MY FRIDAY GUEST COMMENT......

YES, the title is not my normal Friday Guest Blogger. There is no mistake. Its guest COMMENT. As a blogger, the quality of our post is simply the sum total of the quality of the comments our posts elicit. Often the comments my posts invite range from the absurdly racists to sublimely unbelievable . But the gap in between is chasm. A good posting either bridges or narrows this. It is a task I may not be able to achieve, nevertheless it is worth aiming for.

However, one of my favorite bloggers Datuk Sak of SakmongkolAK47 has achieved what I aspire to. His posting on Tuesday 10 August “Why I remain in UMNO” elicited a gem comment by a reader WALLA.

Datuk Sak made Walla’s comment the topic of his posting and made this appeal”

I want every UMNO member who can think to read this wonderful riposte from a commentator whom I have known since I started blogging. This is the kind of thinking and reasoning deserving the highest of respects. Read what Walla has to say in response to my last article, why I remain in UMNO.

and ends with: This kind of argument is breathtaking.

WALLA's comment:

The challenge is how to represent one's race and yet not end up being racialist.

It's a thin line. Too many times that line was crossed. And it was crossed mainly by those inside Umno which then attracted similar response by others. Umno first, others only in response.

The rakyat have become tired of that. They are tired of being forced to be racialist. They are tired of the politics and the lies and the denials, they are tired of the commissions and the omissions, they are tired of waking up to find yet another package of spin at their doorsteps, another bill in their mailbox, another scandal on the front page, another theft in the corridor of power that overwhelms in size and severity those on the streets that they walk in trepidation of their lives while the government under Umno plants more cctv's paid with taxpayers money in its over-priced and under-populated federal administrative enclave than in the places where the real rakyat live.

The rakyat are tired and angry that the end of their days will be bleak. They are equally tired and angry that the beginning of the days of their young will be even bleaker.

Meanwhile, to greet them with such bad prospects, they have been asked to change their lifestyle when costs have gone up but incomes have gone down in an economy that has shrunk in its ability to remain relevant to the world.

They are asked to be more productive by using their knowledge and skills but none of it can be applied because political leaders and little napoleons have wrought havoc with the education system from the way and things taught to the way and things issued.

The very people whose mindsets must first change are trying to change the minds of those who are telling them to change their mindsets. How corny can one get?

It must therefore be to the credit of the rakyat that although tired of politics, they have bounced back on their own to their natural selves. They have on their own said no to extremism and chauvinism. They have gone back to the core values and behavior that had defined the original spirit of this country. The centre that defines what being a Malaysian truly means.

Pas and DAP have moved to the centre. And ever since they have moved towards moderation, they have discovered that they are more comfortable with the new position - because it reflects the inner nature of Malaysians - to be practical and to be fair. They have found that they have lost nothing. By some magic, they have found that their own manifesto's have instead been enhanced.

And the rakyat who are Malays have found again their good nature and sense of fairness. They have found that they really don't lose anything by being accommodative to others, by not playing the zero-sum game, by caring for others as they want others to care for them.

WALLA whoever you are this is how I envisage you…… a sage courageously harvesting and marrying the ying and the yang in our troubled homestead.

To Datuk, a debt of gratitude for being able to draw out comments of caliber from your readers. I salute you and Walla.

Read the rest of the post HERE.