Lim KS made his bed, so lie down on it

My Aneh, Commander (retd) S Thayaparan wrote an interesting article in Malaysiakini titled DAP’s ticking time bomb.

He criticised the DAP, specifically Lim Kit Siang, for allowing the issue of the DAP's registration as a legitimate political party to linger in doubt and thus becoming potential ammunition (against the DAP) in the arms of the UMNO controlled Registrar of Societies (RoS).

Cmdr Thayaparan reminded Lim Kit Siang that the latter wrote in his first book titled ‘Time Bombs in Malaysia’ (published 1978) in which Lim KS himself warned in Parliament while debating the Third Malaysia Plan in July 1976, that several time bombs were ticking away in Malaysia and unless these time bombs were defused, Malaysia could suffered horrendous repercussions.

Alas, one of the 'time bombs' turned out to be of the DAP's makings, in which it foolishly or arrogantly ignored RoS query about the validity of DAP’s central executive committee (CEC) as a result of DAP's own members lodging the original complaint about the party's CEC elections.

Cmdr Thayaparan commented that instead of the DAP addressing the issue raised by the RoS a long time ago in a transparent manner for the party's long term interests rather than some individual interests, the party went about the matter in a couldn't-care-less manner, resorting to a proposed 'de Bono' use of PAS logo just prior to the 2013 general elections.

Now, Lim Kit Siang alleges there is a sinister UMNO conspiracy to ban the party. Cmdr Thayaparan asked whether Lim KS' alleged UMNO conspiracy is a ticking time bomb of DAP’s own design.

And isn't it handing a time bomb to an UMNO with a nervous finger on the detonator, further made worse by the DAP itself provoking a pre-emptive detonation.

What Aneh has been saying could be likened to an old English saying: "You've made your bed, now lie down on it".

This English idiom might have come from France which has a similar 15th Century proverb: "Comme on faict son lict, on le treuve", which means "As one makes one's bed, so one finds it".

Its meaning to Lim Kit Siang is clear, that he should stop whining because he (the DAP) had created the problem, as discussed above.

And if the DAP is now in danger of being de-registered, it should not be surprised as the UMNO led government including its controlled tools, RoS and the EC, according to Cmdr Thayaparan, ........ is a regime which has very little understanding of fair play - and this is the important part - this is a regime which received the support of the majority of Malaysians (including non-Malays) for decades, which means until recently the majority of Malaysians did not care about political fair play either.

By the by, at this stage, I should mention that I consider Aneh as not exactly a pro DAP person. He has little sympathy for the Rocket Party.

While I don't always agree with Cmdr Thayaparan, where one instance was the Charlie Hebdo affair in which I was anti-Charlie Hebdo for its racist policies masked by its anti-Islamist publications, while Aneh was anti-Islamist terrorists, full stop, not that I wasn't but I could discern Charlie Hebdo's bullshit and was prepared to air them in my blog. I wasn't the only one.

From daily Kos:

On the 5th of May, members of the French satirical journal Charlie Hebdo received PEN's Freedom of Expression Courage award at the organization's annual gala, following more than a week of heated debate about the journal's treatment of Islam and Muslims.

It was indeed announced by PEN at the end of April that six writers had chosen not to attend the upcoming gala, in order to denounce the attribution of the award to Charlie Hebdo. According to the six writers, and to several others who later joined them in their protest, the journal's content is deeply problematic: in a collective letter, they spoke of "selectively offensive material" which "intensifies the anti-Islamic, anti-Maghreb, anti-Arab sentiments already prevalent in the Western world."

Teju Cole, one of the six writers, argued in a comment to The Intercept: "I don't think it's a good use of our headspace or moral commitments to lionize Charlie Hebdo in particular.

L'affaire Rushdie (for example) was a very different matter, as different as blasphemy is from racism." These sentiments echoed some of the reactions which followed the January 7 attacks in Paris. Indeed, as support for the journal (and for freedom of speech in general) was immediately expressed by many all over the world (notably through the "I am Charlie" slogan), some reactions included both a condemnation of the use of violence against journalists and a condemnation of the contents of Charlie Hebdo, its cartoons being described by some as "bigoted", and even "xenophobic" and "racist".

Francine Prose, who was also part of the six writers who boycotted the gala, recently declared: "It's a racist publication. Let's not beat about the bush."

Following was in part (a small part) a wee ding-dong debate between Cmdr Thayaparan and moi in January of 2015, wakakaka:

08 Jan 2015 - Massacre at Charlie Hebdo - who is guilty?

13 Jan 2015 - Charlie Hebdo - an onion that needs to be peeled

14 Jan 2015 - The Charlie Hebdo debate on freedom of expression by Cmdr Thayaparan, his Malaysiakini article against my post above (also a Malaysiakini article).

His post was also published by me alongside with the post below (also a letter to Malaysiakini), namely, 'KD Freedom of Expression scuttled', wakakaka (excuse my amateur attempt at naval expression)

15 Jan 2015 - ‘KD Freedom of Expression’ scuttled?

and much much earlier in Sep 2012 - Charlie Hebdo - further Western hypocrisy

style of Charlie Hebdo 

Nonetheless, I consider Cmdr Thayaparan a reasonably fair man, and in the irony that he doesn't favour the DAP, perhaps his words should provide us with the best assessment of what is going on with Lim Kit Siang's sandiwara.

Cmdr Thayaparan said: ... but the reality is that they (Umno) know that whatever they do will not erode the support DAP has or erode the support that partisan opposition supporters have for their preferred parties. What everyone is worried about is the support of the fence sitters and that the sympathy vote goes a long way.

The question here is that is all this chicanery gaining sympathy for the DAP and its allies, or is this merely creating a toxic atmosphere in which middle-of-the-road voters are sidelined by partisans who confuse, conflate and manufacture issues which detract from the problems this country is facing?

However, this idea of Kit Siang going to “tour the country to seek public feedback whether we should succumb to such intimidation from Umno-BN - whether Guan Eng should resign as Penang chief minister and I retire from Malaysian politics," is a complete waste of time and the reason why the DAP gets into the trouble it always complains of.

What does this achieve?

Indeed, Mr Lim Kit Siang, what in the world are you trying to achieve by touring the country to seek public feedback from the 'already converted'?

I agree with Aneh and many others that you are attempting to create 'sympathy' to win the fence-sitters votes, but aren't you creating more 'time bombs' in you toxic process with your new matey Mahathir?

The Toxic Twosome 

To end, I like to quote some Malaysiakini readers (edited a wee bit by me for grammar, spelling and coherence of sentences, wakakaka):

Malaysians simply refuse to see the failings in their own personal lives or in the lives of the organisations which they support. Nothing epitomises this scenario more than the opposition.

Their electioneering has been to universally deride the government with occasional diversions when Mahathir tells us how wonderful he has been.

Yes, playing the victim is a good way to gain the fence sitters and the few with fair play attitude in the enemy's camp.

The problem with Lim Kit Siang is that he has been virtually Opposition "leader" for aeons that he only knows how to attack like a mad dog, make noise like a rooster and bersandiwara to get attention. Over the years he has lost track of his "role" as sentinel of good public policies and just thrives on being a nuisance per se to his political foes.

And in the last, 'losing track of his once-admirable role as sentinel of good public policies and governance', he has just been doing that because he now sluts with Mahathir whilst once condemning the former PM for a host of profligate and criminal sins.