Artful Political Orbituary

A writer in The insider said the following:-

1. Tun Mahathir was Pak Lah’s Watergate. He could not carry out reforms because the culture established by Tun Mahathir was entrenched in UMNO’s psyche.
2. Pak lah is an accidental agent of change- the happy accident syndrome. Where a positive outcome is but a product of fortuitous events. E.g. The discovery of the microwave.
3. Pak Lah’s exit is timely as it passes the whole set of problems to Dato Najib.

Sakmongkol’s first reaction- smart, smart. As to link Pak Lah’s incapacity to do anything because the degenerative culture has been set up by Tun Mahathir- sakmongkol has given his take. Its just like the defence lawyer arguing the Menendez brothers murder of their parents. The abusive childhood argument. In this case, the abusive understudy argument. Pak lah and all other ministers were all understudies to Tun Mahathir for 22 years and they were all abused.

What is Pak Lah then? A pliable putty, shaped and crafted into anything people around him want? Possibly that explains why Pah Lah seemed to be under the spell of Khairy, Kamal, Kalimullah and other myrmidons.

Now, about the accidental agent of change. Is this a compliment or reinforcement of the impression that Pak Lah was a dud? Oh…...Pak Lah gave rise to a culture of more openness. Then how come that same openness spoken of glowingly by the writer was not successful to inseminate UMNO? This argument appears to fortify public perception that the majority of the UMNO leaders are indeed half past six. They really represent everything that is wrong with UMNO. Incompetence, brutish-epitomised by people like Nazri Aziz, out of touch with the people and are all in there to feather their nests.

Sakmongkol tell you what- it is precisely because Pak Lah is incapable that all the opposing forces hitherto tamed by the formidable intellect of Tun Mahathir, were now able to come to the surface. They were able to because they could run circles around Pak Lah. So UMNO delegates- kick these people out. Its just a poor imitation of Gorbachev’s Glasnost and perestroika. And look where it led Russia. In Malaysia’s case, it is a case of the scum rises to the top- not the cream. Or, when the MOUSE is away, the FAT Cats come out to play.

But the last point is most disagreeable. Pak Lah’s exit was calculated so that the buck passes to Dato Najib? Hello, the man was overwhelmed by the forces marshaled by the UMNO warlords fearful of their own future. To impute some clairvoyant ability on the simple Pak Lah, god fearing and all, the man who suffers from abusive pupillage, is to confer an ability larger that Pak Lah’s shoulders.