As
I said, this is not about personalities. It is about the cause. Today,
by chance, we have Anwar as the Opposition Leader. And that happened
only because Dr Mahathir’s speech in the 2nd September 1998 Umno Supreme
Council meeting was more convincing than Anwar’s. The majority of the
Supreme Council members, although on Anwar’s side, accepted Dr
Mahathir’s version of the story more than Anwar’s.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWERRaja Petra Kamarudin
Anwar: PR parties share common goal
(Borneo
Post) - BINTULU: Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said all
coalition partners of Pakatan Rakyat (PR) may have different ideologies,
but they are united because of policy.
“We
have different backgrounds and races, but we fight for mutual
objectives. We want to change our current system,” he said at a PKR
Bintulu pre-Gawai dinner here on Saturday.
The
de facto leader of PKR said PR was confident of altering the political
landscape of Malaysia in the coming 13th general election because BN had
gone too arrogant.
“First major fundamental
difference between PR and BN is there is time for Malaysia to accept
that we are a great Malaysian family of all races, religion and
culture.”
“The sooner Umno understands this the better it is for Malaysia.”
“Currently
Umno is not able to understand this, and BN component parties are also
weak to say anything. It’s time we defeat BN in the next general
election.”
Also present at the function were
Selangor exco member Elizabeth Wong, state PKR chief Baru Bian, PKR
Bintulu chief Paul Raja, Kapar MP S Manikavasagam, Krian assemblyman Ali
Biju, and Kemena PKR chief Ribi Rayang.
***************************************
Before
I talk about the news item above, I would like to first close the
debate on Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim. I think we have argued about
this man long enough -- a man who did not and will not cause too much
impact on DAP either way.
For all intents
and purposes, the whole matter has been overrated. When Tunku Aziz
joined DAP back in 2008, I did not sing his praises or hail him as the
Malay version of Gandhi, like many of you did. Hence, when he decided to
leave, I took it as cool as when he joined more than three years ago. I
did not get my panties all twisted into knots, like many of you did.
Anyway,
I enjoyed tickling all of you over the last few weeks and see you foam
at the mouth. Most of you who were suffering from diarrhoea of the mouth
when Tunku left, and then he endorsed Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak,
were the same people who suffered from diarrhoea of the mouth when Tunku
joined. If you had been cool when Tunku joined then you could probably
remain cool now that he has left.
I suppose this is your guilt working on you. You went overboard when Tunku joined. So now you go overboard when he leaves.
Two
Umno Bloggers have resigned from Umno to join DAP. Then, a couple of
retired senior police officers are joining PAS. One retired Special
Branch officer has joined the opposition in Sarawak. And, again, you are
all excited about it, as excited as when Zaid Ibrahim first joined PKR
and Tunku Aziz joined DAP.
Cool lah brader
and sista! Don’t get too excited. It is good, no doubt, that the
opposition is attracting ex-Umno people or retired police and army
officers. That is a good endorsement of what the opposition stands for.
But if you start getting too excited about it then, if anything happens,
you will, again, start foaming at the mouth and start cursing them, the
Malays, Islam, Raja Petra and Malaysia Today all in the same breath.
People
come, people go. People even die. But life goes on. It is what lies
ahead of us and whether we are able to face these challenges that
matter. You talk about focus. You keep telling me to focus. But are you
yourself focused? Do you understand what our perjuangan is all about? Is it about personalities or is it about the cause? And what is that cause?
Okay,
I admit that I have been very naughty. But I did say some time ago that
my ‘job’ is to throw the cat amongst the pigeons and watch the feathers
fly. And, boy, have the feathers been flying over the last couple of
weeks!
Hell, it is so easy to manipulate you
people. All I need to do is to throw cats all over the place and you
pigeons will fly in all directions. I suppose pigeon brains will always
act like pigeons. Now you know why Barisan Nasional is able to play you
for suckers. It is because many of you are suckers.
Okay,
enough of my gloating for one day -- although it is nice to be able to
gloat. Let’s get to the business of the day, which is the news report
above and what Anwar Ibrahim said: all coalition partners of Pakatan Rakyat may have different ideologies, but they are united because of policy.
Now,
what does this mean? For those of you who have a poor command of
English, look at the definition of those various words below.
PKR, DAP and PAS have different ideologies, like what Anwar said. Nevertheless, they are united because of their common policy.
I
want you all to note this point and remember it well. This is so that
we can avoid further arguments, which are mainly the result of not being
able to understand this point and not sharing the same view on what
these various words mean.
Allow me to illustrate this point by referring to the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST). No, this is not a discussion on religion but just an example I have plucked from the top of my head.
The
MCCBCHST members have different ideologies. I mean: the Buddhists,
Hindus, Sikhs and Taoists do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God or
accept the doctrine of the Trinity. Nevertheless, the members of the
MCCBCHST are united because of a common policy. And that was why the
MCCBCHST was formed, because they share the same policy although they
differ on ideology.
Is this not the same
argument that Anwar raised: all coalition partners of Pakatan Rakyat may
have different ideologies, but they are united because of policy?
If
we can understand this then we can avoid unnecessary quarrels that are
mainly the result of not understanding the concept of how we unite and
how to disagree even though we may be united.
PKR,
DAP and PAS are united by common purpose. And this unity is based on
wanting to kick out Barisan Nasional and take over the federal
government. But just because they are united by purpose it does not mean
they are also united by ideology. And this we must accept. If we can’t
then we will end up quarrelling, as we always do.
Notwithstanding
that, although PKR, DAP and PAS are united by purpose, meaning that
they all want to kick out Barisan Nasional and take over the federal
government, it does not mean that they are also united in the reason for
wanting this.
For example, the reason why PAS wants a change of federal government is to be able to see the adeen of Islam implemented, which Umno is resisting. If Umno no longer resists the adeen
of Islam but instead embraces it, is there any longer any reason for
PAS to oppose Umno? I really don’t know but maybe the top PAS leadership
can answer this question. However, if Malaysia implements the adeen of Islam, then I suppose there is no longer any reason for PAS to oppose Umno.
Now,
what is the reason why DAP wants a change of federal government? I
suppose it would be to see an end to racism, discrimination, corruption,
etc. But the adeen of Islam is not on the list of DAP’s wants.
That does mean, however, that DAP cannot unite with PKR and PAS under
the umbrella of Pakatan Rakyat.
PKR, on the
other hand, wants to see Anwar as the new Prime Minister. DAP and PAS
have no objections to that although they treat it more as a bonus than
the main perjuangan like PKR does.
The
bottom line is: we can still be friends and unite under a common cause.
But note that we may not share the same ideology, only the same
purpose. And if I express an ideology that differs from yours, this does
not mean we are enemies.
The US is
opposed to Communism. Russia, during WWII, was Communist. The US and
Russia were, in fact, enemies who never trusted each other. But they
shared a common purpose, and that was to defeat Nazi Germany. So they
worked together to defeat Nazi Germany although they opposed each
other’s ideology. Of course, once Germany lost the war, the US and
Russia reverted to becoming enemies and took the world to the brink of a
nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
This
is the concept of an enemy of my enemy is my friend. Hence we need
Barisan Nasional to be in power for Pakatan Rakyat to exist. If Barisan
Nasional did not exist would Pakatan Rakyat exist? I am not gungho about
Pakatan Rakyat. I just want Barisan Nasional ousted. Hence Pakatan
Rakyat presents itself as the platform in achieving this. That is all.
In
fact, PKR exists only because Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad defeated Anwar in
the 2nd September 1998 Umno Supreme Council meeting. Say, the opposite
happened. Say, Anwar defeated Dr Mahathir instead and Anwar had taken
over as the new Umno President on that historic day of 2nd September
1998.
Then Anwar would also have taken over
as the new Prime Minister of Malaysia. Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would
have never become the Prime Minister with Najib as his Deputy Prime
Minister. And, today, Anwar would be the Fifth Prime Minister of
Malaysia, and 14 years in office this September.
And
what would you and I be doing today? Today, you will all be cursing
Anwar and I will be writing articles whacking the Prime Minister of
Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim. There would be no Altantuya, Rosmah, Khairy,
submarine, NFC, etc., issues. Instead, there would be other issues we
will be talking about involving the Umno and Barisan Nasional
administration of Anwar Ibrahim.
I would
probably still have been detained many times because I would still be
vocal like I used to be when Anwar was the Deputy Prime Minister of
Malaysia. Only that, this time, it would be Anwar’s government that
detained me.
So, can you see what has happened here? One meeting, the Umno Supreme Council meeting of 2nd September 1998, changed all that.
2nd
September 1998 was the day the Umno Supreme Council met to sack Anwar
Ibrahim from Umno, a day after being removed as the Deputy Prime
Minister and Finance Minister of Malaysia. Before the meeting started,
the majority of the Supreme Council members were on Anwar’s side --
except for just five members, Ibrahim Ali included. However, when Dr
Mahathir delivered his “friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your
ears…yada, yada, yada…it is not that I love Anwar less, but I love Umno
more” speech, the tables turned. Dr Mahathir brilliantly went into the
meeting as the hunted and emerged the hunter -- and Anwar’s fate was
sealed.
Now, if all that had not happened,
today, you and I would all be talking about different things and will be
aiming our bullets at different people. Even Karpal Singh, who
initially was supposed to represent ‘the other side’ in the Sodomy 1
case, ended up representing Anwar instead, against ‘the other side’.
Hence, even Karpal ‘changed sides’ after 2nd September 1998, so to
speak. Even Mat Sabu, who used to go round the country to whack Anwar
and call him a sodomist, ‘changed sides’ and defended Anwar after 2nd
September 1998.
As I said, this is not about
personalities. It is about the cause. Today, by chance, we have Anwar
as the Opposition Leader. And that happened only because Dr Mahathir’s
speech in the 2nd September 1998 Umno Supreme Council meeting was more
convincing than Anwar’s. The majority of the Supreme Council members,
although on Anwar’s side, accepted Dr Mahathir’s version of the story
more than Anwar’s.
In short, we are saying
what we are all saying today mainly because both Dr Mahathir and Anwar
played ‘last man standing’ and Dr Mahathir won. If not, we will all be
saying about Anwar exactly what we are saying today about Najib. Hence,
do we want to get emotional about personalities who are what they are
mainly because of an accident of history?
I,
too, would not be doing what I am doing if not because of an accident
of history that fateful day, 2nd September 1998. Because of 2nd
September 1998, my whole life changed as well. And, because of 2nd
September 1998, I now live in exile in Manchester and have lost
everything that I own, my home included, which the government ‘seized’.
Yes,
I bet you did not know that, those of you who say I have sold out while
the government takes away the only home I own in Malaysia.
***************************************
Policy: rules, procedure, guidelines, guiding principle, course of action, plan, strategy.
Aspiration: ambition, goal, objective, aim, target, hope, desire, want, wish.
Ideology: philosophy, dogma, doctrine, beliefs, principles, thought, ideas, creed.
Objective: purpose, aim, point, intention, reason.
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