Most Read
Most Commented
Read more like this
mk-logo
From Our Readers

Recently, a most revered politician from Umno was flayed for not "embracing his party's stand and claims". Embrace a claim?

The upstart who had the gall to tell his own boss off is so typical of those blinded by ambition.

Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, in my humble opinion, is the only credible person left in Umno. He is the one who has saved Umno now and then, from the red hot blushes stemming from their stupid antics and diabolical behaviour!

While the commander -in- chief has not had the gumption to face-off his equal in the opposition, here we have Saifuddin going to opposition-led Penang, and charming everyone there with nothing more than his usual dose of honesty, clarity and sincerity.

While the whole of Umno seems to be conducting themselves in unbecoming behaviour, this one healthy being sticks out like a sore thumb. I feel so sorry for you, my dear Saifuddin.

Now and then, you see some headlines in the news that just put you off reading any further. You wonder where all those stupidity came from. Then, when it's time for Saifuddin to say his piece, you reassure yourself that all is not lost with Malaysia.

In their ravings, his detractors from his own party debase the original struggle of Umno and what they once stood for. They insult and scorn what they do not understand and what they know by instinct. The Umno that we now know is instinctively corrupted to the core!

Save, for Saifuddin, of course. He is the silver lining in those clouds carried along by the wind that never bring rain; and his detractors within his own party are like trees without fruit at the end of autumn, twice dead when uprooted.

Over and beyond other truths that people discover, there is a light that is total Truth. This light can neither be dimmed nor divided. You are or you are not with the light. This light does not give knowledge directly but affects the person who acts, lives and walks in the light.

Those walking in this light walk in faith and find themselves free from obstacles. So, they are not afraid to speak the truth, the truth as it should be, like our good Saifuddin. This faith opens for us a global vision of human reality.

Those who walk in darkness

Those who walk in darkness dwell in a sectarianism that prevents them embracing others as universal brothers and sisters. The Umno we know now manifests a deep alienation for logic and truth, and of course, love for their fellow Malaysians. If they are reinventing themselves as "tuans", then what are the rest of us to them?

I, for one, thought that politicians in power, including those in Umno, are public servants. Servants, mind you, not masters. Only in Malaysia, public servants behave as if they are public masters. They expect others to pick up their tabs, launder "dirty linen", shouldering yokes that eat into their flesh, taking the best of the rakyat's harvests for themselves; the list goes on.

Medieval, no? Yet, these clowns are telling us that we are marching towards 2020, the year we become a developed nation. I could die laughing, but it's tears I shed.

Isn't a public servant elected on the premise that he is accountable to the electorate, for their progress and development?

How is it that some of our public servants consider their electorate as their "thing", to use and neglect according to their fancy? To force the way their electorate should think? That they should be "grateful"? Oh, I forgot, these public servants think themselves "tuans". Ini, mudah pelupa!

By telling the wiser Saifuddin off, is the upstart saying that we must always support the people in charge, no matter the circumstances? Even when they are accusing some really good people of doing George Soros' bidding and helping him set up a puppet regime in Malaysia?

I feel really embarrassed to have such news leaving our shores. What must others think of us? Perhaps, the tempurung might be able to shield us from the scorching scorn people from outside Malaysia can pour on us? Insane comedy!

I believe people like Saifuddin know that the truth forms free people. He also knows that we cannot blindly accept another's stand without evaluating for ourselves, according to the criterion of the larger good. It's our responsibility to think for ourselves and however much we criticise what must be criticised, it does not make us lesser Malaysians.

Umno already in a self-destructive mode

And however much Saifuddin is at odds with the present leadership of Umno, it does not make him love Umno less, or their original struggle for a better Malaysia. Even if people like Saifuddin are marginalised for their courage in upholding the truth, they wouldn't be responsible for the demise of the diseased community.

Umno is already in a self-destructive mode. It's a pity that the majority in Umno "love" blindly and sentimentally. Rather, they should love effectively, in a way that can liberate and transform their brothers and sisters from a complacency that can be debilitating.

Progressive people like Saifuddin have emerged from what some would refer to as feudalistic politics. They are aware that the Malaysian identity has evolved, developed even; situating itself within the realities of the Malaysian context.

There has been a constant effort on the part of progressive Malaysians to express what being Malaysian means in the language of our day. We should make good use of this time given to us to advance and to change for the better. Having said that, however, I don't see many progressive specimens in the powers-that-be.

In fact, I see the danger in hanging on to dimwits or half-wits that sudah lupa that we are now in the 21st century. These wrinkled prunes are not helping their brothers or sisters to face their true destiny; to realise themselves through their own efforts and to discover they are helpless if they do not, first, acknowledge their other brothers and sisters and act with them.

These dimwits and half-wits do not have the wisdom in them (or is it courage?) to tell their brothers and sisters the truth as it is. Instead they make bogeymen out of the Jews, Christians and whatnots. These dimwits and half-wits are entrenched in the power of delusion, entertaining the likes of themselves with sterile arguments and failed doctrines.

We have, in the likes of Saifuddin, progressive Malaysian leaders who act in solidarity with fellow Malaysians. They are aware that their duty is not just to govern the nation alone, but to be an advocate before the truth; to promote the truth, to encourage love among fellow Malaysians and to establish peaceful relationships. They are the leaven sorely needed for a better Malaysia.

They are not like those upstarts who mengigau to be in the company of the best of society, in pursuit of money and power till they isolate themselves from their duties to their electorate. In spite of propounding reforms, I for one, don't see the shadow of a change.

In fact, I see how, with each passing day, the powers-that-be are playing God with our lives by disregarding the conscience and the rights of the common Malaysian. It is said that the real sin is to lose hope but I don't have any more hope in the present powers-that-be. I just don't.

God bless all, especially progressive Malaysians wanting a better Malaysial.

ADS