LETTERS | What a breath of fresh air it was to read Sangeet Karpal’s statement on Pakatan Harapan’s endorsement of BN 2.0 with Malaysia’s infamous autocrat as their “interim Prime Minister”:

“The fact that the opposition had no one else to choose to be prime minister showed the coalition’s lack of long-term strategy… Mahathir Mohamad will be PM all over again, introducing the rebirth of Mahathirism. The focus should always be on policies and principles (not personalities) and leaders must be groomed to ensure continuity. Will we be open to working with Najib one day, should desperate circumstances demand?” she asked in a statement.

Sangeet also said that Mahathir’s apology over the Internal Security Act (ISA) and other wrongdoings during his tenure as PM was done half-heartedly:

“This is not about forgiveness. This is about accountability. Persons in positions of power should be held accountable for their actions… Equally, he should be investigated too, especially since the opposition has vowed to revamp the Attorney-General’s Chambers once in power; there should be no double standards about who should be investigated.”

She pointed out that the leaders in the opposition had remained silent in the face of Mahathir’s recent hollow “apology”. Sangeet (photo) added that DAP had always been the voice against abuses of power, freedom of the press, independence of the judiciary, the sanctity of our institutions and other issues, ending her statement with:

“DAP, I can’t hear you…”

Now, how spot on is that? Does Sangeet’s statement not represent the quintessential Karpalian spirit and give us hope in human dignity? Why has the challenge to speak truth to power and to uphold the family’s dignity been taken up by some daughters and not others?

Another dignified daughter, Nurul Nuha

On 14 Sept 2016, the second daughter of Anwar Ibrahim, Nurul Nuha Anwar did precisely that – she felt she had to uphold her family’s dignity by demanding that former PM Mahathir apologise for 'trumped up' charges against her father.

Nurul Nuha, 32, said that Mahathir should own up to his accusations and other actions that led to her father’s arrest and conviction for sodomy and corruption in 1998:

“As a daughter who has witnessed the countless torments my father went through the past 18 years, my personal wish would be for Dr M to publicly apologise and admit the trumped up charges.”

She suggested that an apology from Mahathir for his past transgressions against his former deputy was a prerequisite before any alliance is formed between Bersatu and PKR.

Can you blame her for her outburst after seeing the man who had publicly called her father a sodomiser and womaniser and morally unfit to be a leader (and Mahathir’s press conference is still available on Youtube for posterity!) become the new leader of Pakatan Harapan?

The other unspoken question for Mahathir is whether he is prepared to hand over the speculative prime ministership to Anwar after the latter’s release since he had previously and publicly stated that Anwar is morally unfit to be the PM? Is Mahathir now saying that Anwar is morally fit to be PM or is he saying he was wrong when he said that Anwar was unfit to be PM?

After witnessing these interventions by Sangeet and Nurul Nuha at the critical junctures, I say: Thank goodness for daughters. They have proven that they still have their marbles while the men seem to have lost theirs.

I have been told that since her statement, Sangeet has received brickbats from the moronic cybertroopers whom I believe have been paid to post nonsense all over social media for their political masters. Just ignore them, Sangeet, like I do. These so-called cybertroopers are shameless cowards who can’t really read or write. They do not even dare to use their real names when they post such nonsense. For sure they will be despatched to the sewage heap of history.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.