Jan 9, a time to weep for the Pakatan or for Umno?

Come soon, Jan 9, we will know what the ‘Gods’ in Umno have in store for their most feared person on this earth - Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

It would be a miracle if Anwar is not carted away to jail on Jan 9, stripped and photographed after being paraded around for the amusement of on-lookers, locked up and the keys thrown away as Umno leaders want it. The powers-that-be have already pronounced his guilt in the government-controlled mainstream media.

The Judiciary, like the police, has been reduced to a state of subservience to the so-called political masters. Both the Judiciary and police, like other government-related organisations, meekly follow the orders of their political masters and degenerate into becoming branches of Umno and hard-core card-carrying members of the party.

The police for example, 90 per cent composed of members drawn from just one community, is a racist organisation which needs to be disbanded by the United Nations as in Iraq not so long ago and a new one built from scratch, one that is multiracial, neutral, independent, professional and answerable only to Parliament and the King.

Karmic

Karma – the ‘scientific‘ Law of Cause-and-Effect apparently first espoused by the ancient Hindus, and later re-affirmed by the Buddhists who speak of no God in their faith – comes to mind when we ponder over the fate that is in store for Anwar.

However, karma is not the frightening thing that the Brahmins have made it out to be, in order to lord it over the other castes – based on job functions – in perpetuity. The Buddhists too have a negative interpretation of karma and one which has turned the Tibetans, for example, from the fiercest warriors in Asia and the world into imbeciles at the mercy of every passing Tom, Dick and Harry of a conqueror.

Karma, in reality, is neither good nor bad as our human perceptions dictate but neutral. If one believes in God however, one should not believe in karma. God can forgive sins and remove the “punishment” – manifestation of energy in a “negative” form – which one supposedly deserves. However, karma appears to be at work simply because enough people believe in it to make it work.

Anwar can neutralize his karma on Jan 9 by calmly accepting it. The more one fights against one’s karma, the more vicious it turns against one. Even Islam, the faith of Anwar, speaks of submitting oneself to God’s will but that’s another story in negativity.

However, accepting karma does not mean being putting oneself in a negative frame of mind. Far from it, accepting one’s karma to neutralize it can be turned into something dynamic with an explosive potential and power for change and reform.

Jailing the best thing that ever happened to the Pakatan

Anwar being incarcerated on Jan 9, if it comes to that as it looks like on the surface of things, will be the best thing that ever happened to him and the movement for change and reform.

The opposition alliance should accept Anwar’s jailing as a blessing in disguise and count their blessings. That would be a positive take on Karma. The more they are grateful for, the more reasons that they will have in future to be grateful for. They just have to look for the silver lining in the clouds.

Anwar’s jailing, like that of Nelson Mandela in South Africa but for different reasons - a murder -  will hammer in the last nail in the coffin of Umno, the source of all evil in Malaysia.

The issue is not Anwar or his sexual inclinations but the stark reality that Umno faces: all things, good or bad – ugly, beautiful or evil – must come to an end. The only predictable property of the universe is chaos. So, how much more must it be in the affairs of men as prophesized in the Book of Genesis on the tide in the affairs of men . . . a time to be born, a time to die, a time to laugh, a time to weep, a time to plant, a time to reap . . .

Jan 9, on the face of it, is a time to weep for the opposition alliance but, again, not for Anwar to roll over and die.

Students may take to the streets

Anwar has taken the right approach to determine the agenda by going on tour to explain Jan 9. That would help the opposition sow up the votes for the forthcoming General Election, now only expected between late this year and mid-2013. Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who holds Umno’s purse strings, reportedly refuses to contemplate any other date for fear of losing the polls.

It would not be surprising if thousands take to the streets on Jan 9 to express their anger, but hopefully their jubilation, over the Court’s verdict.

What would be really troubling, from a national security standpoint, is if university students all over the country join the street protests in their thousands. Then, it would like the Arab Spring all over again. Events can take a life of their own as evident from Tunisia where the suicide of one man led to the downfall of the government, then in Cairo, next Tripoli, now in Sana’a and next in Damascus.

All hell will break loose if university students join the street protests on Jan 9. The police and armed forces, in their present numbers, would be pushed to the wall even if a relatively modest 100,000 take to the streets Hindraf Makkal Sakthi-style.

The bigger the numbers that pour into the streets, the greater the potential that Umno will fall in three days, not three weeks as in the case of Mubarak in Cairo. There’s the potential that the students will stand up on Jan 9 to be counted.

Not too late for the Judge to wake up

The Court has a historical opportunity of a lifetime on Jan 9 to demonstrate some spine for once and distance itself from Umno. The Judge has the opportunity to be remembered by posterity as a Great Hero of the People and not be universally reviled like the late Augustine Paul who died a disgrace.

It seems that to get promoted these days under Umno, one must have any number of skeletons in the cupboard. This must be for Mahathir’s proverbial Black Book of Everybody’s Sins including that of Prime Minister Mohd Najib Abdul Razak.

Mahathir reckoned wrong if he included Anwar in his Big Black Book. He judges others for the speck in their eyes when he has a beam in his own eyes.

Malaysia Chronicle