YOURSAY 'It is one thing to forgive a person for a wrongdoing, it is another to forgive a wrong done. The wrong that is done is not just to a person, but to the public.'

I'm ready to forgive, says Anwar in Mumbai

your say Milosevic: Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim has a big heart, and he is following Christ's fundamental dictum of forgiveness as a sublime act.

However, it is one thing to forgive a person for a wrongdoing, it is another to forgive a wrong done. The wrong done that is not just to one person but to the public's sensibility and legality.

It is not for Anwar to forgive a violation of legality. I can forgive a murderer for killing a loved one, but I cannot forgive the act of murder. Wrongdoing against institutional procedures and laws must be owned up to or investigated, and dealt with appropriately.

If you choose not to continue with the cycle of recrimination, it is sometimes necessary to take a forgiving stance, but in this case the wrongdoer must admit to his or her crimes. This is the basis of truth and reconciliation committees.

Punishments can be lessened or even put aside if people own up to their failings and crimes, but to turn the other cheek to wrongdoing will weaken public morality and the legal system.

JS: All talk, mere rhetoric. That's what Anwar has been dishing out since becoming the opposition leader. This is another of his overseas trips which brings no direct benefit to the people or the country, just to boost his already oversized ego.

Can anyone tell me what significant issues that he has raised in Parliament or in Selangor as the state's economic adviser? DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang was a very much more effective opposition leader.

What other talent does this man have other than his oratorical skills and his ability to hoodwink the masses. Remember the Sept 16, 2008 debacle, probably the biggest hoax in the nation's history.

Remember the 1994 Sabah state elections, who engineered the PBS crossover and denied the people the government of their choice?

People seem to forget the misdeeds he has done in the past and look to him as a messiah to bring us out of the clutches of the evil BN. Is there such a dearth of talent that we have to look to a person with so much baggage and with a tainted past for leadership?

Ashoka PJ: DSAI (Anwar), at one time, you had warned that temple bells will never ring again in Penang. Shortly later, you were sacked and then that began more than a decade of suffering for you.

You are now a changed man. And who stood by you? Malaysians of every race, creed and religion. Even your lawyers were largely Indian. When you are PM, please be just to everyone.

Anonymous: I will take all the old corrupt BN leaders to court and put them in jail. Anwar, you may get more votes if you promise that you will take action against all the past corrupt leaders of the BN.

Tired: But would justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah ready to forgive? Anwar owes him an apology. Why? Below is Anwar's statement attacking the judge during the trial.

"I say it because as I've stated earlier, the court's integrity has been completely compromised and bears all the classic symptoms of a show trial where the script has been effectively written and the outcome a foregone conclusion.

"I say it because as a presiding judge you have demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt your complete lack of impartiality. I say it because you have consistently refused to recuse yourself even in the face of mounting evidence of your bias against me.

"I say it too because you have persistently turned a blind eye to the gross violations of protocol and procedure committed by the prosecution while at the same remaining impervious to my protestations about these blatant irregularities that would have without more alerted any impartial judge as to the malice and bad faith of the prosecution."

Chill: That's the spirit we should all have. Ready to forgive those who have spread malicious lies about us. There will always be good and bad in this world but we must never forget that we reap what we sow.

There is an age old adage: Don't nurse it, don't curse it, don't rehearse it, give it all back to God and He will reverse it.

Anonymous_3f68: Mahatma Gandhi stood for everything that was good for humanity for which we have countless people from all walks of life emulating his principles. Anwar is another great leader in the making.

Forget about his past skeletons, he will be a premier leader in Asia in this century and will be remembered as the most outstanding leader in the whole world and that day is not far off.

Arbeena: Anwar for PM? Not yet.

David Dass: This is a good statement from Anwar. Let the past remain in the past. And let us move on. Too much energy and time has been wasted.

The press of the world had been focused on the trial in a way not really appreciated by us. Leaders of all nations were focused on the trial. Many people throughout the world were focused on the trial.

Malaysians have been educated on the legal process through the sodomy trials, Teoh Beng Hock inquest and the royal commission and the Lingam royal commission.

As a nation we are in a better place because of the difficulties we have gone through. These have been tumultuous years. We must consider that there could be worse times ahead.

The dark clouds of global recession are gathering. The population of the world is growing beyond the capacity of the world to support. We must prepare.

 

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