ONE MOUNTAIN, TWO TIGERS

Dr Mahathir has to be very careful with the friends he chooses. Remember once the British also made friends with Chin Peng and gang and see what happened after that. As soon as the Japanese surrendered the CPM went on a killing spree.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

It was good that one of the two tigers decided to back down. And in this case it was Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad would probably not have backed down seeing how desperate he has become of late. And if Najib had not backed down instead only God knows what the outcome would have been.

The Chinese say you cannot have two tigers on the same mountain. And that was what yesterday was: two tigers claiming to be king of the same mountain. And if Najib had turned up to face Dr Mahathir to claim kingship of the same mountain one would have had to limp away injured.

And this is the other thing that the Chinese always say: in the end it is all about face. If Dr Mahathir saves face then Najib has to lose face and vice versa. Both cannot save face. Only one can while the other must lose face. And the Chinese will tell you that you make someone lose face at the risk of your life and limb. It is something you do not do if you wish to enjoy a long life.

The Malays, though, look at things a bit differently from the way the Chinese do. While to the Chinese it is all about face and about not to lose face, the Malays are taught from very young that in a confrontation the elder or stronger must beralah to the younger or weaker.

It does not matter whether you are right or wrong. Even if you are right you must make way for someone who is younger, smaller, weaker or less powerful than you. You must also beralah to someone who has eaten more salt than you.

When I was a kid I lost many a quarrel with my younger brother because I was told I, as the elder brother, must always beralah.

In that sense for Najib to turn up and to engage Dr Mahathir in a public shouting match would have worked against him. It does not matter that Najib was invited and Dr Mahathir was not. The issue is Najib is more powerful and Dr Mahathir has eaten more salt. Hence Najib must do the Malay thing and give way.

Yes, I know, I have noticed the comments in the social media by Chinese saying this, that and the other regarding Najib’s failure to turn up at the dialogue session. These Chinese are probably too naïve or too young to remember that each time Malays face Malays in a public confrontation the Chinese end up the victims.

One Chinese even commented that he does not support Dr Mahathir or Najib. He really does not care who wins or who loses the debate (in the first place it was not even a debate but a dialogue). His only interest is to see Malays and Malays fight because he hates Umno.

That is very dangerous thinking. That was what happened in 1969. That was also what happened in Kelantan in 1977. Malays fight Malays and Chinese houses, shops and cars get burned and Chinese lives are lost. So do not wish to see Malays fight Malays because invariably they will lepas geram on the Chinese. In Indonesia it was also Malays fight Malays and thousands upon thousands of Chinese became victims. It is estimated that about 500,000 died.

Anyway, the point is, those 2,500 people who attended the dialogue yesterday were not interested to hear what Najib had to say. Those who were really interested to know about 1MDB have already heard the explanations and one group accepts the explanation and the other does not.

What they wanted yesterday is to see Dr Mahathir and Najib fight like cats and dogs. The 2,500-strong crowd would have clapped, cheered, jeered and booed as Dr Mahathir curses Najib and Najib curses Dr Mahathir back.

This would have lasted for only a few minutes. And then the supporters from both sides would have joined in. And then the heated words would be translated to fisticuffs.

Yes, the crowd was disappointed. They wanted to see Dr Mahathir and Najib scream at each other. They would have been even happier had some of the supporters punched each other or, better still, stick a knife in each other.

But those disappointed people are those who very cowardly stayed at home and did not dare go near the PWTC yesterday. They call Najib a coward while they themselves did not go to the PWTC because they knew it was dangerous and anything can happen in such a volatile situation.

Actually, come to think of it, I really do not mind giving them their wish. They want to see a fight between Malays and Malays and to see blood on the streets. Let us give them that wish and see if they really like it after all. Maybe after this they will shut the fook up and not goad the Malays to fight.

DAP already made PAS fight amongst themselves. Now they want Umno to fight amongst themselves. To the Chinese it is good if the Malays fight amongst themselves because this will make the Malays weak.

Oh, I know, they will raise issues like transparency, good governance, democracy, freedom of speech, and so on, as if they are really fighting for all that bullshit. Those are just lame excuses. The truth is they enjoy seeing Malays fight amongst themselves and they would even support the man they hate the most, Dr Mahathir, to see this happen.

Do you really think the Chinese love Dr Mahathir? They only want to use Dr Mahathir to destroy Umno and once that has happened they will piss on Dr Mahathir’s grave, the father of May 13 and Operasi Lalang as far the Chinese are concerned.

Dr Mahathir has to be very careful with the friends he chooses. Remember once the British also made friends with Chin Peng and gang and see what happened after that. As soon as the Japanese surrendered the CPM went on a killing spree.