On March 15, while he was in Kuala Lipis, Pahang, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad finally came out with a way to blame the opposition parties of the Alternative Front for the Kampung Medan clashes. He reportedly said:

"The opposition seems to be targeting the poor in that area and has poisoned them into believing the government had neglected them. Based on this, I believe such clashes are linked to the opposition."

Say what? If the poor in the area really were 'poisoned' by the opposition, wouldn't the logical thing for them to do is come together to press their case with the government instead of taking it out on each other, and, tragically, causing deaths and injuries to themselves?

If Mahathir's reasoning made any sense, what should have happened was that the poor Indians and Malays uniting to take on the rich.

And how did the opposition parties contribute to the clashes when they were not race-based? This includes even PAS. While its religion-based politics is certainly not unproblematic, that is beside the point here, because where was it shown and reported that the Petaling Selatan clashes were based on religious differences?

As for Keadilan, ever since its inception, it has eschewed race-based politics unlike the major parties of Barisan Nasional. Remember, Keadilan refused to engage in Umno's initiative of a Malay-unity talk, but instead called for a Malaysian-unity talk which Umno rejected?

In politics, we expect any political party to find a way to blame the opposition on just about anything negative. It comes with the territory. But we also expect some modicum of sound logic or reasoning from the party - especially its leaders - in making the case.

And if that is missing, how can we accept it without losing our self-respect?