Should Mahathir apologize to Anwar?
KTemoc Konsiders
Kua Kia Soong advises Anwar Ibrahim not to be so hasty to accept Mahathir’s insincere hand.
Kua reminded Anwar of the words of the latter’s daughter Nurul Nuha, who was reported by Malaysiakini for demanding Mahathir publicly apologizes to her father and admit his past transgressions against the opposition leader (is he still?) before he can hope to forge any alliance with Anwar’s coalition.
Kua said most correctly: The reform movement should then be redefined to target not just an individual but the political regime and political economic system that oppresses, divides and exploits the people.
The aim should not only be to call for Najib’s resignation but to change the racist and exploitative regime. Furthermore, reforms should target the neoliberal economic policies that were set in motion by none other than Mahathir in the early Eighties.
Najib has merely made more extreme the structures created by Mahathir to entrench the powers of the Executive, emasculate the democratic institutions and provide the means for private enrichment of the elite in this country. Racist and racial discriminatory policies were also entrenched by Mahathir in the early Eighties and further manipulated by Najib until today.
And after that advice, Kua twisted the apology-dagger in the old man’s side by requiring him to further apologize to Kua himself (wakakaka) and the others incarcerated under Operation Lalang, and then to Tun Salleh Abas and the other Supreme Court judges that Mahathir sacked in 1988; and to all Malaysians for the more than RM100 billion he squandered during his term in office.
Wah!
There are a few items I need to point out, namely:
