Remember....... Conceit is self-given. Be careful.

Often I wonder what Najib is going to do. There are many issues that threaten UMNO’s already fragile hold on power. Too many to prioritize. Too many battles to be fought on too many fronts. Most of them of their own making. The possibility that UMNO will lose this next General Election is no longer talked about as a ‘maybe’ but now borders on the edge of a reality.

For Pakatan Rakyat the election is there for them to lose! Najib is aware that amongst the spoils of victory is the privilege of deciding what should be done to the abuser of power, real or perceived, by those who came before you. A reality not lost on Mahathir who has been working tirelessly since he stepped down as Prime Minister to ensure that history will be kind to him – at least in his lifetime. If it is of any comfort to Mahathir, a victory for Pakatan Rakyat will allow him to cease working tirelessly and just wait for the inevitable. What that will be is for the government of the day to decide!  

Najib cannot understand that those who are harmed, tortured mentally and physically by the Police under the ISA do not disappear behind the four walls of the prison that holds them. Each day that they are wrongfully imprisoned only increase support for the opposition. Each day that they are away from their loved ones these ISA innocents become a symbol of Barisan Nasional failure to understand that compassion is demanded by the people from those that governed them. And when the time comes for retribution it is BN that will feel the brunt of a people bent on making them understand that for each action that they take there will be a price to pay, if by that action, they do harm to other’s.

Do not for a moment think that you advance UMNO’s cause by crushing others. Give Din to his Special Branch officers and in one hour they will have him confess to financing RPK’s stay in London. What is possible for your government to do to others is also possible for others to do to you…. if not in your life time then it will be done in the life time of your children or your children’s children. And they will bear the shame for your deeds.

Our people need to be told about the reality of what UMNO represent. There has to be a change in our national consciousness. The people of this country need to know that UMNO is not worthy of our trust. Not just the corruption, the greed and the abuse of Government Ministries for personal gain but more worrying the duplicity of Barisan Nasional and the wholesale use of every means within their control for the acquisition of material wealth and to pursue their urgent need to hold on to political power for their own gain.

We had hoped that the evolution of Pakatan Rakyat into a credible opposition would put pressure on UMNO to focus on bettering the condition of the Malays in particular and of the people of Malaysia in general. This has not happened.

The Malays have now to rethink their loyalties. UMNO has been dismissive of this possibility. Just as they have been dismissive of recognizing the shared destiny of all the people of this country. We understand the threat that UMNO presents to our very existence and we now know how to confront this threat and will act accordingly. But it is not Pakatan Rakyat that will ensure BN’s demise. We the people will!

Barisan Nasional is a government in disarray. They no longer know that the purpose of government is to take care of its people.

UMNO is clutching at straws. In that dire situation it is easy to lose perspective. To mistake Perkasa and Mahathir as UMNO’s savior. To think that Sodomy Two is a quick fix solution to neutralize Anwar Ibrahim. To think that arresting Liong Sik  will buy them time over PKFZ. The business of actually punishing this TUN for his misdeeds can be dismissed later if BN wins the general election. If they lose it would not have mattered either way.

They come up with audacious issues – anything that they think could shift public’s opinion against Pakatan Rakyat. Getting their media to come up with “Nama Guan Eng ganti Agong” is a case in point….just wishful thinking but they are so caught up with their own isolation that somehow to UMNO that headline is plausible and will be believed by the Malays – at least the Malays in UMNO.

Just as the Pakistan Inter Services Intelligence Directorate created the Taliban – the same Taliban that now threatens to overrun Islamabad-UMNO has created enough demons within their world to torment others. It would do them well to remember that these demons that UMNO has embrace to do their evil work can also cause their demise. We are watching the changing of the guard within PDRM with interest. How do you keep this demon of an IGP within you once he is without? It seems that this Din does not know what to do and we know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over!

The end is near. Methinks that UMNO takes Frank Sinatra’s word too literally of themselves:

And now the end is near And so I face the final curtain, I’ll state my case of which I’m certain. I’ve lived a life that’s full, I traveled each and ev’ry highway, And more, much more than this. I did it my way

Well for Najib and Mahathir this is what I have to say. You life so far is not a Frank Sinatra’s song…as much as you would like to think it is so in your private moments when you hum that song to yourself! Remember this:

Talent is God given. Be humble.  

                Fame is man-given. Be grateful.                  

Conceit is self-given. Be careful.

John Wooden