Did Your Grandfather Tell You ….

Did your grandfather tell you that people deserved the govt. they get? If he did, you should have listened more carefully and thought more deeply about what he said. Shame on you if you had not.

In spite of thinking of themselves as politically savvy, cutting edge and cool bunch of people, some MT commentators utter the most seditious curses. This shows how utterly emotional and undisciplined they are and how they choose to blind themselves and ignore a dangerous law. They therefore deserve the BN govt. The tragedy is that MT may have to pay the price.

The Malays deserve the govt. they get because the majority choose to be seduced by pitiful goodies and being flattered with Ketuanan Melayu by the BN govt, in spite of the fact that they know full well BN biggies commit the most corrupt and vile acts imaginable. The tragedy is that the whole community has to pay the price.

As RPK says – it is a fact of life that Chinese towkays own most of the businesses and Malays have to seek employment from them. Unfortunately for the Chinese towkays, there are other facts of life too.

The second fact of life of relevance is that Malays form the majority of voters – quite a bit more than half of all voters. The third fact of life is that most Malays are Muslims or claim to be Muslims – almost 100% do.

So while a lot of Chinese voters know that UMNO is the cause of racism in this country, a few still go around uttering unthinking vicious slights against Islam as well as Malays. One can read these utterances quite commonly on the internet. So while they know UMNO is racist, they cannot get rid of 51 years of UMNO brainwashing on their own minds. In this sense, they deserve the govt. they get for not being able to free themselves from the thing they hate, or at least tolerate it in others, for this hypocrisy can only unsettle some Malay voters who would edge closer to UMNO for security. The tragedy here is obvious – does the racist chicken or the racist egg come first?

Also, just as RPK says – that PKR in its early days did not know any better than to serve beef in its open houses, so also DAP today does not know any better than to utter that “Chinese voters are kingmakers.” This has many negative connotations. I do not wish to go into all of them. I trust you can think for yourselves if you care to spend time on it. What concerns me is that it tells me the mind of the utterer views the Chinese voters as a block which can switch sides as they please to benefit themselves. This behaviour would eventually necessitate the Chinese community thinking of themselves as an isolated, immune and separate community with a destiny that may not have anything in common with the rest of Malaysia. So while it may benefit the DAP to “reserve” the Chinese votes for itself by such utterance, it blinds itself and ignores fact of life 2 above. The Chinese are subtly “obstructed” from forming strong alliances based on mutual interest and are tragically pointed in only one single minded direction of pure self-interest. So it is no accident that Jelapang joins Behrang & co.

Finally, did your grandfather tell you that it is often not a good thing to take short cuts? One cannot undo 51 years of UMNO rule with short cuts of a few months. Weaknesses exist not only in the hearts and minds of our elected representatives, but also in our own. Hopefully struggle and set backs will make all of us stronger. Granted, we should not be too relaxed about it either, but it is a sign of amateurishness if one becomes demoralized with the first set-back. It is a sign that we may after all be opportunists addicted to easy short-cuts no better than the elected representatives who abandoned us. It is time for professionalism to take to the field.

Lastly, I am of the opinion that HRH the Sultan of Perak could have decided either way and still be right. This is part and parcel of our constitutional democracy. This is also a fact of life. In times when the law fails or is debatable, it is the function of the Sultan to make a decision and whatever decision he makes will be the right one. At the same time it is also the right thing for Pakatan to choose to take the matter to court. This is also part and parcel of our constitutional democracy. Nizar cannot be faulted, so while many Malaysians blame the Sultan or blame Nizar, the real rascal walks away triumphant.

There is lots of work to do. We can expect things like navy buildings collapsing even before they are completed or offshore patrol vessels taking several times the contract amount to build without penalty and still be less than sea-worthy to happen again. It is time to let most likely unsalvageable set-backs go and concentrate on the struggle ahead.

By batsman