Morality: Anwar versus the BN

It is clear to me that the entire Barisan Nasional propaganda machinery (including those pretending to be the 'Third Force') has gone into full swing to discredit Anwar Ibrahim's character and morality.
In fact, they have gone full speed ahead over the past two years with concentrated attacks on Anwar's alleged liaison with Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

If we add the 1998 allegations made by Azizan Abu Bakar and Co, it would be more than enough for the people to form an opinion about whether or not they believe all these allegations.
We also have videos of Anwar allegedly having sex with women other than his wife - these too had gone on for over a year and there are now threats that more videos will be released.

Why has the BN decided to continue with the same exposé over and over again over so many years?

"Anwar's sexuality!" they say repeatedly, and yet Anwar remains as popular as ever, if not more so.

None of it makes sense. Malaysians have obviously already formed their opinion about Anwar. I can only surmise that the BN's soldiers are still after Anwar because he remains popular, and they fear that somehow he will still be the leader that the people want to lead the nation.

But if the BN persists in repeating the same failure, which is, to discredit Anwar through sexuality, then I must conclude that the BN has gone completely insane.

Only insane people do the same thing many times over and expect different results.

Malaysians have had enough of the exposés of Anwar's private life. What they want are new exposés of BN leaders when the Opposition comes to power.
The people are, at least, very curious about how upright and noble our BN leaders have been all these years and (given the way things are) the only way they can find out is to vote the Opposition into power.
Politicians must be subject to exposés
I belive that politicians must be subject to exposés if they have done something wrong. This is the right and proper price to pay for wanting to take on a public role. If you want to be a public figure, the public has the right to scrutinise every aspect of your life.

Only a few days ago, I too received an SMS from an influential person who owns an Internet portal. He told me that I too would have my "misdeeds" exposed if I am not careful. Well, it looks to me as if my experience in the Hulu Selangor by-election was just a prelude to a grand soap opera.

The unfortunate thing in our country is not that leaders are flawed - leaders are human: in any other country and at any time, no leader is perfect. The problem with us is that only Opposition politicians are targeted by political mercenaries and the mainstream media who chase after whatever "exposés" they can get their hands on.

On the other hand, those in the BN who are well connected, or who occupy high positions, get full protection and even "defences".

The law and the principles of justice obviously work differently in our country. This is the result of a skewed and obnoxious "morality" that we have come to accept as a virtue.

To make things worse, the BN has not troubled itself to set good examples: where is the morality of using one's political power and influence to enrich oneself or one's spouse or one's children? Where is the morality in toppling a democratically-elected government through inducement and fear?

Is this really the "morality" that the BN expects the rakyat to buy into?

The rakyat will in fact have a chance to decide the matter for themselves in the coming general election. Maybe they will ask one another if the morality and misdeeds of Opposition leaders are worse and more intolerable than those of BN leaders.

It is difficult to say what will be important to each individual, but what is certain is that we all have different tastes and different takes on what constitutes "acceptable" and "moral" action in public and in private.

We are all entitled to our private opinions. What offends me is the hateful and hypocritical behaviour of those tasked with shaming and ridiculing the opposition leaders. These chest-thumping heroes do so without limit, without any human pity and without even a little drop of justice and fairness flowing in their veins.

But God is great, as we always hear at ceramah sessions. And God Knows All.

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ZAID IBRAHIM is a prominent lawyer and a former Umno minister. He is now president of Kita.