By Haris Ibrahim,
To my ‘Lest we, including Anwar, ever forget’ post, Bro Habib Rak sent in a comment to ask : “Bro Harris, the point of this historical clip being?”
Fair question, Bro.
The point of that historical clip is this.
If Mahathir retired in 2003 heralded by many as the architect of modern Malaysia, today his legacy lies in tatters.
Increasingly, many see his 22 year reign as a dark period when our critical institutions of governance, our system of education, our economic management and civil rights were all severely compromised.
What we must not lose sight of is that Mahathir could not have managed the rape and plunder of this nation on his own.
Bro Habib, the object of that historical clip was to remind all of us that Anwar, who now promises to lead the people of this nation to the promised land, come the 13th GE, was, from 1982, part of the Mahathir administration and, from 1993, his deputy prime minister.
In 2007, in two posts, I had said that I hoped Anwar would give me reason enough to trust him.
You can read those posts HERE and HERE.
Then on 18th August, 2008, 8 days before the Permatang Pauh by-election, in my ‘Dear Anwar’ post, I said I was going to take a chance with Anwar.
This is how I presented my position :
“…let me first say that whilst I have the highest regard for YB Lim Kit Siang and YB Lim Guan Eng, yet in the matter of the politics and governance of this nation, I do not trust them implicitly and without question, because they are politicians and 50 years of BN politics has delivered a hard and painful lesson to many of us.
Don’t trust politicians completely.
Many times last year, I wrote in this blog that I wished you would give me a reason to trust you.
Whilst I have to be frank and tell you that I still do not trust you, three things have persuaded me to ‘take a chance’.
First, and this is the only rational factor of the three, this nation needs to be rid of the racist, divide and rule politics of BN. UMNO will not change, and the other component parties have shown themselves to be helplessly subservient to UMNO.
You and your party leaders, together with the leaders of DAP, have been taking policy positions or making policy statements that, by far and large, seem to be in line with the aspirations of the people.
I say ‘seem’ because much still remains to be seen” .
That post elicited 173 comments. Many said that I had articulated how they felt.
Yes, many still do not trust Anwar, but are prepared to give him a chance.
This is not to say that Anwar is not a changed man from his days during the Mahathir administration.
The burning question for me, is, has he changed?
Is he ready to be the prime minister for all, or is he still the Malay nationalist that Mahathir enticed into UMNO?
Will he lead us to the promised land, or from the frying pan into the fire?
Many, myself included, hope that he is indeed reformed from his UMNO days.
We can only be guided by his actions to make conclusions about whether he is a changed man, and conclusions that we must make soon given that a general election will very soon be upon us.
What we must not do with Anwar, or any other politician for that matter, is to accord them blind, unquestioning faith.
Many have sent in comments to say I should now let this matter rest given that the Supreme Council has made a decision which Jeffret has accepted.
Sorry, I will not.
I still have concerns based on Anwar’s actions.
I will share with you in my next post Anwar’s actions that got me concerned.
For now, let me just say, relying on Joe Fernandez’s report in Malaysiakini today about the proceedings during the PKR Supreme Council meeting yesterday, that there is hope yet for PKR.
There are still good men in their ranks in the likes of Chua Jui Meng and Tian Chua who understand the value of honouring a promise.
To my ‘Lest we, including Anwar, ever forget’ post, Bro Habib Rak sent in a comment to ask : “Bro Harris, the point of this historical clip being?”
Fair question, Bro.
The point of that historical clip is this.
If Mahathir retired in 2003 heralded by many as the architect of modern Malaysia, today his legacy lies in tatters.
Increasingly, many see his 22 year reign as a dark period when our critical institutions of governance, our system of education, our economic management and civil rights were all severely compromised.
What we must not lose sight of is that Mahathir could not have managed the rape and plunder of this nation on his own.
Bro Habib, the object of that historical clip was to remind all of us that Anwar, who now promises to lead the people of this nation to the promised land, come the 13th GE, was, from 1982, part of the Mahathir administration and, from 1993, his deputy prime minister.
In 2007, in two posts, I had said that I hoped Anwar would give me reason enough to trust him.
You can read those posts HERE and HERE.
Then on 18th August, 2008, 8 days before the Permatang Pauh by-election, in my ‘Dear Anwar’ post, I said I was going to take a chance with Anwar.
This is how I presented my position :
“…let me first say that whilst I have the highest regard for YB Lim Kit Siang and YB Lim Guan Eng, yet in the matter of the politics and governance of this nation, I do not trust them implicitly and without question, because they are politicians and 50 years of BN politics has delivered a hard and painful lesson to many of us.
Don’t trust politicians completely.
Many times last year, I wrote in this blog that I wished you would give me a reason to trust you.
Whilst I have to be frank and tell you that I still do not trust you, three things have persuaded me to ‘take a chance’.
First, and this is the only rational factor of the three, this nation needs to be rid of the racist, divide and rule politics of BN. UMNO will not change, and the other component parties have shown themselves to be helplessly subservient to UMNO.
You and your party leaders, together with the leaders of DAP, have been taking policy positions or making policy statements that, by far and large, seem to be in line with the aspirations of the people.
I say ‘seem’ because much still remains to be seen” .
That post elicited 173 comments. Many said that I had articulated how they felt.
Yes, many still do not trust Anwar, but are prepared to give him a chance.
This is not to say that Anwar is not a changed man from his days during the Mahathir administration.
The burning question for me, is, has he changed?
Is he ready to be the prime minister for all, or is he still the Malay nationalist that Mahathir enticed into UMNO?
Will he lead us to the promised land, or from the frying pan into the fire?
Many, myself included, hope that he is indeed reformed from his UMNO days.
We can only be guided by his actions to make conclusions about whether he is a changed man, and conclusions that we must make soon given that a general election will very soon be upon us.
What we must not do with Anwar, or any other politician for that matter, is to accord them blind, unquestioning faith.
Many have sent in comments to say I should now let this matter rest given that the Supreme Council has made a decision which Jeffret has accepted.
Sorry, I will not.
I still have concerns based on Anwar’s actions.
I will share with you in my next post Anwar’s actions that got me concerned.
For now, let me just say, relying on Joe Fernandez’s report in Malaysiakini today about the proceedings during the PKR Supreme Council meeting yesterday, that there is hope yet for PKR.
There are still good men in their ranks in the likes of Chua Jui Meng and Tian Chua who understand the value of honouring a promise.
No comments:
Post a Comment