Wednesday, September 03, 2008; 10:26:57
Akram has thought things through in his recent piece about DSAI planning to jump ship to UMNO. Seeing as it were about my mistaken prognosis taken from the comfort of 300km away from the heat of the battle of Permatang Pauh, where the majority was reducing until KJ’s ‘act of sabotage’ as AAB would have put it had he been informed of it by another party willing to do so, I am more inclined to believe the perspectives put forth by an UMNO footsoldier more familiar with the ground terrain on the ground. I have had previous experiences as well in carrying out campaigns on the grounds even going to the extent of giving speeches to the ‘ceramah kelompok’ and rousing and stoking the flames of rebellion close to 10 years ago – inciting reasons to push TDM aside, although I had hoped that even in those frenzied times, I mustered enough calmness then not to have said things I would have regretted now.
TDM had his flaws, but his strengths in administration and policy-making far outweighed these faults – particularly on not able to stomach talented deputies (over)eager to consolidate their own power bases. Tun Musa learnt and felt penitent and Malaysia as a whole remained as it were, but as for DSAI, this is a street-fighter with finely honed and stage-managed intellectual credentials who will fight tooth-and-nail to protect his rights. Don’t get me wrong that I’m denigrating DSAI here cos I absolutely admire his fighting spirit and his famed charisma and charm over ordinary people. In other societies and communities, these three leaders would probably be celebrated and asked to lead their followership to the promised land, or wherever it is they want us to go, and everyone will knuckle down and move. When you are in a small area and you have three lions, they will knock the living daylights and then some out of each other and the victor will take the stage. Except that in this case, the followership is so disgusted, disillusioned and apathetic to this show, as the joke sms goes, they would pretty like the idea of chucking all of these people out of the chopper in the sky and make everybody happy.
That sums up my feeling now.
What happens next? It’s very uncertain – DSAI is pretty much hell-bent on becoming PM, DAP is riding on his coattails, PAS is being left behind, UMNO doesn’t know the ground is breaking underneath their feet, let alone be able to take action, and therefore pulling BN down with them. What’s left is DSAI’s power play as others don’t seem to be able to manipulate the strings as expertly as he has done and the only person capable of standing up to DSAI is left unwanted and deserted by UMNO. If TDM enters the fray, conditionally on AAB exiting himself before 2010 of course, things will be even more chaotic, but at least UMNO would have an even chance of correcting itself under his firm leadership.
DSNR? He has failed himself and the nation by declining the opportunity to take the risk and show he is with the people’s wishes in pushing aside the incumbent PM. Loyalty is not a factor here. There are ways where this could have been done discreetly had he wanted to.
So in the meantime? Slow growth, low FDI, Malaysia continues to plod along. I think I echo Akram’s call – Pak Lah – it’s time to go. You have had your chance, you have done your best, but for the sake of the nation, we need someone of higher caliber.
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