To Boldly Speak….

I have written about KJ in many of my previous articles. Yes, I make no apologies in showing my preference for KJ as the Ketua Pemuda. I have said it many times. It is what KJ represents that I liked and which I think is required of UMNO. I have answered those charges about him getting wealth by questionable means. I will answer the others later. He is the leader of tomorrow. The others are leaders of yesterday.

I am however playing a minor part, that of using my writings to influence readers and pemuda delegates. I can't vote for him. I therefore lend a hand through my writings.

Readers will also notice that I break the monotony of writing of the same subject, by putting up seemingly unrelated topics but where I have the chance, will put up some elements that point toward my next post.

Although I write often about KJ, there is no cause for worry over in anti KJ camps. As they insist, KJ is a lost cause and whatever spirited support I can mount up, will not prevail. You are free to regard my writings as the huff and puff of a sidelined politician who is just trying to be a mosquito in your mosquito net.

This business about promoting KJ is a long distance run and a break in the journey is a welcome respite. There was a commentator who suggested that my doing so is a decoy. It's no decoy sonny, just a monotony breaker. I am never intimidated to reveal my preference and so there isn't a need for decoys. There was also a commentator who said that because I have been writing so much on KJ lately, even unrelated topics seemed to contain messages about KJ. Well, that is true, because I will build up my case before delivering the coup de grace as it were.

I am still writing about KJ. In the last passages of my immediate previous post, I mentioned of a need of a new and courageous leadership to unscramble the system. That would be a clue to my next post. And it's no secret that I think KJ is the only KP candidate with the testicular fortitude.

But before I go on with my rambling, may I take a minta laluan as they say in the Dewan, to interject on some points raised by my better known blogger friend, brick in the wall. In particular, the one about joining the Setiakawan band. I will be remiss in my respect to him if I don't respond to his remarks.

As many in blogsphere know, setiakawan refers to a federation of bloggers united by a desire to support KJ. They have been doing that quite explicitly. They have their own style to express themselves, some of which, I find myself retreating from. But that style can hardly be faulted by me. Who am I or for that matter anyone else to fault them for their speak in your face kind of expressing their feelings? Their sometimes vitriolic attacks on TDM make me cringe. But I want my Brickman friend to know that I have not joined the setiakawan band in the formal sense of the term. We have arrived at supporting KJ independent of each other.

If I may offer a comparison, it is this. The setiakawan people play a useful role as Molotov cocktails throwing troops to counter the flame throwers from the anti KJ goon squads. How else can these attacks be even scored if not by similar guerilla tactics? As for me, I am an upfront pugilist. Don't throw Molotovs or incendiary bombs at me. Call me out upfront and I will try to do justice to your bravery by putting up my best. But I will do this- once you call me out, I will try to lead you to a cul-de-sac and there I will put up my knuckle dusters and go up one on you. I am no piper who plays the tune what the payer wants. I dance to the beat of my own drums.

It has now come to this. When the overall picture is lost, what else do people do? They will employ all sorts of verbal contortions and start, hear this people, - nitpicking. For example, the race for ketua pemuda now becomes a race for who demonstrates louder, their defense of the monarchy. This is a disgrace since an earlier similar outing done by KJ was dismissed as just a publicity stunt. Ah ha, now I realize we are even sanctimonious not only about accusations of corruption, we are too on matters like organizing demonstrations. It's all right for others to do, but not and even wrong for KJ to do. Our hypocrisy is expanded by our inconsistency.

I can only ask KJ not be drawn into this. You see, KJ has done it in Perak, and so those who came later are just copy cats. Copying what KJ did earlier is indeed a form of flattery. Looking it at that way, what Khir Toyo did twice, is acknowledgment of the effectiveness of maintaining high visibility on the radar screen of the pemuda delegates. And in the meantime, what can Mukhriz do? He can do nothing except by calling for legal action to be taken by UMNO on Karpal. By who? Throughout my political career I haven't seen any UMNO lawyers having the smarts to take on the Lion of Jelutong.

Suddenly many become conscientious students scouring for little nuances, maybe some gossipy material in the distant past, some socially objectionable activities (drinking, having a good time etc). Consider for example, the penchant for nitpicking on such trivialities as KJ's employ of the term multiculturalism and multi racialism. It appears that we are over eager to consign the use of such term as opposition-speake. Thus according to such a plebeian interpretation, for using those terms, KJ is more suited to join the opposition. This is what I mean as nitpicking which is being done to conceal the lack of substantive issues concerning KJ.

But I suppose the use of such term suggests a wider span of mental bandwidth from the coming Ketua Pemuda. As the country moves to accept an inclusive political climate within which the concept of multi-culturalism and multi-racialism become more relevant, it is to the credit of an incoming Ketua Pemuda to speak boldly about these matters. Then KJ's readiness to speak on these matters leaves the other 2 contenders looking askance with hands cupping the area from where fortitude is expected but none forthcoming.