Reformasists, Revisionists and the reactionary. Part 1 . Contrarian essays no 13

1. One year into the tenure of Anwar Ibrahim, a friend of my brother asked him to ask me, whether Anwar will still be PM come the next GE.

2. Without hesitation, I said yes. Pak Sheikh as he is known to many, showed a lot of promise .

3. The majority of us had faith in him as the change agent. Undo the doing of government business, doing business the usual way. We had faith in him to carry out what Machiavelli said, ' I am not interested in preserving the status quo, but in overthrowing it. Isn't that reform-ising the old ways?

4. He made many promises that were pleasing to our ears. Reduction of electricity tariffs, reduced cost of living, cheaper oil, weeding out corruption and so on.

5. He had a determined team to carry out his reformasi agenda.

6. He was able to bind the OG( the original gang, not gangster) to his cause- DAP and AMANAH) . When he formed a government, others from Sarawak and Sabah joined him. Even the forever opportunistic UMNO for relevancy issue and for self preservation reasons, joined him .

7. Yes, for these reasons, I had no hesitation then, to say Anwar will continue to be PM after the next GE.

8. Now, I find it increasingly difficult to defend him. I have to eat humble pie not to see power has an edifying effect on PM's political longevity. The person asking my brother that question, has some doubts about Anwar's staying power- political that is.

9. Still, I refuse to believe and don't want Anwar to be a one trick sensation.

10. That's why I am disappointed, especially after the exit of Rafizi and gang in PKR's leadership, Anwar is surrounded by lackeys, pliant people, yes men, apple polishers and the like to downright reactionaries .

11. There will be no one bold enough to remind Anwar to remain steadfast to reformasi ideals. Not the thuggish home minister, not the powdered pompadour communications minister, the uncle tom-ming characters and never the singing female canaries. Nurulizzah does not feature in at all.

12. Let's place these characters in the context of reformasists( I prefer this term than reformists) revisionists and reactionaries. See how they fare.

13. The reformasists are those who are determined and single minded wanting radical changes in the business of government. The difference between them and revolutionists is the way of achieving them. Reformists seek change through the ballot box while revolutionists seek change by violence and bloodshed.

14. Reformasists seek power through ballot box while to revolutionists, power is through the barrel of the gun .

15. Revisionists started out as reformasists but for the edifying and corrosive effects of savouring power, they start to balk and vacillate.

16. They start giving 1001 reasons to delay reformasi. That it needs time and must be done step by step or dare I say, in and out. Although the in and out motion , to me refer to some other pleasurable pursuits!

17. They achieved this stalling of reformasi by verbal semantics or verbal gymnastics.

18. You know how some people can convince you that he's holding a pomelo instead of prickly durian. Birds flying up high can come eat from their hands. Or through their verbal artistry stimulate giggling girls into getting orgasm. Wow!

19. The reactionary is the worse of the lot. They actually don't want to overthrow the business as usual ways but amplify them in better ways.

20. They just want to make hay while the sun shines. They want to sakau as much as long as they are in power. But remember, the sun indeed does rise, but it also sets .

21. Now I think I know why an inquisitive and a perennial busybody person like Rafizi and gang must be out of PKR's leadership.

22. This is to prevent people like Rafizi throwing a spanner in the works to wasteful and imbecilic ideas like kota MADANI .

23. The ' this is your ATM minister has moved from the FT ministry to kota MADANI. Yaay!

24. I thought only Mahathir had his erections in the form of the PETRONAS twin towers, Anwar has many in the form of phallic shaped buildings in kota MADANI.

25. I hope I am not the only person who don't want to see pak shekh as a one trick pony.

26. PKR people not concerned about the leadership of Anwar Ibrahim are digging their own graves.

27 . This is part 1 of my article on this. From generalities, I will discuss specifics. See you.