YOURSAY 'If the DPM wants to quote a book, have some integrity and quote it completely and not selectively.'

Muhyiddin: Learn from 'The Three Kingdoms'

Anonymous #70881335: If only DPM Muhyiddin Yassin had read the novel ‘The Three Kingdom', then you may understand the story better. I doubt he has read it, and from his comments, even if he did, he failed to understand it.

Kung Ming, you are not. You are not as benevolent as Liu Bei, as chivalrous as Kuan Kong, nor do you understand the meaning of brotherhood as you plot to oust your boss, PM Najib Razak. Meanwhile, Cao Cao can keep you in his back pocket.

The essence of the novel is - to win a kingdom, you must win the hearts of the people. Alas, if only you do.

Hplooi: I'm godsmacked! Muhyiddin is trying to appeal to the Chinese to support the government based on the Sanquo (Three Kingdoms)?

The Sanguo appeals to the Chinese literate on different levels:

1) At the basic level, Sanguo is about the breakup of the established order, and the loss of the ‘mandate of heaven' due to the profligacy and corruption of the established order.

Compare this with the current situation in Malaysia. Eunuchs now have precedence over the emperor. The people are groaning under the tyranny of the government of the day.

2) At the second level, the hoi-polloi (or common folks) interpret Sanguo as a struggle between righteousness ( yi ) and unrighteousness.

Yi is loyalty to righteous rulers whilst unrighteousness, even with the might of law under their control, is deemed evil (as epitomised by Cao Cao, in the eyes of the common Chinese public).

In this school of thought, the final verdict is a tragedy of 'Hamletian' proportion (i.e unrighteousness triumphs over righteousness, or yi ).

And because tragedy sells, the Sanguo is immensely popular amongst the Chinese hoi-polloi. Incidentally, groups which operate 'outside' the rule of law worship 'yi' (Guan Yu being a prime poster boy of yi ).

Based on this interpretation, the rule of law which does not command the mandate of heaven is evil (Cao Cao).

The 'tragedy' of Sanguo amongst the common people is a major fuel of discontent against the established order, which cites law as its reasons.

So two strikes, the government is still out.

3) Finally, at the more intellectual level, the Sanguo is viewed as a struggle between the legalistic school (rule of law) over the more chaotic group ( yi loyalty).

In this view, no matter how the 'anti-hero' (Cao Cao) may be viewed (defining quote 'I rather betray the world rather than the world betray me'), his final sense of consistent rule actually wins the day (though he did not live to see the triumph of his philosophy).

At whatever level of interpretation, the established order is the loser:

1) The established order is corrupt and has lost the mandate of heaven, eunuchs now rule the son-of-heaven (emperor).

2) The established order do not have yi , neither has the group who controlled the law (Cao Cao controlled the Han emperor) and is therefore evil.

3) The group which do not rule by law and rule by personality will eventually fail.

Enjoy Sanguo . I hope in the BM translation, they have not mangled it.

Seadragon: Warlord Cao Cao and his gang (Umno?) were so powerful and cruel that the Han royalty gave up control of the dynasty and made Cao Cao the PM (wonder whose is Cao Cao here).

Along came Liu Bei (Anwar Ibrahim) and Sun Qian (Nik Aziz Nik Mat) from the other two states to form a ‘pakatan' to fight to injustice suffered by the people.

Of course, Liu Pei was assisted by the brilliant strategist Kung Ming (Lim Guan Eng) and the righteous generals, Guan Yu (Karpal Singh) and Zhang Fei (Kit Siang), and in the end, good triumphs over evil.

That's the gist of the ‘Three Kingdoms', so Ma Yu Tin, don't pretend to be a Chinese scholar.

Rakyat Malaysia: DPM, you just can't stop making us laugh. What ‘Three Kingdoms'? Umno people are not in anyway possess traits of those mentioned in the book.

So, are you indirectly saying Umno is all for greed and power? If Umno can't have power, nobody can have it? Is that the mentality and message you are trying to send?

A stable society is built without greed of power and position and a healthy respect for democracy. Is Umno the ultimate king in a democratic Malaysia?

Kairos: The citizens of a country are duty bound to be loyal and supportive of the government if it is fair, clean and upright in their dealings.

Once the government becomes corrupt, high-handed and resorts to deception and bullying to stay in power, it loses its respect from the people.

The predominant opinion at ground level is that the BN government, after 54 years in power, has reached a level of governance that is substandard with a total lack of integrity.

At the moment, it is trying to hold on to the reins of power at all cost in spite of the fact that it has lost the trust of the rakyat.

If the DPM wants to quote a book, have some integrity and quote it completely and not selectively.

FellowMalaysian: Muhyiddin is telling us that we should be grateful to BN for having led the country peacefully the past 50 years and show our gratitude by keeping ourselves away from protest rallies and voting back BN this coming GE13.

The people have indeed voted for the BN in many past elections. The scenario and the thoughts and mind of voters have undergone drastic changes, especially the past couple of years when they witness horrifying cases of abuses of power by the corrupt and power-hungry cronies in Umno.

Misuse of power has also led to the authorities to clamp down harshly on dissidents as witnessed in the recent Bersih 3.0. A vote for BN is a vote for corruption.

Smyee: In that case, Muyhiddin would have known about the ‘bersih' rebellion in Chinese history - it was called the Yellow Turban rebellion where the peasants rose up against a corrupt regime.

Timothy: We now have three generals of the ‘Three Kingdoms' - General Na Jib Gor, General Muh Yi Din and General Ma Ha Ter, all fighting for influence behind the scene.

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