COMMENT The price of living a long life is the discovery that it is circular, not linear.

News of the revolt yesterday by an Umno faction against Kedah Menteri Besar Mukhriz Mahathir and the counter demonstration his supporters staged triggered memories of the controversy over the Harun Idris affair of four decades ago.

The recall of antecedents is a useful exercise not only for what it tells of parallels between what occurred in the past and what is presently taking place, but also for the striking contrasts and, more so, the bitter ironies.

Historical repetition is not always what Karl Marx declared it to be: tragic at first instance, farcical in the repeat.