I am not sure about the Malaysiakini article Next stop, the sultans.
I know that desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures, and surely to re-invite the royalty to play a far bigger role than the constitution allows them, or to accord them a far greater political significance than they have historically merited, would be the ultimate desperate measure, a case of jumping from the pan into the fire.
I really don’t like it – why – think of a southern State, that’s why!
I am not keen to overplay the royal card; we're giving too much credit to those royals who have been trying to make themselves relevant again after they had their royal teeth de-fanged, and if I were a hockey coach or a caddy's brother, I would say, bloody rightfully so!
And I also want to ask what happened to the royalty when the previous Lord President Salleh Abbas was sacked! Did any of the Sultans or the Agong speak up for him then?
I believe that AAB will call for the GE, sooner rather than later, as things are getting worse for him. He reckons he still has the 'heartland' behind him - this plus Sabah should see him through, as he believes, and OK, he may well be right.
But the Bersih campaign has currently engendered a fairly good opposition momentum so while not expecting the 'Spirit of 69' or its results, there is sufficient dynamics for the opposition to make a reasonable impact in the GE despite the gerrymandering and postal votes.
So with such a Bersih-rised momentum, an early GE may not be so bad afterall, other than for Anwar Ibrahim who is still legally barred from participating.
There is an unrealistic temptation to fantasize a miraculous overthrowing of the establishment. I rather we think incremental but significant chipping away of the BN grip on power, so that the opposition will be better placed in the 2012-3 GE.
The journey of a 1000 li starts with the first step.
"I am not keen to overplay the royal card"
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with this. BERSIH and the opposition parties should not be overly-enthusiastic and get carried away.
I'm sure lots of people feel this way too.
yup, ur right. as a johorean, i know them as a bunch of rude, uneducated, uncivilised bunch of people. and when you add power and money to this people, imagine the kind of havoc it creates....
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree. Apart from one or two statement, I have not seen any convincing act.
ReplyDeleteKT said: "There is an unrealistic temptation to fantasize a miraculous overthrowing of the establishment. I rather we think incremental but significant chipping away of the BN grip on power," I agree up to that point. Inspite of everything, I think there no better alternative to BN on the horizon yet. I like the opposition, but let them remain the opposition. Hopefully stronger to provide the check and balance, at least for now.
ReplyDeleteYes the prospect of the motley PAS/Keadilan/DAP crowd ruling the country frightens me. I am voting BN.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Chicken, vote BN in order to continue benefiting from the NEP
ReplyDeleteA long way to go. Even people in Zimbabwe didn't learn it take less than 10 years for Mugabe to turn country into rubbles.
ReplyDeleteTo AAB, at age of 68, Malaysia are mid of risk of old man politics. With his 72 cabinet member, I believe the total age will be 500 years old.
So KT has any suggestion on evasive maneuver if we take the last step of Zimbabwe?