Justice Bao, Malaysian Justice and Permatang Pauh.

A Malay scholar was offended because some supporters of Anwar carried posters of Justice Bao. Justice Bao is a symbol of justice. Let me repeat- A SYMBOL OF JUSTICE.

I will leave it to readers to assess a person who is easily offended and yet calls himself a scholar. He must have been trained at some secluded falsampah school.

My simple answer, because no other answer will satisfy him is- learn to accept it. The Chinese civilization is 4-5000 years old compared to how long is the Malay civilization?

I seem to recall Malay civilization started only after an Indian princeby the name of Param-eswara founded Melaka in the 15^th century. Before that, Malay civilization  was a Hindu centric civilization.

So what, if another civilization is older than ours and its accomplishments therein are far more accomplished than ours? It does not diminish my Malayness at all to acknowledge a more universal symbol of justice that my own. If there is a symbol of Malay justice- please show it to us so that we can make posters of him.

We have no future if we have this kind of mentality.

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As a non-lawyer who read the judgement given by the Chief Justice, it sounded like a prosecution monologue. Maybe lawyers who cannot accept or don’t agree with that decision will argue it more rigorously. 

At the moment, we share the grief experienced by Anwar and his family.

I think we have no more legal recourse. The next solution is political. Maybe we get 1 million signatures. Send them to world leaders. 

But I believe the Naib government will not budge. Because they will say, this has been the outcome of lengthy legal process.

We must do it the political way. Maybe Najib can be thrown out earlier and someone else replaces him as PM. Dr Mahathir says even Lim Kit Siang can be PM. Of course, what he is saying, is anyone can be PM. I have said it before, if Najib can be PM, anyone can. 

You don’t need a rocket scientist to be PM but at the same time, it will be strange if an idiot  becomes PM.

The new leader ushers in new game changing political arrangements, new economic solutions, and new politics. He will take care of the endemic corruption made tolerable because people say it’s just a matter of perception. Malays dismiss even idea of corruption maintaining that if it’s done by a Malay- he is one of us.

So, what next for Anwar? 

I read somewhere a law professor, probably responding to questions fielded by yet to achieve puberty reporters, talking about getting pardon from the Agong. The good professor was probably humouring such reporters.

It will not happen.

Anwar Ibrahim will never entertain such an idea I think. Asking for a pardon, would amount to admitting the crime for which he was accused and now sentenced, did take place. Affirming and fortifying his innocence is more important than getting pardon.

I would like to think so but I would not know for certain if Anwar and his family think this way. Securing personal freedom is maybe of more paramount importance.

We kick out Najib and his gang. They will then know, life as they have known before , consisting of private parties and soirees, gallivanting on private and government owned jets, thriving on governmental dishonesty and incompetence  will come to an end.

Power grows out of the ballot box. This is the beauty of democracy. If we don’t like this government, we can kick them out by civilised means using our votes. So let us use our votes. First at the Permatang Pauh by election. Second at the next general elections.

Once we have power, we can do so many good things. We can avoid doing so many of the things done by this government too. We want to fight corruption. We can do something. We want to reform the judiciary? We can do that.

We want to allow cooperatives and village economic outfits to issue bonds? We can do that too. Why not? If government can guarantee one RM1 million paid up Capital Company to issue bonds 40,000 times over, we can also the same to farmers’ co-ops and village economic co-ps.

Elect a new government. We will enforce the law on troublesome NGos – be them formed by Malays or non-Malays. Tangkap semua in accordance to law.

By the way- Ibrahim Ali once said that he will hold a thanksgiving kenduri if Anwar is convicted. We must look out for this- not because we dislike what he wants to do. But because we need to remember how despicable this person is and what he represents. He is a shining example of Malay chivalry.

We must remember this from now on. If we all support Anwar as we claim to do, we must pitch all our efforts to make sure Permatang pauh remains with Pakatan. I am certain, we will spare no efforts to achieve this.

UMNO in particular says that it’s ready to take Peratang pauh. They have been preparing since the Court of Appeal sentenced Anwar guilty last year. Bear in mind, when UMNO says its ready- it means they are ready in talk only. What has UMNO done in Penang? Nothing much.

Some of the online news portals have begun reporting anecdotal and personal narratives by representatives of the rakyat- a hawker here, pak mat sipping free teh tarik at a stall there, an apek over there- all saying that Anwar has done nothing for his constituency. That’s UMNO talk by UMNO friendly people- they like nothing better than for the representatives to sit knees touching theirs attending to the myriad of problems.

We can ignore these cheap shot narratives.

When I met Anwar in a one to one encounter one month ago, I asked him about this matter. How does he service his area given that he is almost fully occupied at national and international issues? We must remember that Anwar isn’t an ordinary MP like myself- he is a former DPM, well known internationally and the shadow PM. His place has to be at national level and to be in the thick of issues affecting national interests.

He said he was thankful to the Penang government led by Lim Guan Eng. The Penang government has stepped in to fill the responsibilities that are required of Anwar. The Penang government has adopted Permatang Pauh- freeing Anwar to operate at the level commensurate with the man. Anwar has to play a national role suitable to that of a shadow PM.

The needs of the people of Permatang Pauh are taken care of by the Penang government.

Reject the grumblings of the petty businesspersons who didn’t pay KOMTAR for the last 15 years. Reject the UMNO ketua bahagians who did nothing when Gerakan ravaged the state. 

Secure Permatang Pauh to show we stand in solidarity with Anwar. Stand by Anwar- in good and in bad times.