Whether it is Anwar Ibrahim, Kak Wan, Nurul, Azmin, Tony Pua, Tian Chua, Rafizi Ramli, Kak Zu or any one else in PKR, I want them to understand that our support, commitment to and tolerance of PKR is not unconditional. It has been sorely tried and tested in the past and I have no doubt that it will be tested again and again in the future for reasons best known to themselves. There are many of you out there that genuinely believes that Anwar Ibrahim and PKR can do no wrong, has done no wrong and cannot do any wrong. Then there are some among us who accepts that to err is human and among humans, politicians are the most fallible of us all and because it is so you will accept PKR, warts and all, and come the next general election, you will give your votes to PKR. To them I say "to each his own...and may you be rewarded in "political heaven" in what ever way is deemed desirable by those within PKR whom you elected to public office.
And then there are people like me.
Our support, commitment to and tolerance of any leader, of any political entity and to any political ideals and ideologies are conditional to the conventional wisdom of what is right and what is wrong. It is based on what is fair and justifiable in the conduct of public office, tempered with grace and respect for the rights and freedom of the individual in a democratic society that we aspired to. In other words we judge our leaders, whether within the government or opposition, by the same standards we expect to hold ourselves to..... if we should ever have the privilege to hold public office.
In my writing I try to hold myself to the same standards as I will hold our leaders and my peers too.
There will be times when we agree to disagree....but most time we should be able to agree to agree because if we do not do that too often, then how are we to respect each other for what we do. And what we do is to write about what is happening about and in our beloved country and have enough credibility so that some of you will read what we write to make our blogging be worth our while.
Having said all that I sometimes throw all "righteous stuff that bloggers should hold themselves to when writing" out through the window because the end justifies the means (a maxim Mahathir used much too often to justify many of the things he does during his 22 years in office!).
One of those times have been when Rafizi's Whatsapp chatter on the chat group “Solidarity for Anwar” claiming incidences of graft in the PKR-led Selangor state government became pubic knowledge. In it Rafizi said he had received credible information from “bonafide person that apart from money, now there are also requests for women when dealing with the state government”
Rafizi Ramli, of all person, should know how invaluable inside information about the many dirty deeds of this Umno led BN government have been to him in his efforts to discredit their leaders. Umno, all the component entities within BN and this BN government is leaking like a sieve...and thank God for that!
But as thankful, as and we, are for these leaks, I personally think that most times these "leaks" comes from insiders who have questionable motives...whether it is disgruntled insiders with personal and vested interests within BN and government who leak these information for their own advantage - personal or financial.
Rarely do these leaks come from principled individuals who only have the interest of the public and our nation at heart.
I would caution Rafizi....and I say caution in the most respectful of way possible....I would caution Rafizi to think carefully before he makes public any other allegations that could and would harm PKR. What he did by putting onto the public domain that there were "also requests for women when dealing with the state government” etc etc...is akin to what he Malays say "luduh ka langit" because of its potential to harm PKR and by default the opposition.
That is why I have refrained from commenting about that until now.
If PKR, if the opposition and all those opposed to the corrupt and arrogant Umno led BN government are to have any hope of change come the next general election, we need to stand together against these Umno led Barbarians who are already breaching the gates that protects the 51% of the electorates that had already given the popular mandate for the opposition to form government in the last general election....a mandate hijacked legally by Umno so that they could pillage and plunder our nation for another five years.
Observe what those within Umno have done since that last general election.
While their leaders continue to pillage and plunder what is still left in our country's coffers, these Umno leaders have also presented a united front to all and sundries that have comes against them....even if those that are coming against them are their very own - led by Mahathir and Mahyuddin.
Take that most despicable of Umno's "berani mati" frontman - Nazri Aziz. Have you once heard Nazri say anything bad about those who chose to stay "loyal and committed" to Umno? He will hantam Mahathir and Mahyuddin but not Ahmad Maslan, Najib or Rosmah. He is willing to get into a fist fight with all comers if they are intent upon destroying Umno. This is commendable if you have Umno's interests at heart...and if you are rewarded for that, then so be it for that is the way of Umno.
These are lessons that we too should learn - especially when we are not yet strong enough to withstand enemies with big armies and deep pockets...and they do not come any bigger than Umno!
Rafizi said “I feel we are on a slippery road. I prefer to err on the side of caution as I have always maintained that as a reform party, we must be whiter than white,”Agree brother...but let the cleaning be done inside the laundry and preferably, inside the washing machine, not outside it.
No sense in regretting that a private conversation has been made public and that the state of Selangor and PKR have been malign.
Many of us only make known to others what we want them to know....and invariably what is made known to others always puts us in a better light then we deserve...that's the way of the world.
Yes be clever Rafizi, but more important, be smart! You of all people should know that anything put onto the public domain in whatever form, becomes public in direct proportion to your desire to not make it public!
We know that money and women are being asked for in the cut and thrust of doing politics and business in Selangor.
We know that Najib was going after Anwar to neutralise him politically but Mahathir and Najib would not have been able to do anything to neutralise Anwar if Anwar himself had not given them reason to do so.
We know about the problems within PKR now. We know about the factions, the back stabbing and the goings on within PKR that has driven a wedge between leaders within PKR...but need I to write about it all for the world to know?
Watch here what happens to the then UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown when what he said privately was put into the public domain...it went viral and it all came back to haunt him until he had to apologized for saying something that was essentially correct!
What do we want out of the opposition?
We want the opposition to take over government in the next general election. I do not have to tell you Rafizi that you are not yet in government. ....and until you and your peers are in government you must all stand united so that we too, who wants to vote in DAP, PAS and PKR and AMANAH into government, can stand united and vote as one.
And once you are in government, do not worry too much about corruption and arrogance for we the people will be there to make sure that as little of it as is possible will be done by the government of the day.
One last word of advice for Rafizi.....when "information" about these kind of things gets to you (as we know it invariably will)...do not get too excited and go public with it. Bring it up at the Biro Politic meetings that you guys in PKR have from time to time specifically to address these kind of issues. Do not absent yourself for these meetings and later have late night rendezvous with your kakis to discuss same.....that is neither clever or smart.
Now let us all close ranks and once again..."Onward to Putrajaya!"
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