Take me to your leader!

Friday, September 19, 2008; 10:26:51 AM

 

The horror of events unfolding is that there really is no one leading events here. Think of it. Anwar has been threatening to take over the government on the 16th of Sept, and to all accounts it has been said by the Government and impartial commentators, with conviction levels above “syak” that it was virtually impossible to get that magic 31 number of defections. And what if he did? DSAI would just have a bunch of inexperienced administrators taking over the Cabinet and leaving the whole country unstable while trying to keep the economy on an even keel in the wake of an unfolding economic crisis globally, emanating from the US financial meltdown – most of which commentators assume to be only the beginning of a painful consolidation phase likely to grind the world’s largest economy to a slowdown. Bearing in mind the occasion, if DSAI wants to take over the economy and demonstrate its incompetence now, what’s the issue? Cant AAB even convince his backbenchers that there’s no point defecting? Cant he look at this issue from a national perspective? Cant he deal with the Anwar problem without resorting to ISA on bloggers, and bit-part politicians – hey come on Theresa Kok can talk about local authority issues and all that – but to discuss national issues now she needs to step up the plate in a big way – and potential ISA on Anwar would bring about social unrest too in addition to his, our political and economic issues! As if he hasn’t enough on his plate as to invite further irreversible repercussions.

 

DSAI should stop this “buat gempaq”. Just damn bloody focus on keeping the Pakatan Rakyat to be a suitable governance alternative. Stop appearing to be a tong kosong, and why risk taking over and then demonstating there really is nothing in the tank. Leave a legacy, not just a historical footnote as the 6th PM but 1st coming from outside BN. What use is it if it’s not sustainable, and having a wak minority government where decisions could be painful. In times of economic crisis, you would want a strong Cabinet – where is it going to come from in the PR ranks? Where are the people you would want to incorporate to present to Malaysia a better model for unity amidst diversity? Where are the major reform areas that requires such an excessive change to take place? If these issues are not addresses, then the only thing we can see is greater polarization instead. Do we then, in our haste to get small victories, lose out in the medium term before we can adjust towards the long-term benefits of greater justice, openness, transparency and meritocracy?

 

The inclusion of TDM into the fray clouds the issue further. Malaysia is well and truly done for.