It looks like my reservations against Anwar Ibrahim were spot on.
But I didn't get to where I am today from being naive and gullible.
It is no secret that Anwar Ibrahim has been calling the shots from day one that the Barisan Rakyat got its act together and soundly kicked some BN ass.
Now don't get me wrong, this man is one heck of an orator. And personally, I think he was framed by our less-than-original, beyond-expiry, ruling coalition - which suggests they were frightened enough to stoop to desperate measures.
But this issue with Fairus of Penanti is disturbing. One does not, under critical circumstances, throw one's weight around. And considering Anwar Ibrahim has not become Prime Minister as yet (despite numerous false assurances), he is under critical circumstances.
Yet, he is busy playing political games and bestowing favours upon those who catch his fancy.
Perhaps Fairus was tainted by graft and corruption. That still does not give Anwar any right to remove Fairus from his Penanti seat without first discussing with Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
Acts like that merely serve to suggest that Anwar Ibrahim feels that the Barisan Rakyat belongs to him and that he is solely responsible for the success or failure of it.
It suggests that Lim Guan Eng is merely a puppet in the whole game of Opposition politics - one who is dispensable at will.
Now this sort of behaviour is disheartening when you consider that a lot of people put their trust on the Opposition, hoping that they could deliver some change.
This is not the change I hope to see. This sort of behaviour is UMNO-inherent. In fact, calling for "closed" discussion (away from the prying presence of the media) is what I despise.
Money politics plagued UMNO and BN purely because everything was settled by the head honcho and no one had the right to dissent or voice out their dissatisfaction.
Lim Guan Eng, by questioning Anwar's move, is following the right channels to a healthy and open discussion. Gagging him is to imitate what UMNO and by proxy, BN have been practising for years.
I don't want Barisan Rakyat to evolve into Barisan Nasional.
12 comments:
Excellent discussion, my dear!
Please blog more often!
Miss you...
Hugs
My concerns with Anwar were exactly what you've said in this post. He's just BN by another name, should this prove true. And it'll be no surprise to me.
To say I am disappointed would mean that I'd hoped for better. Which isn't true: this, unfortunately, was what I'd felt would happen eventually.
But, LGE is refusing to lie and play dead. Good job, LGE! There's hope for Pakatan, and us, yet.
The longer I look at politics - not just the local variety - the gladder I am that I've never been inclined to become a politician myself. Too many backseat drivers - occupational hazard! Whether you're black or white, wrong or right, some smart alec somewhere will call you a @#%$ing jerk or worse. Poor Anwar! Guess it's too late now for him to embark on a non-career as an abominable jungleman, so he'll just have to keep plodding on! :-)
We should be mindful of the whole equation. Some had said Fairus was not only tainted by quarry dust but also incompetence at work and no-show before his constituents.
Given Pakatan has just been snatched a whole state whatever with crossovers, and given the muzzle's out on people like RPK who had been chewing up the credibility of BN, and given the ascent of Najib and his old-new cabinet, and other things like the activities of the MACC, it all squares down to the next set of perceptions.
If PKR had to tell PAS to be careful, then PKR had to tell DAP to be careful too.
Perhaps that was the rationale behind the scene. No doubt the situation stands on a knife's edge at the moment. The constriction of funds to Opposition states is one key factor. BN has weaponized the rakyats' money to suit its popularity contest. Everyone knows the dacing is loaded.
So when the chips are stacked like that, it is better to be cautious than incautious. All the more because of the boo-boo's made at the beginning when Pakatan tried to strike for the big stakes thinking the iron was still hot.
At the end of the day, people will see what real changes are made and whether the politikuses will change to be better animals or stay as rodents.
One obvious fault of Pakatan is that it has no strategic communication connected to the rakyat.
As has been said, success can be its own failure. They should get their act together. After all, what's at stake is the future of this country.
I busy myself trying to put together these checkered thoughts only to lure the blogger to come back. How much she has been missed only her commentators will know.
She misses us, she misses us not, she misses us, she misses us not...
Darn and double darn. Life's not the same anymore without her supremely intelligent presence.
Have to agree with you there, Walla! She is sorely missed. You hear that blogger person?
But back to Pakatan, Walla - wouldn't you say that their biggest flaw is that they don't come across to us a cohesive whole?
Too many loose cannons who come out shooting without thinking of how it'll damage the group.
All I ask is for an alternative. And it doesn't look like they are ready to provide one. I wish they'd get their act together.
But I think it's hard with a coalition of three big and disparate groups, like they are.
It's easier in BN. Umno just runs roughshod over everyone, and no has the balls to speak up anyways....
Sigh.
Yo, Pat, great to hear from you!
I think Pakatan was as surprised by their success as BN was by their failure. Therein lies the problem. And it looks like BN is a mite ahead in the race to recover. However Pakatan shouldn't be resting on old laurels even if BN has a timeline to make amends. Pakatan should have crafted a full-blown multi-pronged program to increase its presence, mindshare and impact, realize its manifesto in tangible ways, and develop counter-offensives. It didn't and it hasn't. That itself is telling of the lack of cohesion in its configuration and organization. And looking at the present people in all three parties, they have to wake up and utilize the brain and brawn power to greater effect in their midst.
Sometimes you would think their situation arises because their strategy had moved too quickly to turn from opposition to ruling rather than do things properly that will extend further the mass appeal of the opposition as the alternative to BN, not as they are now, namely the watchdog of the BN. After all, the importance of a watchdog diminishes as what is to be watched reforms. In the worse case scenario, Pakatan will go down and BN will go up to intersect at a point of equilibrium. Then the question will be whether that equilibrium will in the extended term be healthy for the country, or whether it is just a facade by which BN, in particular Umno, will be using to buy time, consolidate resources and spearhead new programs to resuscitate their flagging fortunes by the sheer process of sidelining Pakatan at each and every step of the way to the next elections.
Having lost grounds, BN will certainly use all everything in its power to make sure the last election results will not be repeated. Since it cannot buy up everyone, that will mean it will deploy draconian measures.
Do people think like this all the way? Do they flesh out the psyche of Umno power players?
Pakatan is at the moment hamstrung by federal funds diverted away, investments discouraged from parking in their states, internal human resource frictions from the civil service and a lack of presence in the arena of present issues.
I am mindful these can be used but let Pakatan realize the matter hard and fast enough to use them first.
Nothing like problems to fashion much-needed solutions.
Greetings from Calgary, Walla!
I agree with all you say. Mostly because my mind has meandered down those same lines.
I think though, that should BN and Pakatan reach that point of equilibrium, and BN surges forward, that would not be a good thing.
Like you say, all the 'reform' now is to just get one up on Pakatan. When that need no longer is real, they'll revert to form, no?
Pakatan needs a leader without a past, with guts and balls, who'll just mash them together and make them whole. It can be done. BN did it. And it needn't always be a bad thing.
I like what I just read in Malaysiakini, on the need for elections in Penanti. The writer, Sim Kwang Yang, says, and I agree:"...the people do not really like the Pakatan Rakyat all that much. Fortunately for the opposition, people just dislike the BN more!"
Thank you for indulging us, Cranky ;)
LOL, looks like I've managed to get a debate going between Pat and Walla. :) I'm enjoying the discussion.
Masterwordsmith, I miss you too. I hope your 3 men are doing well and you are taking care of yourself?
Antares, some people think Anwar is worse than UMNO because they think he is only out to say the right things to get people to vote for him.
As for me, I really can't say. But what he stands for is much better than what BN stands for. And BN only got that way, because there was no strong opposition to provide check and balance. This time, I hope there will be plenty of people criticising the new government (hopefully the Barisan Rakyat) to keep them in place and remind them that they serve the rakyat and not their own interests. It's easy to forget that when one is in position of power.
Walla, flattery will get you nowhere! ;-)
And yes ma'am, the blogger person hears you Ms Pat! :)
'Walla, flattery will get you nowhere! ;-)'
...how about a root beer then? ;P
this for Pat (only; ;P)
http://is.gd/ucmg
Thank you, Walla :) Am going to check it out right now!
And Cranky, only realise how much I miss you when I hear your voice in your reply :(
Is it warm and sunny there? No such luck here!
Walla - Yes, the root beer worked the last time, didn't it? :)
Pat, believe me when I say I probably miss you guys more than you miss me. It's sort of warm here actually, the temperature has FINALLY gone up to double digits. How's Calgary? The UK is nothing compared to the extreme temperatures that North America can get to.
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