venomous comments on the Net excoriating people like Dr Kua Kia Soong for dragging his old Ops Lalang sufferings and grudge into the fray, and spoiling an otherwise happy occasion when Mahathir has just become Pakatan's PM-designate.

They demanded that we should move forward and thus forgive and forget Mahathir's sins though not those of Najib's, wakakaka.

Most recently, Sangeet Kaur Deo has also been peppered with similar vitriolic comments.

One comment on Sangeet stated she does not deserve to be the daughter of the late Karpal Singh and that her late father would have disagreed with and even disciplined her. Wakakaka, what kok-tok! I could have easily responded with my conviction that Karpal Singh would have been very proud of her, and who is to say I'm wrong?

Sangeet has been consistent in her concerns over the DAP allying itself with what to her is an unacceptable and horrendously unrepentant foe, Mahathir. Last year Malaysiakini reported on her perception (extracts):

A Penang DAP delegate who caught flak for raising dissatisfaction over the party's alliance with former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the annual general assembly has quit.

Taman Chai Leng DAP publicity secretary Shamser Singh Thind said he is resigning as he believes DAP is no longer a platform to fight against "corruption, racism and hypocrisy", after making amends with Mahathir.

"I have said and I am saying it again. Dr Mahathir is not interested in saving Malaysia. He has never admitted that his past actions and omissions were wrong," Shamser said in his resignation letter.

This comes as the late DAP chairperson Karpal Singh's daughter urges the party to ensure the principles of those it aligns itself to.

Speaking at the DAP national convention at Shah Alam today, Sangeet Kaur Deo said principles should not be sacrificed for political expediency.

“I want to clarify at this stage that it was interesting to see Tun Mahathir in support of Maria’s release when it was him that was instrumental in the cruel enforcement of the Internal Security Act,” the USJ Subang Jaya brance delegate said.

“Now I strongly urge the leaders of DAP to be very mindful when we choose our allies. Yes, there are no permanent friends, there are no permanent enemies, but there must be permanent principles.

"And when we choose our allies, we must be sure that their principles are genuinely in line with ours,” The Malay Mail Online reported her as saying.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng had in his policy speech noted that there are no permanent foes in politics.

Indeed, but as Sangeet said, while there are no permanent friends nor permanent enemies, there must be permanent principles.

Incidentally, Malaysiakini has also reported that:

Karpal's three sons in DAP, Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo, Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh and Datuk Keramat assemblyperson Jagdeep Singh Deo have not commented on their sister's remarks.

Let us review a 3-year old piece of news, reported on April 2015 by the now-defunct TMI. The article was titled Working with Dr M to remove PM will be a ‘disaster’, Pakatan told.

In that report we read Ramkarpal's opinion on working with Mahathir (extracts):

“The question of working with Dr Mahathir is an unimaginable disaster waiting to happen."

“There can be no doubt that Malaysia needs to be saved. While I agree that Najib ought to go, I cannot agree with the means by which Dr Mahathir proposes to do so,” Ramkarpal said in a statement here.

“Asserting pressure on a democratically elected prime minister to step down cannot be democratic and it is high time that Pakatan Rakyat come together at this very critical time against Umno and the Barisan Nasional (BN),” the DAP MP added.

Ramkarpal said that working with Dr Mahathir would mean that PR would just be maintaining the status quo and allow “corruption to continue”.

“I am firmly of the view that saving Malaysia can only mean a new clean, accountable and transparent government."

“Pakatan Rakyat must live up to its promise to Malaysians of being that alternative and democratically oust Najib and the BN through the ballot box,” Ramkarpal stressed.

There wasn't any doubt about Ramkarpal's extremely poor opinion of Mahathir, but alas, LKS as the boss of DAP pressed on heedlessly. It's little wonder Karpal's three sons have stopped the futile exercise of criticising LKS's personally bulldozed agenda.

Pity Karpal Singh is no longer around to put a restraining hand on his old mate but now a power-crazed LKS.