It is not worth wasting time on people like zak_hammaad. We should just ignore him although allowing him the right to express his views.

We all know that the BN is shamelessly practising double standards. They should have arrested Ahmad Ismail rather than RPK. We can argue until we are blue in the face and they will still be as detestable as they have been, even more now.

We all know that the BN has to be toppled because they are leading this country to hell.

But I tend to agree with Jeffrey on the question he raised about whether Anwar is genuinely confident and really ready to topple the BN soon. If he is not really ready with or genuinely confident about the 30 or more MPs to cross over and is just playing ‘poker’ by trying to confuse or persuade a couple of the BN MPs to take the lead in the jump and hoping or calculating that this jump will be followed by a herd who do not wish to remain in a seemingly sinking ship, if all Anwar is doing is like ‘gambling’, we will just be stakes in that dangerous game and some of us like RPK will have to suffer the grave consequences of following or supporting a reckless gambler. The game can lead the whole country into chaos.

Already the market is badly affected. Of course not all is due to the uncertainty created by Anwar and 916 threats but that plan has a big part to play in dampening the market by the uncertainties that it creates and in inciting the people especially the politicians to affirm or re-assess their positions which would invariably lead to squabbles and harsh words and more confusion and uncertainties. It is a vicious cycle made worse with the uncertainties and lack of firm leadership within UMNO.

Though I agree that the BN is no longer fit to govern and ought to be replaced, the sooner the better, I feel that if Anwar is not certain or confident of or real with the 916 plan (and for this, only he and a few others would know), then we should just wait for the next GE rather than using the ordinary people as stakes in the big gamble to win the right to govern next week or the following week.

As it is now, there are so many glued to their computers, TV or radio or hanging around in coffeshops and cafes just waiting for the next big political news, neglecting all other things. This is not healthy at all and may be too high a price to pay unless Anwar and the PR are seriously confident and genuine in the 916 plan.

The longer I wait, the more I think that 916 is just a ruse, the more I think I have been deceived and the more I think, seeing the grave consequences of uncertainties and dangers in this high political game, that it may be better to stay until trhe next GE with the devil I know than the angel I don’t. Anwar and his gang may be enjoying the game and delighting in seeing the BN scurrying about like chickens without heads but they must remember that we, the ordinary Malaysians are the pawns, the stakes.

It may be better, for the sake of peace, for the PR to show us that they can govern much better than the BN in the 5 states that they now have and if they can prove themselves, then they should have no problem taking over the right to govern the whole country in the next GE rather than forcing a change in a dubious and uncertain way.

It is very confusing for me – I want the BN to go, the sooner the better, but at the same time, I think we should have a more peaceful transition than what we are going through now or what I fear we have to go through, a crackdown reminiscent of Operation Lallang.

So, YB Lim and Anwar and all those in the forefront of the game, although we are willing to take the risk and bear the consequences for the sake of a better Malaysia, please make sure that we will not be burned recklessly. And if the plan is real. please get it done and over with quickly.

zak-hammaad said this –

“Institutionalised racism to the core.

And you can thank the NEP for that! No one denies that the status quo needs to change, but it is how this change must come that will determine the smoothness or recklessness of the transition.”

I think we should not just dismiss zak_hammaad as coming from the enemy camp and therefore not to be friendly with. I may have been wrong to state earlier that zak_hammaad should just be ignored.

The question is indeed not whether the status quo has to be changed. It has to be changed for many obvious reasons and for the benefits of all, even the Malays. The issue is how we change. And that is zak_hammaad’s stand and I think we should respect the sensibility of that stand. It is no use shouting and ranting for a change without stopping to think about how to go about doing that. Oft-time, I think there are merits in the criticism levied against Obama that he is more rhetoric than real. Change is an attractive war-cry. But what and how is another thing altogether.

The fear amongst many Malays is that once PR takes over the helm of government, they will be replaced by and have to fend for themselves against the more successful non-Malays. Amongst the non-Malays, the fear is that if sufficient number of Malays have the same fear and suspicion against the non-Malays, a civil strife would erupt.

Any change therefore must be incremental and gradual. Like a serious medical problem, the healing must be gradual and be allowed to take its natural course.

That is why I feel sometimes that the PR should just for now until the next GE focus on doing a good job in the 5 states that they are now controlling than to have this ambitious plan to take over the governance of the whole country in the next few days. Already we are more and more convinced by the good job done in Perak, Selangor and Penang. I see no reason why the PR cannot take Negeri Sembilan and maybe even Johor and Pahang in the next GE.

Stay in the opposition for a while yet, form a shadow cabinet, get down to the business of providing checks and balances, curb the excesses, expose the corruption and cheating, let democracy run its natural course. That is what the PR should do now in Federal politics and not create so much uncertainty by wanting a quick take-over of the Federal Government. However, if they really are able to do so, then do so quickly. But after having taken over, I think they should call for a GE as soon as practicable to have the endorsement of and hence legitimacy from the people. I think Sivarasa of the PKR has announced that the PR will call for a GE after they have taken over the right to govern.

It will not be easy to list down one by one what you would do if you are in power. It would be better if for a while you stay in the opposite camp and state what you would have done in real issues and situations which have cropped up. What would you have done in the body snatching cases? What would you have done to people like Ahmad Ismail? What would you have done to the quota for Malays in the public universities? Do you scrap that immediately when you get into power or would it be a gradual process? What about the requirements to have a certain percentage of bumiputra contractors or sub-contractors in government or other projects?

What I am saying is that there are many things which have to be reversed. How are we to do those? I think it may be best if the PR will tell us step by step, gradually, as the real issues and situation arise. And the PR will be able to do that best when they are still in the opposition. I do not want to jump from the frying pan into the fire. I am not even sure that the DAP can work with PAS and hold together the PR. I want more proof of the permanence and the workability of the marriage between DAP and PAS.

At the same time, as I have said before, the BN government has become really, really disgusting and intolerable. We are all caught in a very unenviable position. What we all hope for is a quick solution so that we can quickly get back to business as usual and to build up this nation again. I am sure there are many like me who are mired in a deep dilemma as to what is best for the nation. It is time to stop the rhetoric and the emotional outburst and comments and to start thinking about how best to effect the changes that are so obviously needed while maintaining peace and order.

zak_hammaad, don’t thank me. I only agreed with you that there need to be changes and there are many ways to effect them, some smooth and others reckless. But I do not agree with your other views especially when you argue in favour of RPK’s arrest, saying that he has insulted Islam and that his arrest is not political. You have an impeccable command of English and therefore I think you are a smart person and I hope you understand this message and take it in a right spirit.

Assuming that RPK has insulted Islam, which I do not agree as I have read and re-read his allegedly offending articles and did not find those offending, my view is that the most important message or teaching in any religion or of God is humility. To be truly humble is to be truly great. Vice versa, to be great is to be humble. God has always ask us to be humble and to forgive in the face of criticisms and insult. I am a Christian and I speak from the Christian perspective but I think that perspective is shared by Islam. Jesus was persecuted, tortured and hanged. And his last words about his persecutors were, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing”. I believe your God also asks you to be humble and to be forgiving. Would you say that He would be angry or take offence when insulted and ask or allow you or His believers to arrest or punish the person who allegedly insulted Him? Would you make Him lesser than His teaching?

I believe in the Greatness of your God. I believe in the Great Mercy of your God. I believe He wants you also to be humble so as to be great, to forgive so as to be merciful. I don’t think a Great Wise Merciful God would sanction the incarceration and punishment of anyone who may seem to have insulted Him. Being merciful, He would say “Forgive him for he does not know what he is saying” and He would find ways to bring that offender back to Him in His own Merciful way for I think the greatest happiness for God would be the salvation of a soul, for another “sinner” to have come back to Him.

We mortals have no right to pass a religious judgment on another for we are all sinners in our own ways, sins being just a matter of degree, and while we can try to convince, persuade and cajol a fellow brother to go back to the ways of God, all matters of religion should be left to God and that man. I do not think that God is so helpless that He requires mortals to protect Him and His teachings. Because He is God and we mere mortals, He will protect us and preserve His teachings forever and ever. We mortals would be most offensive to Him if we start to play God.

Understood? This is only a personal opinion and should not be taken to be an insult to you or your God. I respect Islam and your right to believe in Islam. Let that be very clear. Having said that, I think most right thinking Malaysians have no problems with the true teachings of Islam which is one of the greatest and perhaps the most popular religion of the world. Only some God-playing mortals have put Islam in a bad light and that is not only truly regrettable and definitely painful to God but has the even more regrettable effect or result of making many shy away from Islam. Would not that be more offensive and insulting to your God?

My view is that RPK has been arrested for a political reason for he is one of the greatest factor in the sinking of UMNO but a religious reason was put forth as an aberration to hide the real reason and to appease or to hookwink the Malay Muslims or to provide a more noble justification to incarcerate him. This is cowardice at its best.

I think the greatest mistake of the UMNO mad leaders is that they think we Malaysians, Malays or not, are stupid. They think they can lie to all or most of the people all the time and still be victorious. They think the the country belongs to them. They think that they can get away with any atrocities. They think that they and only they are capable of managing this country.

zak_hammaad, you and I know it is time we stop these bandits from further sending us and our country to hell. I truly hope and pray that your God will touch you so that you will be humbled to acknowledge the Truth and condemn, reject and eject the totally corrupted ones for the sake of our common destiny.