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Sakmongkol ak 47

ariff.sabri@gmail.com

Monday 1 December 2008

The Acid Test is Performance, not Promises

My post on subprime politicians elicited a comment lambasting PKR. It comes from a visitor who calls himself Ketam. The vigorous sarcasm contained therein is directed at Anwar Ibrahim himself. This shows that Anwar Ibrahim is full of contradictions. He can count on uninhibited adulation from his supporters, but he can also draw out intense animosity and dislike.

There is another reason why I did not want to delete ketam’s comment. I wanted to use his entry as a window for me to write something on PKR. While I may not express my opposition to Anwar’s politics like the commentator who calls himself Ketam does, I can as owner of this blog space, provide the forum into which, criticisms to Anwar and PKR can be deposited. My own take on the politics of Anwar and PKR is as follows:-

Always the acid test is performance. Not promises. The thousands of UMNO supporters and the rakyat look at performance not promises. PKR is a do nothing party that makes promises. They won seats not because people are thoroughly convinced what they stand for. But because UMNO gave them victory by default.

Ask any PKR politician, what does the party stand for? Social justice, reform of the judiciary, the law enforcers, distributive justice and so forth. Balderdash. These things are also spoken by UMNO leadership. Correcting the defects and abuses is not the monopoly of PKR.

The PKR congress is just an upgraded jamboree. It has all the trappings of one. The carnival like atmosphere, thousands of Sandinista or should I say, Anwarista delegates, entertainment provided for by people including the master bull-shitter himself, may stir up the hearts here and there. And yes, many would achieve that elusive orgasm that night as Anwar Ibrahim gyrated sexily with his seductive words. He is a master at that.

The PKRians love sitting on the moral high ground safe in the knowledge that since they will never form a government, they won't have to implement their policy positions. In a world of shades of grey, they see things in black and white.

So, I don’t know whether to LOL listening to their women’s wing pontificating that PKR legislators sign a pledge to resign if they are involved in immoral activities. It is high delusion to imagine that one is insulated from moral decay just by creating a righteous wall through a very public and even showy public declaration of moral uprightness. Is this a kind of political pre-nuptial agreement? Shall we start with the PKR advisor first, ladies?.

And what does PKR means when they said they want to relook/reinstate rulers immunity? Ours is a constitutional monarchy- meaning it’s a limited monarchy. It is limited by the constitution. The guardian of the constitution must stay with parliament.

So when PKR says it is for constitutional monarchy, that’s nothing new nor revolutionary. It has always been like that. If I were to be aggrieved in a criminal sense, I certainly wouldn’t want any royalty to claim immunity from my right to seek redress. I certainly believe that as in the Constitutional Monarchy in the UK, the sovereign in person, already enjoys immunity from prosecution. You think Karpal Singh wants a return to absolute rule? Just wait for PKR to implode and self destruct. It will self immolate in its own fiery deceit!

The Malays do indeed need a social revolution, but the pace of that revolution is not determined in the centre. It wont be determined in Bukit Segambut either. It will be determined by the Malays in the Kampungs. Similarly, the revolutionary hot air that Anwar and PKR want to carry out, is not going be determined by a congregation of bourgeois activists in the cities.

15 comments:

Godisuno 2 December 2008 at 00:54  

PKR is a party which fight for personal vendetta of Anwar. In my opinion Anwar cannot be trusted due to the changes of principles that he hold from the time he was in ABIM up to now. Now by trying to convince the Malays that he wants to reinstate the royal immunity, he is trying to regain the trust from Malays. But from his action and his party action, i would be really surprise if any Malay could still support him except for blind faith that his supporter has in Him.

Still there is nothing impossible in this sick world.Even Ayah Pin has supporters eventhough he is not that holy at all. ehehehehe.Blind faith would lead to destruction indeed.

Navi 2 December 2008 at 09:28  

Your loyalty to UMNO is evident; albeit UMNO has not lived up to its election promises either. You seemed convinced that PKR will not be able to deliver the reforms. I beg to differ. They have to an extent made many improvements to the government in Selangor, this in spite of all the obstacles thrown in their way by the Federal government as well as Khir Toyo. Given time, the momentum will show a government more resilant to corruption and cronyism in Selangor; that even ten Khir Toyo's will not be able to dent.
As for your claim that UMNO is capable of reform and bring in change is far fetched as the last 5 yewars has shown. Despite an elaborate manifesto presented in 2004, UMNO failed to live up to a single one,; the outcome of which you are aware.
As for Anwar, evry man has his limitations; compared to the many leaders in BN, he is almost an angel.

Ariff Sabri 2 December 2008 at 09:58  

navi,
sir, i dont mean to be patronising. but this is the kind of difference in opinions that i welcome. we do it gentlemanly. by offering our readers honest opinion and thoughts on something that matter to us. how wonderful to do that sans the abusive language, no expletives and so forth.
thank you for yr comments.

ketam 2 December 2008 at 10:14  

tq sak for giving chance to my posting earlier.. sebab musabab posting itu adalah kerana kekeliruan tentang apakah sebenarnya perjuangan YB Anwar dan PKR dan PR. Anwar sebut lain,DAP sebut lain,PAS sebut lain pulak.. jadi kesimpulannya adalah seperti saranan yg telah saya berikan..

forgive me for lari tajuk..next time i wont do it again..

and i want to congratulate you as this is one of the blog yg every morning mesti saya baca dulu..blog-blog lain adalag Rocky Bru,Penarik beca dan semestinya CHE DET..love all the subjects posted in all the blogs.

Anonymous,  2 December 2008 at 11:07  

che guevara is also bourgeois.

even the supposed russian revolution by the people was instigated by aristocratic and bourgeois intellectuals who plotted to murder the Tzar, according to some historical accounts.

dr m, arguably the greatest revolutionist in msia, also came from a bourgeois background although set in a kampung....his father was a teacher, so it's not like dr m was a farmer...get what i mean.

also, is it possible to ask dato ti to get off my back? cheers.

zooky 2 December 2008 at 13:05  

Hi Dato',

(Because the topic is Anwar and PKR, I'll bet you are going to draw more than the usual in your comment box.)

There is only one aspect I wish to comment on: royalty and immunity.
Why are we being dragged back into this issue? I know that a Negri royal brought it up. And PKR has picked it up as a crusade. I thought what Dr Mahathir had done way back then was to clearly define the role of the monarchy. We may find many faults with him but to me this is Dr Mahathir's best jasa.

So why are we back in this so yesterday issue? Is PKR trying to say it is more Melayu than Umno?

Saya... 2 December 2008 at 14:55  
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous,  2 December 2008 at 15:10  

Dear Sir,

How can the party possibly clean up after itself?

To clean up would be to admit there is wrongdoing in the past, which basically leads to the complete admittance that things have gone wrong in the country when we know there's only one party in power since independence.

So if there's any need of cleaning up, perhaps its wise to let it look like it is being done by an external party, like a good audit would always be carried out by a non-interested party. Maybe for a term, then come back when you've got your house in order.

A Tabib 2 December 2008 at 23:20  

Anwar is unique. He is the only politican who can appear politically appealing to everybody - people of different races, creeds, political philosophies, socio-economic status - and that is the crux of the problem for me.

There is only one way one can be a champion of every disparate group, whose interests are more often than not diametrically opposed, in this country.

Here is a clue on how he does it:
More than one of his high profile, formerly fervent supporters mentioned duplicity or alluded to it during their farewell press conference. Duality seems to surround him.

Perhaps that's the secret to his appeal.

Anonymous,  3 December 2008 at 01:33  

I find your musing lacking the kind of prattle that has clogged up Cyber literature (Malaysian Chapter). I wish to see you keep a higher degree of sanity in a sea of poison. I wonder sometimes if the Cyber arsonists do tell their children about the depths of their hate to the system, personalities, whole communities. How soon will their kids start posting vile comments on their blogs?

I was reading Karim Raslan's piece in The Star this morning; our man seems exasperated, reeling from some kind of political fatigue. He recounted the extent of the malaise so beautifully.

So who are you Mr Sakmongkol? Where have you been hiding? Please materialise, put up your photo or something..

This is fresh air that we are breathing..

mekyam 3 December 2008 at 02:39  

to sak, may i...?

hahaha! i think a better question would be where have YOU been hiding Sir Tong Kol? [love the nick, btw. :D]

sakmongkol, i believe, had been ADUNing himself in the state of Pahang (where he was most vocal and therefore a pain in the assembly's collective behinds) before becoming one of malaysian well-worth reading so-po branters*.

* something i coined when blogger pugly asked her readers to tell what were on their minds at the point of leaving comments. to whit, mine was:
web + log = blog [n. blogger]
web + rant = brant [n. branter]

Ariff Sabri 3 December 2008 at 10:08  

jed yoong- apa dato ti sudah bikin sama you? haha. nanti saya cakap sama dia.

zooky- you know brother, after the last GE i was thinking, maybe the only way out for UMNO is to lose nationwide. then only the steadfast will remain. those free birds and fair weathered friends will desert UMNO. then UMNO becomes stronger and refreshed. they need this kind of thing to knock some senses.
a.tabib
doc, you know that's very powerful, duplicity and duality. that's his secret. i heard last time, when he was TPM and on occasion when TDM conferred with him to decide favourably on someone- anwar will quickly rush out to phone that person, that it was HE who talked TDN into favouring that person.

Ariff Sabri 3 December 2008 at 16:39  

sir tong kol,
i am encouraged by yr comments. it reaffirms my belief that out there, are sufficient number of sensible people who likes to listen to reasoned arguments even though not agreable with them.

mek yam,

ah thank you very much. and you have finally equaled a tabib in coining a new term.
i have not answered yr comments in a previous post. was taken aback with your spirited comments on politics. it shows you have a deep attachment with politics back home after all.

thank you all for yr kind comments.

A Tabib 3 December 2008 at 21:00  

AK,

There's no reason not to believe the TDM episode. fits the profile of a person who can gatecrash the Bersih rally to present the petition to the Agong to make it look as if it was his idea.

A Tabib 3 December 2008 at 21:33  

Dengan izin, Sakmongkol?

Welcome, Sir Tong Kol to our neck of the woods where the air is fresh and crisp.

I see Mekyam** has made the necessary introductions.

This site however comes with an addiction warning so be prepared for some red-eye mornings.

You have been warned :-)

**Branter...eh Mekyam?. Good one. Now I'm envious :-)

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