Karpal’s dream goes up in smoke

Writer says former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad has once again outplayed the opposition.

By Karamjit Gill

“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.” – Norman Cousins

For years, we fought for truth. We went into the battlefield with knives, knowing that the enemy on the opposite side had guns. We bled on the streets. We slept on pavements. We painstakingly embraced accountability and brawled for justice. All we wanted was change.

Pakatan Harapan’s latest prime ministerial candidate is nothing but a dagger to the heart. The man BBC once labelled as paranoid and corrupt seems to be the only hope for the opposition glory hunters. Back then, international media said Malaysia under Dr Mahathir Mohamad could not be saved. How right they were.

Malaysia indeed cannot be saved! Embracing the world’s biggest nepotistic kleptocrat for the sake of convenience highlights weaknesses in your own ranks of leadership.

The late Karpal Singh and Nik Aziz fought for decades but never gave up. They patiently stirred mini whirlpools until a tsunami hit the ruling coalition. They toed the lines of truth.

A year before he passed away, Karpal made a promise that should Pakatan win Putrajaya, the first person they would detain was Mahathir. He added that Pakatan would then make Mahathir answer for his 22 years of mismanagement, abuse of power and the great wealth of his sons.

This promise has died together with the great Tiger of Jelutong. Even the plea of Karpal’s daughter will not bring back her father’s dream to save Malaysia.

The current DAP Baru does not believe in accountability. It forgets that glory built on selfish principles is shame and guilt.

The spectacle of being an interim prime minister awaiting a royal pardon for the release of Anwar Ibrahim and then stepping down is as foolish as swimming in a river of crocodiles and expecting not to be eaten. A snake can shed its skin multiple times but it remains a snake.

Mahathir has once again outplayed the opposition in their own backyard. Of the 165 parliamentary seats in the peninsula, PPBM got the lion’s share. By chance, if PPBM is the party that wins the most seats within the opposition in the general election, be assured that Mahathir stepping down for Anwar will remain a dream. Indians, as usual, will be left in oblivion. Hindraf and Mira NewGen Party will probably need to find a new shelter to pursue their feeble politics.

Mahathir is a master at shadow puppetry. The promise of position and glory would sway any individual from opposing him. The few credible ones left will be easily outnumbered. Dr Wan Azizah will easily be overthrown and Mukhriz Mahathir will become the new number two.

If Mahathir is indeed clean and innocent, he would agree to being investigated for all the alleged ill practices. Everybody should be accountable for their actions, be it in the present or the past.

If you think this is blabbering, you would have said exactly the same thing just a few years ago if someone told you Mahathir would be the head of the opposition. Malaysian politicians have reminded us that in Malaysia, anything is indeed boleh!

Take Selangor, for example. Menteri Besar Azmin Ali is yet to sever ties with PAS because this could uproot him as the state chief. Thomas Sowell perfectly described the world of politics when he said, “No one will really understand politics until they understand that politicians are not trying to solve our problems. They are trying to solve their own problems.”

At this rate, I suggest that the opposition slow down on tongue-lashing Najib Razak. If Mahathir does go against the rest upon resuming power, then we might just see Najib being forgiven and being made the leader of the opposition to go against Mahathir. Apparently, such occurrences are normal in Malaysia. We wouldn’t want to be licking our own spit again, would we?

Karamjit Gill is an FMT reader.