WHEN EMPATHISING WITH MAHATHIR MAKES MORE SENSE

Umar Mukhtar

Is Dr Mahathir, as a Malaysian citizen, right in demanding answers from Najib to questions that affect the Rakyat, and that Najib should vacate the prime ministership if he fails to do so? The answer to my mind is an empathic ‘yes’.

The questions happen to be the same questions we are asking. Mahathir may not be my favourite politician and he may have been and may be up to some mischief, as Najib’s apologists would allege, but that does not take away the validity of those questions being asked and Najib’s responsibility to answer them.

Shooting the messenger does not help the Rakyat’s cause. These questions have been asked by opposition leaders numerous times but to no avail. To “my-party-right-or-wrong” thinkers it’s almost sacrilegious for a party member to ask them. Mahathir is then accused of being an opposition mouthpiece. How ridiculous and desperate and shallow!

All the grandmother stories about how much Mahathir owes Najib or Najib’s father and therefore he should not be ungrateful are just that - grandmother stories. Told by sentimental apologists with nothing else to say about the elephant in the room.

Mahathir caused financial losses to the nation and it is as if he is estopped from bitching about Najib’s financial losses now. I don’t care even if Mahathir’s losses were bigger. I am talking about now when we can do something about it. Maybe we have learnt from the Mahathir episodes. We need to be more vigilant pro-active.

The apologists are like the seven blind men feeling parts of an elephant and broadcasting how the elephant looks like from the small area he touches. Pathetic. The news is also there are two elephants in the room, a Mrs Elephant who has a bigger appetite. Pun not intended.

Just answer those questions intelligently, and be done with it. Put Mahathir to shame for being a Pak Sibuk or a kay poh chee or plain senile. Mahathir has the right to ask nevertheless. Two plus two equals four, proven mathematically, no matter if the person saying it has flaws.

After all Najib has nothing to hide. Or has he? Half-hearted  responses like needing more time to prove oneself are lame and self-serving. Six years of patiently watching the over-indulgences of the ruling elites and billions of Ringgit of Rakyat’s money unaccounted for, and the Rakyat (and Mahathir) is instead accused of bad faith in asking!

As a matter of fact I want to thank Mahathir for asking them. They are our questions too. You can accuse Rafizi and Tony Pua for opposing for the sake of opposing, you can’t say that of Mahathir. He can stay silent and ride elegantly into the sunset but for reasons known to myself, he is not. So he is alleged to have personal and ulterior motives like advancing his son’s career. As ridiculous as that seems to me, he might well has. And we will deal with them if they do happen.

Don’t to try to scare us with a bogeyman. And no childish “he was the same” ploys, please Salleh, Ongkili, Rahman and Masing. We are above that. We can discern the truth. Salleh, if Mahathir is using the same tactics as he had used against Abdullah Badawi, it’s his prerogative . Other Hindustani film fans can be distracted with the songs and dance. We focus on the plot.

Someone joins in the chorus warning about a dam bursting and these guys are going to town about that someone having had a burst dam himself. How silly in the context of saving the people downstream

We promise not to blink an eyelid when you will be the first to jump ship when it appears to be sinking. Of course MCA and Liow support Najib whole-heartedly. MCA and Liow would be out in the cold without Najib’s simplistic solutions to our national representation problems.

The BN Backbechers Club is behind Najib it seems. Really? Let us see which side they will scamper to when Juan Ponce Enrile crosses the street to the demonstrators. The BBC touched on Najib’s so-called open and tolerant administration but saying little about the matters being asked about except pleading for more time. BBC, if time is needed, put in some temporary safeguards, otherwise the Forty Thieves would be gone with the loot by the time the t’s are crossed and i’s are dotted.

I repeat. If I have to choose between Najib and Mahathir in the context of asking those questions and for Najib to answer them as the CEO, or else vamoose, I choose Mahathir’s stance any day.

It’s a no-brainer. If the worthy answers do come, we will take it from there, with or without Mahathir. So stop the fog that cloud the issue.