MARCH 15 — March 16th is a defining moment for the politics of the Democratic Action Party.
In the past, even party members were not excited about their own polls. As long as Lim Kit Siang was there, they thought someone would swing the cudgel. Then came that Tokong, Lim Guan Eng, swinging his club all over.
But things have changed. The DAP is in power now. Power makes you heady.
My chat groups are filled with opinions and comments — a lot from fireside commentators who hardly know the characters involved.
I am not a DAP man. In fact, I have always been a closet Umno supporter. Perhaps in the last 15 years or so, I have been disgusted by Umno’s total decay, though at my age, I still yearn for the past when they were a more benevolent and less corrupt party that got things done.
They have never been perfect, even when the great Tunku Abdul Rahman was president of Umno and founding Prime Minister.
I am still not a DAP kind of guy, but I have a lot of good friends whom I have known for decades, including Lim Kit Siang and his son Guan Eng.
My chat groups mainly chatter about LGE, and many are very negative about him.
He pushed for his sister, he attacked his successor Chow in trying to perpetuate a dynasty. He is cocky, abrasive, and offensive. He’s been there too long. (Not as long as 99 years, though. So what is long?)
In fairness, LGE and LKS have done a lot for Malaysia as DAP politicians. Of course, they made mistakes, but the intention was always to make Malaysia a better country, according to their lenses.
DAP will hold its CEC election tomorrow with 70 candidates vying for 30 seats — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa
No one is perfect. Who amongst us does not try to help our friends or family if we can? Look at ALL politicians and businessmen in this country — they all try to create a dynasty, and most fail.
Being cocky and abrasive is a weakness for a politician, but if you are passive, like many politicians who become sycophantic, you get pushed and shuffled around. Not many Hassan Karims and LGEs are around in Malaysia.
I suppose there’s a time in history when you need someone like LKS and LGE. Perhaps Guan Eng’s time is over, and like most people in power, he didn’t know how to let go.
That doesn’t make him bad. It just makes him as defective a human as all of us.
I sound like a broken record, but imperfect as he was, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was a good, decent prime minister. He was the perfect choice after 22 years of an abrasive, battle-ridden, though economically successful, reign of Tun Mahathir.
Yet, they drove him out of office, and what did we get? Every prime minister since has been investigated — one already jailed — for massive corruption, nepotism, and abuse of power.
So, I don’t say this because Guan Eng or “Tokong” is my friend of more than 40 years. I still am not a DAP adherent.
I say it because, as I remind my friends who fought for the ouster of Pak Lah, Khairy Jamaluddin, and Tengku Zafrul Aziz and their likes, “be careful what you wish for.”
My message, as a Malaysian, to DAP would be not to make this a zero-sum game.
We have to start somewhere in ridding ourselves of this take no prisoners politics that has devoured Malaysia.
*This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
