Thursday, February 5, 2009

PERAK = SILVER. SILVER LINING OR SILVER PIECES.


POLLYANA’s POINT IN OUR PRESENT STRAITS

The dread Barisan Rakyat bloggers felt late Tuesday when rumor mills churned with word of impending defections in Perak from Pakatan Rakyat to Barisan Nasional gradually gave way in me to a search for a silver lining in the cloud. I remember when I was a child being taught the lesson of Pollyanna, the story about an orphan sent to live with a stern aunt. It was a heart-tugging book whose point was that we should look for something to be glad about whenever the bad happens. There were times in later years when I mused that Pollyanna’s was the classic loser’s attitude – consoling oneself when resigned to one’s defeat.

Past the age of fifty, when I began to yield to the view that many things in life – for example, your children’s choices on careers and spouses – are quite beyond your ability to control, I relooked the worth of Pollyanna. There’s no point in being a control freak. What will be will be. Que sera sera. Hence make the best of any situation.

Pollyanna’s attitude welled up in me late Tuesday, early Wednesday when news portals suggested the goings-on in Perak were moving rapidly to a denouement damaging to Pakatan. I checked the impulse to denounce defections. I could not have been in favor of it before September 16 and then denounce it in February when the boot was on the other foot. Mind you I was certain that had the much-trumpeted defections to Pakatan occurred, there would be a general election within a year as voters would need to endorse the new government. Otherwise a ruling coalition composed of many defectors would strain – in vain -- after credibility. Dang! Better to go back to the rakyat for re-endorsement than to limp along with quislings (no varnishing this) in tow.

Now after watching the evening news broadcasts showing Najib intending to seek an audience with Sultan Azlan on Thursday morning to inform that BN had the majority to form a new government, I checked the euphoric hope that His Royal Highness would accede to Pakatan Menteri Besar Nizar’s request for dissolution of the Perak state assembly despite my view that that was the best thing to do. A new government with a wafer thin majority made possible by defections, one of revolving door quality, is not worth the paper it is certified on, unless of course it goes to the polls soon. Frankly, based on past form, I felt I couldn’t expect Sultan Azlan to refuse Najib’s request. I recalled the hope when he became Agong in 1989 that he would check the authoritarian Dr Mahathir’s slide to a dictated democracy.

Hope, they say, is a good breakfast but a lean supper. Some of us breakfasted on hope at the onset of Sultan Azlan’s kingship and – despite glowing statements on the ideals of democratic governance from him and son Nazrin in the intervening years between the end of his kingship and resumption of rulership of Perak – hope is lean that HRH will decide in favor of dissolution. There is that gulf between profession and performance. It is easy to profess ideals; it is hard to live up to them.

Which brings me to the Pollyanna point: From to time before the September 16 episode, we heard that one Pakatan component would not be in favor of a new government formed after defections from BN if it meant the majority of legislators do not belong to one religious confession. This was a narrow stance, insupportable on several counts. But none of us pretends that the change in Malaysian politics we are fighting for could be achieved without the support of people, some of whose views themselves need reworking. We felt hard realities, experienced in the struggle for change, would do the job of reworking.

What in the four defections seen in Perak could help do the presumed task of reworking among Pakatan cohort ? Look at the confessions of three of the four defectors. I reject the view that I am casting a slur of any religion when I say that mere religious profession is no guarantee of virtuous performance. For me, if there is one thing to be glad about this whole sorry episode in Perak, it is that it will give pause to proponents of the view that a Pakatan federal government must be composed of a majority confession.

I assert this view even in the face of that commendable example of the Kelantan state government holding steady from 2004 to ’08 under the redoubtable Tok Guru’s leadership despite holding the barest of majorities -- one seat. That example does not furnish sufficient grounds for saying that belonging to a one religious confession under a particular party is a guarantee of integrity.



7 comments:

lanaibeach said...

The dark narrow alley
The dim light barely shines
Casting doubts of shadows
The unwanted characters hide

The silence of dark ambience
The eyes look left and right
Of the night poachers waiting inside
Living amongst the clusters
Homes of the dark night

The dark narrow alley
Give it a chance losing stability
The light has seen it many times
The greed destroys society
Of humankind

Short cut to happiness
The devil grants the wishes
The recipients can’t escape
The souls sold the bidding comes

The dark narrow alley
Walking through sending signals
Beware of the hidden shadows
The evils smile leeching frogs
It will be history
When soul falls for greed

Unknown said...

You are right. If we hope pakatan take over on sept 16 is ok with defections than this coup by Najib should acceptable too. However the manner of the devious ways of getting the deceftion is of grave concern. Integrity and ethics missing. I trust that HM the Sultan has the courage to dissolve the assembly. But for the gap of proffessing and performance is going to be soon.

I believe that the chaos is worth it as we grow our muscles of democracy.

Anonymous said...

If the news is true then it is about time to flex the muscle.
The four pengkhianat rakyat will have to pay for their disrespect of the rakyats.
Lets do it Perakians there is nothing to respect.

Anonymous said...

While you're there can you throw an old smelly shoe laden with shit at that bitch hee.

What a whore!!

Anonymous said...

Jesus was betrayed by Judas for 30 pieces of silvers.......It's not really the silvers that Judas wanted.....Judas thought he's doing the right thing........Not sure why.......He's done......Guess what he regret it and commited suicide with whole intestine spilled out

Would Judases of Pakatan have their guts spilled out?

Regards,
looes74

Samuel Goh Kim Eng said...

WHAT TO PICK TO STICK ON

When a donkey is offered a carrot or a stick
We all know which one it will definitely pick
There's no longer the question of loyalty stick
When there's really no conscience at all to prick

(C) Samuel Goh Kim Eng - 050209
http://MotivationInMotion.blogspot.com
Thur. 5th Feb. 2009.

Old Fart said...

I feel sorry for the Sultan now Zorro.

The next Perak elections for the State Assembly will additionally be a memorandum on the Sultan's decision today. A major swing towards Pakatan Rakyat in the next State Assembly at the next General Assembly will be a slap in the face for the Sultan whose prestige and esteem must surely have taken a unrehabitable dip today.

It would have been a neutral decision if he had just told all the parties to leave it to the people to decide.

You can very well bet that teh BN will know that this reign over Perak will not last beyond the next elections. In which case we can all look forward to the rape of the wealth in Perak. The way cleared by the Sultan himself.