Mahathir in Pakatan - a Monkey's Paw wish?

The story of 'The Monkey's Paw' as obtained from Wikipedia:

The short story involves Mr. and Mrs. White and their adult son, Herbert.

Sergeant-Major Morris, a friend who served with the British Army in India, introduces them to a mummified monkey's paw.

An old fakir (Indian bomoh) placed a spell on the paw, that it would grant three wishes. The wishes are granted but always with hellish consequences as punishment for tampering with fate.

Morris, having had a horrific experience using the paw, throws the monkey's paw into the fire but Mr. White retrieves it. Before leaving, Morris warns Mr. White that if he does use the paw, then it will be on his own head.

At Herbert's suggestion, Mr. White flippantly wishes for £200, which will enable him to make the final mortgage payment for his house, even though he believes he has everything he wants.

The next day his son Herbert leaves for work at a local factory. Later that day, word comes to the White home that Herbert has been killed in a terrible machinery accident. Although the employer denies responsibility for the incident, the firm has decided to make a goodwill payment to the family of the deceased. The payment, of £200, exactly matches the amount Herbert suggested his father should wish for.

Ten days after their son's death and a week after the funeral, Mrs. White, almost mad with grief, asks her husband to use the paw to wish Herbert back to life. Reluctantly, he does so.

Shortly afterwards there is a knock at the door. As Mrs. White fumbles at the locks in an attempt to open the door, Mr. White, who had to identify his son's mutilated body, and who knows the corpse has been buried for more than a week, realizes that the thing outside is not the son he knew and loved.

He makes his third wish.

The knocking suddenly stops. Mrs. White opens the door to find no one is there.

Hence we get the cryptic saying "Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it."

What has been unsaid, and which has probably puzzled many people about the meaning of above saying through the years have been "... and find that you really don't want it."

Back in Malaysia, Pakatan Harapan thought it hit the political jackpot when Mahathir left UMNO and then joined them with his new party called Pribumi, its name bluntly telling 'nons' that while they can vote for it, they can't join it as lesser beings, to wit, non-bumiputeras.

He was Pakatan's wish come true.

Pakatan leaders believe they could use Mahathir as the vanguard that's much needed to break into the Malay Heartland, hitherto the stronghold of UMNO (and to some extent, PAS), and to secure the Heartland's support that is necessary if Pakatan wants to take Putrajaya.

But Mahathir came with lots of 'baggage' such as Forex, MAS, Memali, Maminco, BMF, Perwaja, Ops Lalang, the Anwar Ibrahim debacle, etc etc etc.

According to Berita Daily's Pakatan Harapan embracing the wrong ‘poster boy’? Mahathir's two most horrid 'baggage' have been Memali and Ops Lalang, which respective draconian cruelty apparently still upset many Malaysians.

The extracts from this article (you can read the entire lot yourself in above link) that I have selected are as follows:

The former premier’s chequered history having led the country with an iron fist, which saw him persecuting his detractors, is today his comeuppance, despite Mahathir’s persistent denials of having abused his power over the two decades that he ruled the country.

Of the many transgressions synonymous with Mahathir, two continue to haunt Malaysians – the Memali massacre and the ruthless Operasi Lalang, both of which he refuses to be held accountable for.

 

For those affected by the Memali violence or the draconian detentions without trial under Operasi Lalang, the angst can never be healed by time. It is no Hobson’s Choice for them as any apology from the man who masterminded the two incidents, i.e. Mahathir, is meaningless.

Well, it's certainly true for people like Dr Kua Kia Soong, who was among those incarcerated under Ops Lalang, that the angst can never be healed by time, but mind-numbingly, Lim Kit Siang seems to be OK, even without the wisp of an apology from His Erstwhile Imperialistic Emperor.

And don't worry about the Hobson Choice as Mahathir has steadfastly refused to apologise for any of his draconian misdeeds, including the expulsion-from-UMNO of Anwar Ibrahim and his (Anwar's) subsequent incarceration.

If you read my previous post you will find a pariah-ish pseudo-pretend justification for his imprisonment of Anwar - see Mahathir blinded by Anwar's charisma? Tell that to the marines.

I suspect it was to explain to and mollify the pro-Anwar Pakatan supporters who still refuse to accept Maahathir as Pakatan's leader.

The article continues:

With the clock ticking away on the 14th general election, Pakatan Harapan has to act swiftly to ensure that Mahathir’s Machiavellian past does not get in the way of its agenda of capturing Putrajaya.

The Pakatan Harapan vision with Mahathir on board has turned fractious, as more time and effort is being wasted trying to vindicate the former prime minister of his autocratic governance.

Making it worse is Mahathir’s refusal to repent, with his recent admission that he would repeat his actions vis-a-vis Operasi Lalang if the situation warranted it. [...]

There seems to be no dearth of problems besieging Pakatan Harapan. Would it be obnoxious to blame it on the coalition’s poor judgment call in joining forces with Mahathir and making him their “poster boy”?

I guess Mahathir is certainly the wish-come-true for Pakatan but one which the Monkey's Paw granted, wakakaka.