WHY YOU CAN’T DEFEAT NAJIB BY ABUSING CYBERSPACE AND USING MONSTERS OF YESTERYEAR

Umar Mukhtar

Why is it so difficult to defeat Prime Minter Najib Razak if it is true that he is a crook? Is it because he plays foul? But what would you expect from a so-called crook. You claim he uses the power of incumbency to unfairly insulate himself and pays off supporters to parrot ridiculous soundbites? And even threaten detractors with laws that make democracy a joke?

But wouldn’t you do that if you are fighting for your political survival? That is par for the course. On the one hand, you bitch that he is a terrible monster and on the other hand, you seem to expect gentlemanliness and fair-play from him. You complain that a democratic PM should not be like that. What do you expect from someone you just deem to be a monster? Everything is fair game to him.

Let me tell you what the right-thinking Malaysians expect from you the democratic, honest-to-goodness repressed good guys so concerned about the truth for the fear of God. Your fight too has credibility problems. What you allege may very well be true, but you had to spoil your honest-to-goodness image of a crusade with sleazy characters who habitually do not give a shit about the truth.

Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Sanusi Junid, Daim Zainuddin, Muhyiddin Yasin, Zainuddin Maidin, Kadir Jasin are from that gallery of rogues which Lim Kit Siang practised throwing darts at, just a few years ago. Now he upholds their credibility by proposing that Mahathir leads the fight against Najib’s so-called shenanigans as if he is a paragon of virtue.

Is this fight about one-up-manship, or the uprightness of truth, justice and fair-play? Or is it just a convenient opportunity for LKS to be in play; for society not to be stable so as to make LKS’ presence relevant? Just as the truth is not much of a concern to Mahathir & co. as long as he is able to roll over Najib?

Many of us cringe at the thought of Mahathir leading a fight for the truth. He does not qualify – pure and simple. The thought of Mahathir cleansing himself of his heinous sins out of this 1MDB episode alienates many of us away from the fight. But you need us – people who will sooner kick Mahathir & co. out of our victory celebrations together with those minnows who think the ends justify the means – spreading false news to exaggerate the acuteness of an already critical situation.

The outrageous lies in the social media assume that we are that gullible. But they impact on your credibility more. Sure it may make the converted and the prejudiced happy to jump and swallow them hook, line and sinker, but we are more discerning than that. Especially when we realise that these lies are from the same sources that promote racial hatred and wrongly highlight events as if silliness and stupidity are endemic to just one race.

Sure enough, Malaysians may have to choose between the lesser of the two evils. But the definition of evil is now broaden to more than just corruption, by the presence of such silly acts. Rightly or wrongly, it may be perceived to include racial superiority and prejudices – exactly the way corrupt opportunists want it to be so that they can hide behind that facade. So why don’t we remove these bastards from the equation so that we can call a spade a spade.

An open and shut case has become complicated by extraneous issues. You can go ahead without us then. Seek foreign help as if throughout history they meant nothing but goodness for us every time. Be careful, they may exactly turn out to be your worst fears by conveniently teaming up with the government in power in exchange of something that they want.

Only Malaysians count, especially those who can see through Mahathir’s antics. And there are many of us. No, we are not stupid but twenty-two years of Mahathir’s rule was enough of a learning curve. And we have long memories. God willing, the truth shall prevail, if not in a court of law or in the court of public opinion, maybe at PRU14 before the statute of limitations run out.