Choosing sides — Sakmongkol AK47

Choosing sides — Sakmongkol AK47

September 03, 2012

Malaysian Insider--Side Views

SEPT 3 —Malaysians will indeed have to choose. Stand on the side of the oppressors or the oppressed. Support the deceiver or the deceived. Support the corrupt and endorse the looting and the pillage of this country. All done in the name of Agama, Bangsa dan Negara. Everything is justifiable because the perpetrators are Malays and forgetting the victims are in the majority also Malays. Pardon the government in shortchanging the FELDA settlers, giving them a measly 2.5 per cent of the FGVH shares while the bulk of the shares are hijacked by people who have no connection at all with FELDA. Pardon Umno because even though it allocates 2.5 per cent to settlers and 3 per cent to FELDA employees, all is done in the name of the Malays.

Ignore the fact that the LCCT is going to cost close to RM6 billion instead of RM500 million if facilities for a low-cost airline are built northwards of the current KLIA instead of agreeing that the facilities be built on soft ground as proposed by the MAB? Are people in the MAB making hay while the sun shines?

We keep quiet because it’s done by the current government which fights for Agama, Bangsa dan Negara.
Then, does that mean the agama of Umno endorses corruption, pillage and looting? Does that also mean that bangsa permits Umno to do all the transgressions? And does that mean agama and bangsa of the Malays excuse the murder of a Mongolian because she is after all just a prostitute? And finally because it is done in the name and on behalf of negara which Umno claims absolute ownership of, all of the above are excusable?

The recent spate of advertisements where various people say I chose Malaysia and I choose to vote are nothing more than the vilest self-serving propaganda. They are also self-congratulating. They seem to suggest that those who support the government choose to show the support through the voting process and those who do not appear to be shown as people who want to change government through undemocratic means.

The purveyors of these dreadful advertisements have only shown political immaturity because such hoopla does not require subtle and sophisticated thinking. They require only emotion and self-praise, while the opposite requires analysis and thought, subordinating the emotions to the rational faculty. And we know the emotional faculties are more developed than the rational. When we look at the photos of people hailed as champions of the “I chose Malaysia” campaign in the MSM papers, we know the nature of the faculties which they represent.

Liberalise the media and see what happens. Allow the free exchange of ideas and free flow of ideas so that people can judge for themselves.

So choose. Stand on the side of the bully or on the side of the marginalised and trampled on? The reality and truth is we can elect in a better government. We only ask the structures of government — the civil service, the judiciary, the law enforcers, other institutions — to stop toadying up to Umno. The structures of government serve the people. They remain intact if and when a new government takes over and the business of running a government does not end with the jettisoning of Umno.

What does the expression “loyal to the government of the day” mean? This fallacy of loyal to the government has been perpetrated for so long that nobody inquires critically what the expression really means. The expression “loyal to the government of the day” should not be literally translated. The thing that civil service should be loyal to is to the IDEA of the government of the day, not the actual government of the day. If the opposite is true, if the civil service is loyal to the actual government of the day instead of the idea, then, when Umno loses, the government must resign.

Civil servants must be professional. If any member of the government chooses to be a partisan member of Umno, he/she should resign immediately. The current Chief Secretary must resign voluntarily when the next government comes in.

Umno realises this. That is why it has gone on the rampage. They have used everything weapon in its arsenal — race, religion, Rulers and riots. Umno has unashamedly taken over the Merdeka celebration. Because it has done that, it will now rue its consequences.

We hardly see the Malaysian flag being voluntarily hoisted and put up, hinting at a broad rejection of Umno’s conversion of a celebration that is owned by all Malaysians. Merdeka isn’t Umno’s property to be shared. — sakmongkol.blogspot.com

* Sakmongkol AK47 is the nom de plume of Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz. He was Pulau Manis assemblyman (2004-2008).