Thank you Zaid Ibrahim
What does ZAID IBRAHIM stand for? His political inclinations are somewhere else. His body is entrapped in UMNO. As to his political ideas- ideas about justice and social justice and all, I am sure these were formed a long time ago. They certainly don’t appear to be formed overnight. Certainly not as if he suddenly awakens after a whole night of drinking binge, with a massive hangover, comes upon an eureka moment. Suddenly he shouts- The BN sucks!
He is finally sacked. The question is, if he has the moral conviction to uphold his personalised democratic beliefs, surely he must also have the moral pluck to walk way from UMNO in the first place. Why didn’t he? Perhaps he wanted to leave as the martyr?. The wronged gadfly with the added badge of a willingness to risk everything. Actually he doesn’t risk anything. He got his 5 minutes blast of fame. He is a man of deep pockets and that friends, is made possible by his association with the very government he now so despises. He is a very big beneficiary of the government’s economic policies which he now eschews. His overstay can only suggest one thing: he wants to run with the hares and hunt with the hounds. Despite his misgivings about UMNO/BN he knows that its better to stay with the hounds.
UMNO now has a reason to celebrate. UMNO boys should put banners all over town, or perhaps have Dom Perignon sponsor a huge banner, proclaiming a big thank you to PKR. Please PKR- take Zaid. UMNO then should thank PKR for taking over UMNO’s problem.
The quick ingress and equally fast egress of Zaid proved that Pak Lah made a misjudgement of monumental proportions. Perhaps he was so taken in by Zaid’s activism in voicing UMNO’s many afflictions. Perhaps amidst the boring drone of blind acquiescence, Zaid’s off centre thinking must have been seen as sparks of brilliance by Pak Lah. In the end, even Pak Lah couldn’t cope with Zaid’s petulance.
Has the image of the judiciary improved after Zaid managed to hoodwink the government into paying millions to discredited judges? Social relations improved after Zaid gave his opinions on Malay dominance? In the end, we will realise that all those are Zaid’s political flirtations and many have been seduced by that. Except that the harrowingly long time taken by UMNO to expunge him, reaffirms Pak Lah’s dithering.
18 comments:
ya now lets kill his purse.. as what we all know everything his owned his business all involved in government GLC.. in acting as a lwyer for this company his firm earn big income.. and now he doesnt appriciate it..as my lawyer college told my as far as they concern if fighting in court with Zaid they will definitly will win..
Umno does not tolerate mavericks & Zaid was one. Yet Umno wants to change and become relevant to the masses; but not able to look itself in the mirror ! Anyway Dr. mahathir was also once sacked for being petulent; and not being in sync with the party elders, but later idolized by the very party he was sacked from. i do not remember Dr.M apologizing for the views he held then ! Zaid is still a malay leader; but not in sync with the current leadership. So he has been given a ' red card ".
at one time one can make the stereotyping dia ni typical orang kelantan ... opportunist.
Dia bukan kesah benar ideology.
Masaalahnya orang UMNO semua dah opportunist
"Please PKR- take Zaid. UMNO then should thank PKR for taking over UMNO’s problem."
Good one Datuk but Zaid is trivial and the question is how, why, what, where and who let Zaid in the Cabinet, when he is not even an MP?
Shouldn't we analyse these vital issues that still remain unresolved in UMNO?
UMNO is heading towards a negative cylce of self destruction with and without Zaid !!!
Zaid Ibrahim comes out as an enlightened leader only Pak Lah could fathom. From day one he set out to do what Pak Lah wanted; to set out reforms both in the government and UMNO. These reforms had been promised by the PM to the rakyat earlier through the BN manifesto and later after the March 8th debacle, when the PM announced "I know what the people want".
This is what Zaid set out to do when he realized the enormity of the task of convincing the warlords in UMNO. These warlords refused to acknowledge the recipi that Zaid advocated and rightfully he relinquished his position as Law Minister. He was a free man then. As a human rights propagator, he was free to expostulate against the ISA and other Human Rights inconsistencies and to move with the crowd that he was one with.
The sacking of Zaid maybe a blessing for him. As UMNO is unable to appreciate the good points of Zaid, it has perhaps done what it is best for itself.
Salam Tok S-AK47,
Fully agree with your analysis. I would add that BOTH zaid & pak lah share one similarity: both have FLIP-FLOPPING tendency; the difference between the two? One can sack the other, but nobody seems to be able to sack him! (Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on where one stands, pak lah decided to cut his stay short; otherwise the people will surely SACK him come the next GE?!).
Dear Datuk Sak
Why must Umno give him the satisfaction of being sacked.
He's a nonentity. Just ignore him. He will capitalise on the sacking.
Anything to make him a hero.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Let the PKR have another rubbish in its backyard.
One plausible strategy, in the light of Zaid's relentless campaign to be sacked and gained notoriety, was to have ignored him. Trouble is he is a media personality, his pronouncements, activities make good copy. Image is everything around here. The most learned of souls are prepared to gloss over deficiencies to see "guiding lights" such DSAI and Zaid shine. My prognosis is we cant conceivably take issue with the admirers of Zaid and DSAI. In a previous life they might not even have liked each other; I think most people would uppermost want to see a good, wholesome, enlightening national argument. Anwar's frailties will be tested by a more rigorous questioning. If I were a friend of Anwar, I would advise him to submit himself for scrutiny in the blogs which have been tossing substantial arguments against him; for instance, Sakmongkol and Mana Mana. Kadir Jasin too appears exasperated with his Bro Anwar's glib talk. I would love to see a deep conversation between Anwar/Zaid on one side and NTR/Hisham Tun Hussein or even Khairy Jamaluddin on the other. Kick off with Ketuanan Melayu. Does Ketuanan Rakyat effectively mean Anwar deleting from our consciousness the Malay grief of the past? Is there any nation or race that has so profoundly been stifled as the Malays had been and by multiple powers at that? The whole of Iberian Peninsula was here battling over spice trade and ports. The Thai Monarchy and agents wanted to have a piece of the action and they got away with it.
Minta Maaf. Komen yang seperti sianu tu Orang Kelantan kurang berfaedah. Saya ramai taulan Kelantan yang sangat bijak, sanggup bersusah payah tolong kawan, juga kuat motivasi. Ramai mereka ni pejuang.
A John shall all too easily slip into a stereotyping.Umno accommodates all comers; it is the most open and democratic organisation. You will see people in fairly senior positions who routinely speak against the party. They are still there. Zaid's troubles or fortune, are rooted in his profile. He understands public opinion and constantly shifts his intellectual content so that he has a good view of the gallery. He is simply being politician. Umno has to sack him because Zaid makes it impossible for the party not to. Allergy against mavericks? I rather not agree without a body of knowledge being presented to me. Shahrir Samad under Dr M? He was not praising the PM then. The party accommodated Shahrir because he did not outwardly work against the interests of the party, like attending a rival party's conference. Do you think Gobind, the MP, would still be in the DAP if he keep turning out at Umno gatherings? Ok, A John, I shall not reject your view rightaway but we really need more facts.
There is of course a theory that Umno is over populated and that thousands of party members may not be supporting the party anymore. It would be good for instance to sack every single chap suspected of money politics so that they would migrate en bloc to PKR, thus bring the DSAI party down. This engineering will backfire. The sacked members will work doubly hard to finish off Umno. Umno needs to "endure" their more excitable members and get them to work harder for their family and the nation. Not just harbour this hope that one fine day a top leader will summon him, and say, "Nah ... here is a RM1 million ringgit, I want you to have it". It is about sense and expectations. The desires of many in the Umno crowd need to be moderated. It is not "bodoh" not to "sambar peluang"; the biggest opportunity presented by Umno is to give everyone an avenue to serve, to prod the guy seated next to you to be a better citizen and family man; to think of the nation and to be more policy oriented; to think deeply. To write. To be another Sakmongkol.
Hi Ariff,
I agree where you said: "The quick ingress and equally fast egress of Zaid proved that Pak Lah made a misjudgement of monumental proportions. Perhaps he was so taken in by Zaid’s activism in voicing UMNO’s many afflictions."
But I would go further.
UMNO via Pak Lah thought that 'reformer' or 'progressive' titles were good for vote-getting. In that sense, no harm in bringing Zaid onboard. Unfortunately, UMNO did not calculate that Zaid would use his ministerial position and Senator as a platform to help himself, regardless of party convictions. Hence the dismissal.
If this episode proves anything, it is that all politicians are there to improve their profile and personal gain.
Unless I have missed something, by flirting with PKR over the ISA issue mainly, Zaid missed a significant opportunity by resigning from the Cabinet. If he is that keen on public issues, he should have fought within the system and get dismissed and be known for standing up to UMNO/BN.
And if he was sincere in wanting to leave the government on principle, then he should have resigned as Senator as well.
So, Zaid's recent actions is beginning to look much like Anwar's, itsy bitsy steps but controversial just enough to get media attention.
Btw, admire your tenacity in having a go at popular politicians like Zaid, especially if they're empty shirts.
Nice one on the liberal set's latest poster boy.
Gosh, Dato', ingress and egress. You had me reaching for my ancient OED.
That's two news word learnt today, so who says blog reading is a waste of time.
salam tok sak, coolest branter south of the kra!
i like Baru Belajar's suggestion of public debate between Anwar/Zaid on one side and NTR or Hisham Tun Hussein/KJ on the other, on burning issues like ketuanan melayu and money politics and obscene party-frogging.
but KJ definitely has to be one of them. baru bertemu buku (AI) dengan ruas (KJ), bak kata orang melayu.
[aside: of course, AI and KJ have to get their backers* to give the green light.]
* i don't mean their supporters, but their common minders.
p.s. to A. John, please do not lump Tun Dr. M with the likes of that vindictive political phony Zaid Ibrahim. what ZI bandied as principled stands are nothing more than rank opportunisms -- evidently his trademark.
Mekyam doesn't like Zaid Ibrahim too much, apparently. And she is someone whose evaluations and opinions I rate highly - and "very" at that:-)
For what it's worth, I was on his side once - even more so than my support for PAS at one time. Zaid Ibrahim's knight returns
Zaid may not be a man of principles, since as you rightly pointed out, his wealth comes from the system he so openly despises now.
However, we have to acknowledge that he had an instrumental role in trying to change the Malaysian socio-political landscape. If he failed, he failed lah. But I don't see any reason to criticise his attempts to discuss Malay supremacy, or judicial reforms.
The latter for example, failed to really kick off during his brief tenure as de facto Law Minister mainly because the Cabinet was opposed to it.
Cant blame him. He tried. Now hes out, lets see what he does.
Zahid memang pengkianat bangsa!
Relationships at times dictate one's attitude to issues. Zaid seems to be an admirer of Saleh Abas. He thinks a book should be written about, for the man; that is inherently noble. When he joined the Cabinet, Zaid did not have time to nurture relationships with other Ministers. He probably knew them when he was a prominent lawyer for Umno. There was this Friday, I think, before he attended his first Cabinet meeting when he spoke of Judicial reform initiatives to the Press. "Reform" to the crowd who had so intensely fought Anwar is conceited. A subterfuge. A political prank. A nightmare. Because Anwar's reformist agenda was forced on the nation to whitewash personal foibles. Whole institutions were smeared as Anwar wanted to rage against the System. This crowd who had dimmed views of "reform" were in the Cabinet and were properly startled by this "reformist" literature being articulated by their newest member. The Story of Zaid as a Cabinet Minister was clouded by his modus operandi - he rates media visibility higher than decorum. He did not intend to bequeath to the Establishment a litany of new issues. But he did. In fact he has given the Liberal crowd and Opposition something to think about in the form of Karpal Singh vs Bar Council over the goodwill-dinner. PR vs relationships? Political opportunism vs relationships? Zaid Ibrahim could still pull it off. But I have not heard him articulate his real convictions. He must find a forum fast. A tough interview or something.
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