A prophet is not accepted in his own hometown?

While the whole of UMNO seem to be conducting themselves in unbecoming behavior, this one healthy being sticks out like a sore thumb. I feel so sorry for you, my dear Datuk Saifuddin.

May Chee Chook Ying

Just recently, a most revered politician from UMNO was flayed for not “embracing his party’s stand and claims”. Embrace a claim??? The upstart who had the gall to tell his own boss off is so typical of those blinded by ambition. Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, the Deputy Higher Education Minister, in my humble opinion, is the ONLY credible person left in UMNO. He is the one who has to save UMNO now and then from the red-hot blushes stemming from their stupid antics and diabolical behavior!

While the commander-in-chief has not had the gumption to face off his equal in the opposition, here we have Datuk Saifuddin going to opposition-led Penang, and charming everyone there with nothing more than his usual dose of honesty, clarity and sincerity. While the whole of UMNO seem to be conducting themselves in unbecoming behavior, this one healthy being sticks out like a sore thumb. I feel so sorry for you, my dear Datuk Saifuddin.

Now and then, you see some headlines in the news that just put you off reading any further. You wonder where all those stupidity came from. Then, when it’s time for Datuk Saifuddin to say his piece, you reassure yourself that all is not lost with Malaysia. In their ravings, his detractors from his own party debase the original struggle of UMNO and what they once stood for. They insult and scorn
what they do not understand, what they know by instinct and the UMNO we now know, is instinctively corrupted to the core! Save for Datuk Saifuddin, of course. He is the silver lining in those clouds carried along by the wind that never bring rain; and his detractors within his own party are like trees without fruit at the end of autumn, twice dead when uprooted.

Over and beyond other truths which people discover, there is a light that is total Truth. This light can neither be dimmed nor divided. You are or you are not with the light. This light does not give knowledge directly but affects the person who acts, lives and walks in the light. Those walking in this light walk in faith and find themselves free from obstacles. So, they are not afraid to speak the truth, the truth as it should be, like our good Datuk here. This faith opens for us a global vision of human reality. Those who walk in darkness dwell in a sectarianism that prevents them embracing others as universal brothers and sisters. The UMNO we know now manifests a deep alienation for logic and truth, and of course, love for their fellow Malaysians. If they are reinventing themselves as “tuans”, then what are the rest of us to them?

I, for one, thought that politicians in power, including those in UMNO, were public servants. Servants, mind you, not masters. Only in Malaysia, public servants behave as if they are public masters. They expect others to pick up their tabs, launder “dirty linen”, shouldering yokes that eat into their flesh, taking the best of the rakyat’s harvests for themselves; the list goes on. Medieval, no? Yet, these clowns
are telling us that we are marching towards 2020, the year we become a developed nation. I could die laughing but it’s tears I shed.

Isn’t a public servant elected on the premise that he is accountable to his electorate, their progress and development? How is it some of our public servants consider their electorate as their “thing”, to use and neglect according to their fancy? To force the way their electorate should think? That they should be “grateful”? Oh, I forgot, these public servants think themselves “tuans”.

By telling the wiser Datuk off, is the upstart saying that we must always support the people in charge, no matter the circumstances? Even when they are accusing some really good people of doing poor Soros’ bidding and helping him set up a puppet regime in Malaysia? I feel really embarrassed to have such news leaving our shores. What must others think of us? Perhaps, the tempurung might be able to shield us from the scorching scorn people from outside Malaysia can pour on us? Insane comedy, alright!

I believe people like the good Datuk know that the Truth forms free people. He also knows that we cannot blindly accept another’s stand without evaluating for ourselves, according to the criterion of the larger good. It’s our responsibility to think for ourselves and however much we criticize what must be criticized, does not make us lesser Malaysians. And however much Datuk Saifuddin is at odds with the present leadership of UMNO, does not make him love UMNO less, or their original stuggle for a better Malaysia. Even if people like the good Datuk are marginalized for their courage in upholding the Truth, they wouldn’t be responsible for the demise of the diseased community. The latter is already in a self-destructive mode. It’s a pity that the majority in UMNO “loves” blindly and sentimentally. Rather, they should love effectively, in a way that can liberate and transform their brothers and sisters from a complacency that can be debilitating.

Progressive people like our good Datuk have emerged from what some would refer to as feudalistic politics. (Hi, Nat!)They are aware that the Malaysian identity has evolved, developed even; situating itself within the realities of the Malaysian context. There has been a constant effort on the part of progressive Malaysians to express what being Malaysian means in the language of our day. We should make good use of this time given to us to advance and to change for the better. Having said that, however, I don’t see many progressive specimens in the powers-that-be. In fact, I see the danger in hanging on to dim-wits or half-wits that sudah lupa that we are now in the 21 st century. These wrinkled prunes are not helping their brothers or sisters to face their true destiny; to realize themselves through their own efforts and to discover they are helpless if they do not first, acknowledge their other brothers and sisters and act with them. These dim-wits and half-wits do not have the wisdom in them (or is it courage) to tell their brothers and sisters the Truth as it is. Instead they make bogeymen out of the Jews, Christians and whatnots. These dim-wits and half-wits are entrenched in the power of delusion, entertaining the likes of themselves with sterile arguments and failed doctrines.

We have, in the likes of Datuk Saifuddin, progressive Malaysian leaders, who act in solidarity with fellow Malaysians. They are aware that their duty is not just to govern the nation alone, but to be an advocate before the Truth; to promote the Truth, encourage love among fellow Malaysians and to establish peaceful relationships. They are the leaven sorely needed for a better Malaysia.

They are not like those upstarts who “mengigau” to be in the company of the best of society, in pursuit of money and power till they isolate themselves from their duty to their electorate. In spite of propounding reforms, I for one, don’t see the shadow of a change. In fact, I see how, with each passing day, the powers-that-be are playing God with our lives by disregarding the conscience and the rights of the common Malaysian. It is said that the real sin is to lose hope but I don’t have any more hope in the present powers-that-be. I just don’t.

God bless, especially progressive Malaysians wanting a better Malaysia, for all.