Pakatan vs BN: No room for reconciliation in Malaysia

One fact is clear, there will be no room for reconciliation in Malaysia. In the event Pakatan Rakyat takes power in this election, the people will demand justice for the crimes that have been committed against them. At which point Pakatan had best not suggest forgiveness or reconciliation for the worst of the BN politicians or their cronies. Or for any of them.

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim has said that he has forgiven the crimes committed against his person and against his long-suffering family. That is his prerogative.

A bitter hatred has developed

Most people in the country, however, will not be so forgiving. There are many who have never been investigated who must be investigated. There are those walking free who deserve to be behind bars, with the key thrown away. The crimes that have been committed against Malaysia cannot be forgotten. The divide between the two political sides in Malaysia has grown too wide. What was once political differences has now evolved into bitter hatred.

The blame for this must rest with the fast-fading Barisan Nasional. In their flailing desperation to hang on to power, they have resorted to the most vile methods. They do not hesitate to pit race against race and religion against religion. Opposition protestors are beaten, brutalized and locked up. Pro-government protestors are encouraged and patted on the back. Thuggish groups like Perkasa are supported by Umno and Umno luminaries like Mahathir. Prosecutions of anti-government figures are based on the flimsiest of reasons, while BN personages get away with murder.

Anwar, viewed as the single most dangerous threat to BN, is being charged on the most blatantly fabricated of charges. Yet there are few who doubt he will be found guilty. And when that happens, the hatred and anger against the BN will go up another notch or more.

They must all be investigated and brought to book

The people are angry and they will not be denied justice. Certainly among those who must be thoroughly investigated is Mahathir, the former Prime Minister. His sons, none of whom were ever known for their intellect, must be investigated for their sudden and incredible Aladdin-like riches. The only genie they ever had was Mahathir.

So must Mahathir’s cabinet colleagues be investigated for their remarkable ability to become suddenly, and fabulously, rich. This would include Samy Vellu, his son Vel Paari, Ling Liong Sik and Taib Mahmud and family, among others. BN’s cronies in the form of connected businessman like Ananda Krishnan, Syed Mokhtar, Francis Yeoh, Quek Leng Chan, Vincent Tan and several others must be investigated in detail in each area of business that they have been involved in; and for every single transaction, license, approval and ‘special’ approval that they have received. As should every politician and civil servant who has been involved with them in any way, for any of their transactions.

An anti-plunder law should be legislated under which those who have plundered the land or abetted in such plundering must be charged in court. Monies, properties and legitimate businesses set up by laundering profits from corrupt entities should be seized. This would include assets held outside Malaysia. Switzerland no longer protects the corrupt, and few other nations do.

But most of all, the people want to see the criminals who have for so long swaggered around the country to be behind bars. . It was ‘Mike’ Manickavasagam, who, feeling the pulse of the nation well in 2008, promised at ceramahs that if Pakatan wins, Samy Vellu would go to jail. This statement would be greeted with wild cheering and clapping. Ask any Malaysian Indian, and he would tell you that he wants to see Samy Vellu in jail, or worse, so deep is the hatred. Seriously, ask them. And ask any Sarawakian, and they will tell you they want Taib to face justice. Not including those who are currently benefiting from the existing corrupt power structure.

Justice must be done

In the past few days we have witnessed a sinister role play between Mahathir and Rahim Noor, an ex-convict and former policeman under Mahathir’s wantonly dictatorial rule. In their stand against Human Rights, we see the kind of evil men that the citizens of Malaysia must face in their fight for a free Malaysia. It also raises again the question of whether Rahim Noor beat up the handcuffed Anwar in a fit of anger, or whether he was instructed to do so. Mahathir is Perkasa’s patron, and Rahim Noor is invited to speak there.

It is clear Malaysia’s BN has learned nothing from the Arab Spring in the Middle East. They appear instead to be intent on taking the approach taken by Gaddafi, to act ever more harshly against their own countryman, still hoping this will frighten their critics into silence. As proof of this, the hardliners like Mahathir and Muhyiddin Yassin seem to be doing all the talking for the BN.

But Newton’s third law is as applicable for human affairs as it is for bodies in motion, and harshness is met now, as it was in Libya, with anger and defiance. An equal and opposite reaction, indeed. Even University students, long silent under the yoke of the draconian Univerities & Colleges Act, are now standing up for themselves.

So for those few oppositionists who talk of reconciliation, they will find that things have gone too far and the cuts are too deep, for any chance of that any more. They should be talking of justice, finally, for the people. That is what the people want.

Malaysia Chronicle