Zaid Ibrahim, so who’s going to bell the cat?
YOURSAY ‘Dr M may win his battle, but the war belongs to us. To Malaysia.’
Zaid Ibrahim, do you believe in elves?
Swipenter: What Bolehland lacks so badly is effective leadership. And a clean and fearless leader who is not afraid to crack the whip to get things done.
Najib Abdul Razak is the opposite of that. Mahathir Mohamad can be a effective leader but he is far from being clean and not known to put the nation's interests first before Umno, his family and cronies. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Ku Li) represents the past and is not tested widely.
There is no one suitable in Umno. God forbids a combination of Muhyiddin Yassin and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to lead Umno and Bolehland. It’s best to let Najib continue until the 14th general election (GE14) and be responsible for the downfall of Umno-BN.
Maybe Zaid Ibrahim himself can re-emerge as PM of Malaysia come GE14. To me, that is not a completely bad idea.
SusahKes: In our haste to see improvements sans Najib in Putrajaya, we are all too eager to join hands with the one man who, more than any other, is responsible for the state of affairs in Malaysia.
We naively assume that, just because he has started to speak out on issues that the rest of us have been hollering all along, Mahathir is all of a sudden, our Martin Luther King Jr or Mahatma Gandhi, to lead us into the dawn of a new era.
No sir, there's just too many of national shenanigans associated with the name of Mahathir; we should not allow him to drive the agenda for premiership or the future of the country.
If, by virtue of his unassailable position within Umno, he is able to rock Najib and company right to their very core, that's Umno's problems. And we're only too happy that Mahathir works towards compounding Umno's own troubles.
Mahathir may win his battle come the end of the day, but the war belongs to us. To Malaysia. Whosoever he drives to replace Najib, and if he succeeds, we must continue to show our displeasure to Umno.
Abasir: This piece and the earlier one by Josh Hong will serve as handy references when ‘Ayahanda's’ epitaph has to be written.
Zaid's enthusiasm for change perhaps coloured his usually clear thoughts when he wrote that "Mahathir wants better and more accountable leaders..."
Mahathir wants nothing like that. He never did - a point borne by the fact that he has never held himself accountable for any of our current woes.
All he did was to cater to the average Malays' fascination with tinsel and grandeur - great, tall buildings which he quickly filled with moral and intellectual pygmies. He hollowed out all institutions, built beautiful facades which created the ‘wayang kulit’ illusion of development - all form sans substance.
But since Malaysians (driven by their collective disgust with the high-living low life represented by the diabolical duo) seem to forget his grievous transgressions, it is possible the country's periodic amnesia will enable a return to the 'good ol' days'.
Sirach: The description of Mahathir and his legacy is accurate. This is a man who thinks he can do no wrong and that only he knows what's best for the country.
The state of the nation today with its endemic corruption, lack of accountability and transparency in the leadership, and the lamentable state of public institutions (for example, the civil service, police and education) is a product of Mahathir's long tenure in office.
The blame falls squarely on him. To be sure, in his dogged pursuit of truth in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, everyone is behind him. But it should not be forgotten that it was MPs Tony Pua and Rafizi Ramli who sounded the alarm much earlier.
CQ Muar: We agree over what the old man did in the past, and also about his scheming mind, design and incorrigible present; which will bring us back to the question of ‘who will be belling the cat’ henceforth, and who warrants the position as a suitable candidate to assume the premier's post?
What are the prospects of skirting around the ‘current crop’ of incompetent leaders in the line-up in order to scout for someone ‘outside the box’ who can be considered as the ideal person to helm the country? If so, how and who?
Anticonmen: When there is rampant election-cheating machinery in place, how is the rakyat to put the best man to be in charge of our resources and country? How can personal gratitude and monopolistic cults determine a leader for all in a multi-racial democracy?
What system is this? A hijacked democracy or dictatorship by party is a sure recipe for disaster because the best man is unable to be elected.
Old Timer: You can’t change a leopard's spots. No one believes Dr M has become kinder, less racialist, less vindictive and less tolerant of the opposition. Analyse the poison he writes in social media or speaks in public. Venomous as ever.
Zeitgeist: It has been said that the doctor believes that there are no permanent enemies or friends in politics, only permanent interests. So he will squirm, twist and trade to get his long-term interests and that is nepotism, fascism, supremacism.
Headhunter: Well said. Never trust the old manipulative willy fox. He's first of all for himself and then Umno. For the rest of us, we're peasants good only to be exploited to benefit a few like him, his family and cronies.
He will not choose Ku Li. Muhyiddin would be his choice because the man can be twisted round his fingers.
Prudent: Mahathir himself said that he had chosen the wrong persons in the past to succeed him - two PMs and two deputy PMs. He should not be allowed to choose the next PM as it will very likely be the wrong choice again.
Cascara: So the best option for the nation would be to hope for Najib to triumph over Mahathir and for Umno to inevitably fall in the next GE?
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