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Thursday 21 January 2010

Cui Bono?- Who Benefits?



When I countered by writing on the burning of the Reichstag, many were angry. Especially among PKR's delicate flowers followers. I was merely pointing out to a possibility that another version may also be true. If it was regarded as preposterous, it wasn't any more preposterous that the article penned by RPK.

It is becoming the usual stock in trade. Whenever the PR people face defeat, they will always ask- "cui bono?'' –"who benefits?" The answer of course the Party UMNO. Hence, it comes easier to always ask- who benefits with the burning of the churches? Why, it's UMNO of course. It must be. UMNO is desperate. It hangs on to any driftwood that comes along.

UMNO can also use the burning of the churches to blame it on Anwar.

Who benefits from prolonging the Allah issue? Again, "cui bono?" Who benefits? It MUST be UMNO because this issue gives UMNO the chance to regain lost Malay ground.

Every act of vandalism, even outright crimes bear the hands of UMNO. UMNO has become a convenient label fitting in any description that's fancied at any particular time. When PM Najib gave RM500k to a church that was quickly assailed as acknowledgment of guilt. It may have been nothing more than expression of genuine sympathy translated into pecuniary form. It may be nothing more than an act of outwardly charity or doing something decent when coming to visit.

But it may also be true that these issues benefit Anwar too. The Allah issue has allowed Anwar's delicate flowers to associate it with their vision of a grand conspiracy on the part of UMNO. The significance of this is to enable Anwar and his followers to broad-brush everything under the label of conspiracy by UMNO. So cui bono? Its Anwar and his followers.

By placing everything under the heading of conspiracy, Anwar expects any issues; allegations thrown at him will be downgraded as specific forms of conspiracy. Accordingly they must be dismissed.

Imagine this. If Anwar succeeds in informing the world at large, that his sodomy trial is but another specific form of conspiracy, then it must be dismissed by the world at large. So cui bono if the issue is played out according to the conspiracy theory.

But let's come back to the story behind the burning of the Reichstag.

The 1933 trial in Germany resulted in the execution of the principal accused of the burning. He was a Dutch communist named van de lube. He was tried alongside prominent members of the German Communist party (PKD).

A prominent member of the PKD, one Willi MUnzenberg staged a counter trial in London sometime in September 1933. The counter-trial was organized in London by a group of lawyers, democrats and other anti-Nazi groups under the aegis of German Communist émigrés. The chairman of the counter-trial was Labour barrister D N Pritt KC, but the chief organiser was KPD's propaganda chief  Willi Munzenberg.

Here is the interesting thing. We have here in Malaysia, Anwar going around in his road shows trying to drum up the support of the world at large that his impending trial at the end of this month. He is claiming the trial as nothing more as a rehashed conspiracy. As the storyline would have it, any taints of conspiracy would diminish the credibility of the allegations.

The counter-trial began on September 21, 1933. It lasted one week and ended with the conclusion that the defendants were innocent and the true initiators of the fire were to be found amid the leading Nazi Party elite.

Our own Willi Munzenberg is going around the country staging his own trial in the people's court. But of course, just like the trial staged by the real Munzenberg in 1933, this trial in the people's court will have its "judges", the not so sophisticated pasar Malam people, the usual suspects of hoi poloi. But this counter trial just like the London Trial will have the atmosphere of a show-trial, with our Münzenberg constantly applying pressure behind the scenes on the "judges" to deliver the "right" verdict without any regard for the truth.

What will the counter trial hope to achieve? Like the London counter-trial it will be an enormously successful publicity stunt for the PKR and its delicate flowers and members of the PKR lickspittle club. Maybe Anwar like the real Münzenberg will follow up his road shows by writing a best-selling book in the style of Munzenberg's The Brown Book of the Reichstag Fire and Hitler Terror. Maybe for good measure, Anwar can publish that as an exposé of what he can allege to be the Nazi UMNO conspiracy to burn down the Reichstag and blame the act on the Communists on PKR.

5 comments:

Anonymous,  21 January 2010 at 11:36  

this is not for posting of a comment on your blog but an interesting reading for you in the link below with regards to Juara Umno..do a study and see how many many contractors are ketua cawangan, bahagian etc..? also interesting reading for where have all the umno loyalist have transformed into..some are in if for the struggle..however, there are those in it for the surat sokongan

http://www.bharian.com.my/Current_News/BH/Thursday/Nasional/20100121001825/Article/index_html

Kenn 21 January 2010 at 12:13  

I wonder whether DS Najib of late realised that he is not only the PM of Malaysia, but he IS ALSO the President of UMNO? Surely as President, he knows what UMNO is here for, does he?

walla 21 January 2010 at 15:22  

A: 'Tun, what do you think of the blogger saying Umno is like Jack Sparrow, the clueless pirate which makes things up as he goes along?'

B: 'I think he might have missed out one more pirate, Sofea. Umno is also Davy Jones. As you will recall, Jones palmed his heart into a chest but it got lost so he had to trough the seven seas.'

A: 'Are you suggesting Umno has lost its heart?'

B: 'Conscience, Sofea. Umno lost its conscience. And that is why it is also making things up as it goes along. And that is why there are so many problems every day.

Sofea, the problems are not because the opposition is saying this or that. The problems already existed even before the opposition had increased. And that's also why the opposition has become more relevant to the rakyat. It's not about a word, or a police report. It's about the niat's, contexts and undercurrents.'

A: 'I read what Aspan and so many others had written. Their observations are accurate, their concerns troubling, their sizing of the problems unequal to the real magnitude.'

B: 'Sofea, the three things TRH said to do Umno must do nothwithstanding the cost and fallout.

You see, not a single rakyat trusts what is happening these days. Everyone is fed-up with the mess of things going awry. The longer Umno delays, the worse it will become. Pinning the blame on the opposition does not reduce the culpability of the incumbent which has to deliver.'

A: 'But, Tun, if Umno does those things, it will decimate its own ranks.'

B: 'And what are they, Sofea, if i may ask? It is a different kettle of fish altogether to try and use the spirit of those formative years to try and fight today's battles.

In the first place, few of those veterans are around. Today you only see Umno populated by opportunists trying to outdo one another for a contract here, a license there. Are they in any way imbued with the same Umno spirit of yesteryear?

In the second place, when they say fight battles, what are the real battles and who are they fighting? Ask the ibrahim ali's and the other groups to elaborate clearly. List everything down in point-form and pin the list on the blackboard in front of national prime-time tv. Let's get it over with.

Thirdly, those who are around will tell you Umno wasn't like this to the malays then and it certainly wasn't also like it is to-date to the others who had supported the Alliance to realize our nationhood.

Fourthly, situations have changed. Today, certain component communities voiced that they have been marginalized in no uncertain terms by the very set of policies constructed by Umno to prevent marginalization. How then can Umno be said to lead for all? With what then does it start 1Malaysia?

So that, fifthly, this Perkasa thing of agama, bangsa dan tanah air can only be perceived as new lamps for old exchanged by the very same hands which had caused the problems in fellow malaysians that it had wanted to solve for its own community. Ergo, it is racism based on sloganeering in order to reap profiteering all over again.

Can the rakyat be faulted for not thinking Umno is now sincere, contrite, humbled, willing, able and doing real changes?'

walla 21 January 2010 at 15:22  

A: 'But it is trying, no? It has become more open to the other communities. It is walking its talk in making improvements. It is...'

B: 'Sofea, stop. Let's see Umno enlarge the capitation grants to opposition states for a start. Let's see Umno hold elections in Perak. Let's see Umno prod the MACC to haul up those big fishes. Let's see Umno walk the talk on the path set by the rakyat, not on the path set by itself. Let's see Umno put itself on the block to be audited performance and asset-wise by the citizens of this country, case by case, matter by matter, point by point. Let's see Umno prove that what it is doing now is not with the eye to GE13. How can it prove this? Go ask the rakyat.'

A: 'But wouldn't anyone not expect Umno to do all these things considering it has a majority in Parliament?'

B: 'Sofea, what is not expected of Umno and what must it must do are two different things.

As a country, we have lost major grounds in international relevance. As a nation, we have lost our national conscience towards one another. As a responsible member of the international fraternity, we have lost face, credibility and sanity.

We are no longer just a third-world half-past six country but one which monkeys around with its future by draining away the national assets of brains, resources and time just to satisfy the material hunger of a rapacious and power-hungry syndicate that sits in PWTC, itself a building with a shady foundation, despite Umno having a kitty above one billion ringgit, which can be considered surprising since it charges peanuts for membership fees.

So you tell me, what value is a majority in the august house today if it is irrelevant to the nation and to the world?'

A: 'Are you implying that race-based politics is finished in our country?'

B: 'I have always stressed that all collaborations must be free and genuine. If both citizens and markets, can see performance and cooperation independent of the niceties of race, then as one people we will have back Davy Jone's heart to stake the seven seas.

If cross-racial existence is entrenched, it will trial the market culprits who try to upset that ideal. We will have a new malaysian ecosystem that thrives on diversity, mutual human-hearted support and concentrated intelligent energy directed to making real progress free from the fumblings of crude policies that have to be constantly shored by spin no one believes in anymore.

Do you think race-based politics won't be the major impediment to all these? Do we want to repeat another fifty years of flap, crap, nap and zap?

Sofea, if for even one second you doubt what i am saying, just think of what we are out of right now. We are out of credibility, brains, resources and time.'

walla 21 January 2010 at 15:23  

A: 'But there are some who will say if you say things like that, you are hating the malays and Umno.'

B: 'Then shall everyone just shut-up and let them be?

Let the ibrahim ali's quantify their contributions to the race and the party, let alone to the nation?

And let the others who have strutted this side of the earth clarify what they have really achieved beyond using the rakyats' future money to build today's white elephants?

And let those who want to cling on to their notions of things explain exactly how those things can really stand for the actual benefit of their defenders against the onslaught of a world which holds no sentiments?

Sofea, i don't even blame people for trying to shoot messengers of bad tidings and rational arguments. I sympathize and empathize with their feelings and concerns because if i didn't, i won't be able to argue such airtight cases.

My pain is that i understand why they are doing it. It's out of some fear that the more they relent, the more they lose.

My point, should they choose to accept it, is maybe they should reexamine again what it is they are trying to defend.

It may be the right thing but in need of some bespoking, that's all. Have they thought of that, have they done anything about it, do they even know what needs to be done?

These are questions they should furnish credible and detailed answers sans the semantics and polemics and ahead of their vociferations. So far, i've seen none.

You see, i am incapable of looking down on people just as i try to look beyond the trappings of high office so i am unmoved by status or the need to win.

I would rather i lose an argument and all benefit from it than win it but the other guy feels depressed for losing. The sky is big enough for all.

But, as an afterthought, that is apparently not so for me, since i am poorer than all of you combined; ask the blogger who is still knocking teeth out on the Name matter.

My dear lady, we are all in search of solutions for the dilemmas and predicaments that beset our nation and the rakyat.

Not for us whose number is almost up but for those after us who need to shoulder on with the shitty legacy we are bequeathing them.

We don't have time to play flamebaiting games anymore, A. For most, life is short and insufferably unsweet.

Let me tell you, three hundred thousand leaving the country, malays included, in just such a short recent time, cannot possibly augur happy tidings.

So, cui bono from all the happenings of Malaysia?

So, where were we about Umno today or any party for that matter?

Sofea, i am heart-broken we have not come this far earlier.'

A: 'Do you think walla cares?'

B: 'She is sad beyond compose, Sofea. An irreplaceable part of her has left....'

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