Them versus us


Mustafa Sharif
The Malaysian Insider
May 14, 2011

MAY 14 — There has been too much focus on Anwar Ibrahim’s fitness to lead the country; whether Raja Petra Kamaruddin has sold out his ideals for ringgit Malaysia; and what exactly Zaid Ibrahim stands for.

All this is just a distraction from a couple of questions at hand, which are: do Malaysians have to depend on others to transform and save this country? And who exactly is the adversary?

The simple answer is that you and I have to step out of our comfort zones, galvanise family and friends and make a difference at the ballot box.

This is about us versus them. I define us as ordinary Malaysians who have had enough of corruption, abuses of power, intimidation, religious persecution, mediocrity, divide and rule, the discredit of the judiciary, police and other institutions, the blatant flaunting of wealth and power by incumbents, and the incompetence and spineless national media.

I define them as individuals or groups of individuals who want to preserve this state of affairs and the status quo because it enriches them and keeps them in a position of power and privilege. They included government politicians, senior officials of the Election Commission, police force, certain judges, senior editors of the newspapers and television stations, Umno, MACC and crony businessmen.

So when people talk about change and cleaning up the system, this is the “establishment” which we have to confront and defeat. At first glance, this may be insurmountable but as the experience of Egypt and Tunisia shows nothing is impossible and no tyrant strong enough to withstand the will of the people.

It is the same with us. Change will only happen when we decide to take charge of our own destiny. Until that time, we will have to suffer at the hands of people who are morally inferior to us and less capable of leading us.

Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) believe that they have Anwar Ibrahim on the ropes with the sex video. They also believe that they have neutralised whatever little threat Raja Petra Kamaruddin and Zaid Ibrahim posed.

In their calculation, with Pakatan Rakyat weakened and the Opposition movement short of personalities, the rakyat will get disillusioned and return to BN or simply abstain from voting.

They don’t believe for a moment that we will still push for a coalition system or work doubly hard to deny evil their two-thirds majority.

But we must, not because we think that Anwar and his family have been treated unjustly but because if even without two-thirds majority, Umno and its supporters (Utusan Malaysia, MACC, Khalid Abu Bakar, EC, et al) can behave in such an insufferable manner, what will happen to all of us when they command two-thirds majority in Malaysia?

This is a question which keeps me awake at night and persuades me that Malaysians can only be saved by us, ordinary tax-paying Malaysians like you and me.

It’s us versus them and what is at stake is great.

  1. #1 by good coolie on Saturday, 14 May 2011 - 11:08 pm

    We must get rid of this weakness in us: I mean our awe of leaders – their wealth and power, the outriders and sirens. We get bubbly and get teary eyed when these big shots shake our miserable hands and eat thosais and chapatis with us. We rush for the camera to capture the moment and we do not forget to vote for them come elections.
    Some of these fellows are lechers, almost all are corrupt and have become rich and powerful by dipping their hands into the till. Why not we give other leaders a chance; maybe they can change Malaysia for the good?

  2. #2 by tak tahan on Saturday, 14 May 2011 - 11:35 pm

    Bravo!Bravo!Focus!Focus!We versus them-PRIORITY.

  3. #3 by pulau_sibu on Saturday, 14 May 2011 - 11:51 pm

    Now I started to ask myself, if former UMNO members are trustable or not? For all those who jumped from PKR to UMNO, most of them are former UMNO members. If I put this in a bigger photo, I would ask if Malay is really a trustable race or not. I afraid they are not. Worse than that, many are corrupted for money, jumping for wealth. Unfortunate that we have to put down such a mark on your forehead. If you disagree, you those who jumped back and forth have to prove yourself to us.

  4. #4 by raven77 on Sunday, 15 May 2011 - 1:14 am

    Ballot box…? You mean that box stuffed with pseudo Malaysian votes, dead citizens, 200 year old geriatrics and double postal votes…..

    The game has moved beyond the ballot box…..UMNO is pushing for violence….hoping someone will take the bait…..they blatantly cheat at elections using every resource, bending and breaking every regulation…

    Nations that fail are nations that descend to this level…..and the nations that save themselves are those nations where their citizens stand their ground instead of running away…Eg…Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Libya…..

    Malaysians have not really felt pain except perhaps during the communist era…..an Egyptian solution by Malaysians to save Malaysia is remote to say the least….

    This country is going down…and the world will just watch with the rest of Malaysia

  5. #5 by monsterball on Sunday, 15 May 2011 - 1:30 am

    We are talking about US vs THEM for months and the leader of the THEM decides then that will happen.
    The longer he delays…shows he is afraid of US.
    RPK….and he likes of him….for US or THEM..no eye see..not important at all.
    Important now is MU won the League Championship Cup for the 19th time..surpassing Liverpool by one….ad Giggs got his 12th championship medal….and next week against Barsalona for the European Championship Cup.
    MU manager heading for Lordship.
    Good night.

  6. #6 by limkamput on Sunday, 15 May 2011 - 8:29 am

    Then the next question we all have to ask ourselves is: are we worthy people. So many of us are plain ignorant. We are poor and unaware and we simply do not have the time and energy to follow what is going on in the country. We work 14 to 16 hours a day, hardly read anything and therefore are in total oblivion of what is going on. They don’t even have time to ponder why working so hard still can’t get them anywhere.

    Then we have the smug, who think they can live independent of the political system. They are only interested in their own palatial homes, the food, the facial and reflexology, the pubs, the message parlours and 4-D. Filthy environment, dirty eateries, flood, traffic jam, clogged drains, uncollected rubbish, poor public transport, smelly water, intermittent power disruption, bureaucratic delay and corruption, inefficient police and local authorities, moronic education system and religious bigotry can all be tolerated so long as they still can have their “hokkien mee”.

    Then we have the despicable, the greedy and the spineless. They will cling on to the scum; it does not matter they have contributed to the continued erosion of good living all Malaysians deserved. They hold positions not to contribute, but to prevent others from contributing. They will not hesitate to sell everything for a penny more, as those despicable Perak state assemblymen/woman demonstrated or as the DAP member who made the police report on the recent Christian fellowship meeting or that RPK who got his two minute fame in national tv or a couple of million in his bank account.

    Yes, I don’t think we are tenacious people worthy to be taken seriously. That is why 28 million Malaysians are unable to match a few hundred thousand corrupted politicians, civil servants and their cronies. Think about it, giving rice import monopoly to Bernas benefits only the cronies. Free the import, the price of rice will come down and the quality goes up. There is no need for government to give subsidies. The subsidies are for the cronies. But can the people see? Of course the corrupted leaders will tell you it is for national food security. So also are sugar, cars, steel, plastics, whatever you can think of. Yes, it is us versus them, but the us is disorganised, ignorant, greedy, selfish, poor and destitute (you choose).

  7. #7 by wanderer on Sunday, 15 May 2011 - 10:25 am

    Will there be enough of spineless individuals wanting change joining the fold…getting rid of these barbaric, corrupted scums from the ruling administration?
    Sad but it is true, Malaysians gives materialistic gains in favor of national interests…the kampong folks and the ignorant are the first hurdle to cross…boleh dak?

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