Mistake to rekindle Saiful affair

PKR cannot accuse Umno of using dirty tactics when the former itself is guilty in abundance of doing the same thing.

COMMENT

You would think that after all that he has been through, Anwar Ibrahim understands that he, above every other politician, should lead Pakatan Rakyat away from the gutter level of discourse that passes for politics in our nation.

In this latest twist and turn of the Saiful sodomy saga, we see it all happening again – albeit in a more precarious situation than before for Anwar.

He has already got his “get out of jail” card, so why in the name of common sense does he want to revisit the site of his near political death?

And whatever the outcome of this Saiful Bukhari Azlan’s father’s latest “awakening” is, I believe it will result in no political gain for Anwar, PKR or Pakatan Rakyat.

I do not understand the need for any party within Pakatan Rakyat to resort to the tactics that PKR is now stooping to in revisiting the Saiful sodomy on its own volition.

That was that Sungai Petani PKR MP Johari Abdul who accompanied Saiful’s father, Azlan Mohd Lazim, to the press conference, was it not?

So let nobody deny that PKR is complicit in this disgusting circus of pitting father against son and vice versa.

What are they doing here? Accusing Umno of using gutter politics to try and score cheap points with the Malaysian public and bring Anwar down?

Surely it is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. PKR cannot accuse Umno of using dirty tactics when the former itself is guilty in abundance of doing the same thing.

Visiting the Saiful case serves no purpose for our nation or our people except to remind them again of the abyss our politicking is now drowning in.

You do not have to tarnish the image of Najib and Umno – they have already been doing it to themselves quite adequately.

Why not take the level of political discourse to a more sensible level? Why not challenge Umno and BN on an ideological and political level?

But no, Anwar and PKR prefer to take the low road – gutter politics.

Drama from the father

Already you question the credibility of what this father of Saiful has to say. He mentions Najib’s special officer, Khairil Annas Jusoh, and yet has never met him.

So he tells us that he had stood by his son to provide moral support. So what has changed? Saiful’s morality or his?

He says his son is a good person, so what has changed with Saiful to make him change his mind – or again is it himself that has changed?

And why the change – a sudden rush of religious morality or financial inducements? Do not bring race or religion into this. What has being Malay got to do with it all?

If you talk about religion, then what is more kosher – Saiful taking an oath in the name of Allah that he has been sodomised by DSAI or his father using religion as an excuse of supposedly coming clean.

So his previous statement had been scripted by his son’s lawyer Zamri Idrus? Who is now scripting his statement now?

And why the presence of Johari – that in itself smacks of politics being behind it all, not morality, not religion, not race.

He tells us that the government did not meet with him or even ask his opinion on the case. Why should the government meet with him and discuss the case?

Was it not his son that was sodomised and not he?

And again invoking the name of Allah, he wants to ask for forgiveness from Anwar’s family and from Anwar himself.

Do not use the name of Allah in vain; use it so often and in all circumstances that it no longer has any credibility in announcing your guilt or innocence to any of us – what more to Allah?

And what does Saiful do in the face of all this? He releases a text message and holds a press conference to affirm his previous stand. No drama.

Don’t copy Umno culture

And in all this, DAP and PAS are missing in action, or has gone AWOL. Why? Why is DAP distancing itself from all these shenanigans by PKR?

Is it not obvious? When the shit hits the fan, they do not want to be around!

Private eye P Balasubramaniam, carpet trader Deepak Jaikishan and this father of Saiful are just shit waiting to hit the fan. They are not people who can defend themselves against anything thrown at them by Anwar or PKR.

These are vulnerable and “money talk” individuals who can and will be beaten to their knees by Umno. It is just a matter of how much and when.

You cannot begin to fathom the recess of these people’s minds or the rationale of what they do.

Suffice for me to say that anybody prepared to go down to their levels must be prepared to wallow in the dirt and filth with them.

Those in Umno do so with frightening regularity. When will Anwar and PKR understand that it is not in their long-term interest to do the same?

Leave Umno and the Umno culture behind. If you do not or cannot, then you are one of them. Change you never will! And you must not forget that change is what our people want. You disregard this at your own peril!

So now there will be many who will question my reason for writing this piece. How much have I been paid … blah blah blah… I just have this to say.

Go count the numbers of those who are with you as you stand shoulder to shoulder with those who are prepared to do anything, use any method and go to any lengths for Anything But Umno, and then pause and ask yourself if you actually have the numbers to effect change? The numbers to win this 13th general election for Pakatan Rakyat?

I can tell you that there are simply not enough of you out there who are prepared to accept the devil in place of Umno. We want change but not at any price, not by anyone and certainly not by leaders whose ability to think rationally and responsibly can be questioned.

I for one question the rationality of going back into the lion’s den when you have already been given a “get out of jail” pass.

Leave Saiful and his father alone. Leave Bala alone and certainly leave Deepak alone. When, not if, they implode or when the shit hits the fan, you would not recover in time to regroup and present yourself to the public who are fed up of having to once again forgive and forget that you have been shooting yourself in your own foot time and time again.

Cukuplah Anwar – only you can lose this election for yourself and, to all intents and purposes, you seem to be doing quite well without any help from anyone else.

CT Ali is a reformist who believes in Pakatan Rakyat’s ideologies. He is a FMT columnist.