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Of Harapan and 'unelected' leaders, dictators and hypocrites

COMMENT |  Najib Abdul Razak's recent revelation that Dr Mahathir Mohamad suggested a council of elders to dictate to the cabinet is an attempt by Mahathir to maintain power to feed his obsessive need to be in control and call the shots. This is contrary to his vow that he would not interfere in politics, or the administration once he is retired.

In fact, the opposition parties have already shortchanged democracy in spirit and practice when Anwar Ibrahim is the “unelected” de facto leader in PKR, Lim Kit Siang the “dictator” in DAP, Council of Elders in PAS and Mahathir the “unelected” chairperson of Bersatu.

The practice and current trends of the opposition seem to suggest that dictatorship, nepotism and cronyism is the political trend to come, in the event Pakatan Harapan takes over. This spells the beginning of the end of “true democracy” as PAS, Bersatu, PKR, DAP etcetera, are going by the rule of the “unelected” or by the “back door”.

In Malaysia today, we are actually in need of saving the country from “elderly politicians “ and “dictators” wannabe who are obsessive and want to retain or obtain power without going through the democratic process of the party, knowing that their time is up and their political revenge is taking a toll on them within their political parties.

In response to Dennis Ignatius, a former ambassador’s criticism of MCA’s election manifesto - firstly, I must commend Ignatius’s post. It is well-written, articulate and convincing - to the anti-BN/anti-MCA mob.

Ignatius served in the Malaysian foreign service for 36 years. That’s a very long time in the Malaysian government. Checking out his biodata, he was our ambassador in Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, and from 2001 to 2008, he was the High Commissioner for Malaysia to Canada.

That is an impressive resume.

His withering criticism of MCA’s election manifesto is actually an overarching criticism of the past government’s excesses, of their undermining of our constitution, diminishing our democracy and weakening the integrity of our national institutions.

But here’s the rub: Ignatius served the government for 36 years, and the majority of his time, if not all, was spent under Mahathir. So in truth, he’s lambasting the excesses of a regime he served under, quite comfortably I might guess.

Mahathir's record of excesses doesn’t require repeating, but I’m certain that as a practising evangelical devotee, and like all his fellow higher-spirit seeking supporters, Ignatius wants to believe that Mahathir is a changed man.

I understand that the world of politics is filled with hypocrites. I also understand that we are all victims of confirmation bias when the subject of belief is argued. In that context, Ignatius and his cohorts will want to continue to believe that all will be right when BN is no longer in power.

That the ex-BN head, Mahathir and his son, Mukhriz, current DAP head Lim Kit Siang and his son, Guan Eng, and PKR head, Anwar (yes, he's still the head) with his daughter, Nurul Izzah, will cast a spell of family holy spirit onto the nation. Writing that just reminded me how powerful these family dynasties will come to be if they ever came to power.

Finally, the current president of MCA, Liow Tiong Lai, took up his position in 2013. Liow was never tainted under the regime of Mahathir, unlike Ignatius who served under Mahathir, of whom he’s actually critical of. Whatever Liow's past presidents might or might not have done, he was never a part of it.

Liow is looking toward the future.

Why are you looking to the past, Ignatius?

Yes, vote for change. Vote to change the governments of Selangor and Penang.


TI LIAN KER is MCA's Religious Harmony Bureau chairperson and publicity spokesperson.

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

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