Indefatigable P. Patto had great spirit and even greater generosity.

He left the teaching profession in the early 1970s, joined the DAP and never looked back. During his short life, he also dealt with successes and failures. Throughout it all, he remained undaunted and steadfast.

If I may, here is a poem from Rudyard Kipling, “If.”

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream — and not make dreams your master;
If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings — nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run —
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And — which is more — you’ll be a Man, my son!

Viewed in whichever way, Patto was a Man. He was a true true son of Malaysia. Betul-betul anak Malaysia tulen …

pulau_sibu Says:

Today at 01: 08.42 (6 hours ago)
Gerakan joining Pakatan? If so, the seat assignment in Penang could be quite difficult, as you were once enemies to each other. The new enemy could be MCA, if MCA decided not to pull out. If MCA pulls out, that is the end of BN. The sole enemy will be racist UM-NO

XXXXX XXXXX

The Gerakan will be in the doldrums. The present leaders have lost the plot and that is why they lost the lot. Imagine being returned with only 2 MPs and 4 ADUNs.

Penang has proved to be the womb and tomb of the Gerakan.

Gerakan in the first 21 years did something for Penang. The last 18 years under Koh Tsu Koon was an apology for this once proud multi-racial party. It paid the price of trhe Umno embrace and was reduced into a party fielding only Chinese candidates.

Now we will see the Gerakan riding into the sunset.