WHO WILL BELL THE CAT? WHO WILL TELL ANWAR IBRAHIM, KIT SIANG AND GUAN ENG THAT THEIR TIME IS UP?

by e.s. shankar

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wiser, so I am changing myself. Rumi 1207-1273.

It’s an expression from Aesop’s fables. Indeed, who will bell the cat? This is a question that’s on the mind of millions of Malaysians today. Who will dare tell Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s (PKR) Anwar Ibrahim (AI) and Democratic Action Party’s (DAP) Lim Kit Siang (LKS) and Lim Guan Eng (LGE) that their time is up? That it is time for them to hand over the reins of the leadership of their parties and that of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, to others?

We are not asking them to leave their parties but to make way for younger, new leaders at the very top of PKR, DAP and PH. We still need them to win their state and parliamentary seats and guide the youth to defeat UMNO/PN. Their immense experience and political savvy is still necessary to mentor a new prime minister and their team. It’s not that we wish to throw them under the bus just like that or that we are not grateful to them.

Without Anwar’s ‘Reformasi’ protest initiative which began in 1998, no one else would have stood up to challenge Mahathir’s venomous and deadly 22-year quasi-dictatorship and give the Rakyat back their self-respect. No one else could have forged an alliance between PKR and DAP that saw them snatch Selangor and Penang from the evil clutches of UMNO/BN in 2008. They set the stage for the eventual victory of PH in the 2018 general elections. The beast was finally slain!

Who was it who fearlessly challenged in 1987 the untrustworthy, sneaky and Ketuanist Mahathir all the way to the Federal Court over the then RM800 million North-South Toll Highway Project awarded without open tender to suspected UMNO cronies/nominees? Who was then punished vengefully by Mahathir with 2 years in jail without trial at Kamunting Prison, under the Internal Security Act? Who courageously stood up in Parliament in 1994 and questioned Mahathir about a RM6 Billion hole in Bank Negara’s balance sheet and it turned out that Mahathir had covered-up nearly RM30 billion of forex losses? None other than Lim Kit Siang, that’s who! Mahathir had set the country firmly on the road to government approved endemic and systemic corruption which became the culture within the ruling party.

Who was jailed for 12 months in 1998 under the Sedition Act and the Printing Press & Publications Act for exposing statutory rape charges levelled against a chief minister, a matter of huge public interest? Lim Guan Eng.

I have been a supporter of Anwar, Kit Siang, PKR and DAP for as long as I can remember. I owe them a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid. They gave me back my self-esteem. That does not mean that I am blinded by loyalty. Far, from it. I have openly criticized them whenever they strayed off the principled path.

I defended Anwar with my blog posts where I accused Mahathir and Najib of concocting conspiracies, persecution and vendettas against him:

Anwar Ibrahim..why they were conspiracies both times:

When charged, Anwar gave the High Court the perfect alibi. The construction of the Bangsar condo in which the accuser Azizan Abu Bakar had alleged that sexual trysts took place, was not completed and certified fit for occupation until two years later! Attorney General Mohtar then confiscated all of Anwar's diaries. When he found a gap there, he "persuaded" Azizan to "remember" a new date for the charge. Instead of throwing the case out, Judge Augustine Paul incredibly allowed AG Mohtar to amend the charges to 'some day between...in 1993'. That case should not have proceeded beyond that stage as it was clear that witnesses were clearly lying through their eyeteeth and being manipulated by conspirators.

How could it not be viewed as conspiracies when the accusers met the prime ministers, in Mahathir’s case before official investigations began some 5 years after the alleged crime, and in Najib’s case, well before the alleged crime was committed? By then, Mahathir had the Chief Justice sacked and reduced the legal system to shambles, poisoned by corruption. How could Anwar remotely have had a fair trial? So, he spent nearly 20 years of his life in court and about 10 years in jail, disgracefully robbed of his freedom by his political enemies in a country that had sunk to rock bottom in human rights and justice.

So, who shall replace AI, LKS and LGE at the top and form a stunning winning team? Everyone will have their own dream team. Here’s mine for what it’s worth, a nice blend of experience, age and youth:

1. Shafie Apdal (SA, 65)) of Warisan, Sabah as Pakatan Harapan Chief and PM candidate.

2. Nurul Izzah (41) as PKR head and DPM candidate with Rafizi (44) as her deputy.

3. Yeo Bee Yin (38) as DAP head with Anthony Loke (44) as her deputy.

4. The Sarawak Chief Minister as an additional and equal Deputy Prime Minister.

PH lost the government in February 2020 due to the treachery of Mahathir. AI and LGE have reached an impasse with Sarawak and Sabah at the Federal level. There appear to be old wounds which cannot be stitched or healed. They failed to get the 18 seats from Sarawak or 17 from Sabah and lost the golden opportunity to form the new government last week. SA has requested that if AI failed, he be given the chance to get Sarawak and Sabah on PH’s side as one East Malaysian to another and lead PH as the prime ministerial candidate. He has my vote. I cannot recall the last Malay politician who said, as SA did:

We want to develop the nation, not one race or one religion. We must build all the races so that this country can move forward. We must ensure that the Budget will be used for nation-building. Not for building a race. Not for building a religion. This is the way forward for the country.

As for Nurul Izzah, she may or may not realize it, but she has that X-factor, CHARISMA. I reckon that eventually when she makes a bid for the PM post, she will take the country by storm, like a latter-day Eva Peron, Indira Gandhi or Corazon Aquino. All Malaysians will unite behind her like the manic football fans do behind Manchester United, worldwide. She has the potential to become a truly great PM.

I am going for the ladies to take control and lead, as all the men have proven to be lacking in personality, disappointing in performance, indecisive, even wimpish and making all the wrong decisions, stupidly. We need a sea change from the testosterone charged atmosphere of male domination in Malaysian politics. It is the men who have presided over a country that some have accused of being a basket case and a failed state now.

What we need are women like Nurul and Bee Yin to take us down a new, progressive path and a fantastic future. Bee Yin won our hearts and minds during her short stint between 2018-2020 as Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change. Again, that charisma factor is there. Like Nurul, she cuts across race, religion, creed and color.

As for Rafizi, he’s made some poor decisions and taken some bad turns, led down the wrong path by the manipulation of PKR leaders. But, who hasn’t, when younger? That’s the way we learn, from mistakes, stumbling and falling. It took Abraham Lincoln 28 years of failures and setbacks to become the President, among the top 3 greatest in the US. Rafizi has more important qualities. He’s got brains, financial qualifications, numbers savvy, to go with brawns, as he fearlessly exposed the fraud at 1MDB , the RM250 million Cow Condogate fiasco and misgovernance at Tabung Haji. He’s both Finance Minister and DPM material, and one day PM.

Also, no one, including yours truly, is an angel. No one. As the saying goes, ‘let they who have not sinned, be the first to cast the stone’! What I can say about my choices are that they all pass the test of honesty and integrity. That is a heck of a lot more than I can say about the leadership of UMNO/BN and PN.

It is also time for prominent NGO leaders, particularly women, those who led Bersih and others to take the baton and make the charge for liberty, equality and fraternity. They will set the tone for a new breed of honest politician. They may not feel that they have the inclination for politics, but, every seat they win at the general election will be a nail in the coffin for the crooks, thieves, abductors and murderers. Some sacrifices are called for, i.e. national service.

So, dear Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang and Lim Guan Eng, the nation is poised on a knife’s edge. We cannot let the backdoor men rule us for another two years. No way. That is the path to hell. If the situation were the reverse, Ismail Sabri and UMNO will not hesitate to ruthlessly sink you before you could say ‘Jack Rabbit’! They already did that in February 2020 with the Sheraton Hotel Move and last week with the ‘Klepto/Court Cluster deal. These are the same breed of UMNO politicians who put you in jail and are still hatching conspiracies against you. NO CSA, no co-operation, no nothing! How long can anyone be  suckers?

No way will PH be stronger than UMNO/PN two years from now. We need you to press that button and initiate new directions. We need you to take control TODAY. We need you to make that call today. We cannot be playing that same old broken record over and over again. We need you to let Shafie Apdal deliver. And if not Shafie Apdal for PM, then you nevertheless have to come to an agreement with him because PKR and DAP cannot unlock Sabah and Sarawak on their own. You need to offer Sabah and Sarawak carrots - autonomy within a Federal system, better share of oil profits and financial aid.

If not Shafie, Nurul, Bee Yin, Anthony Loke and Rafizi, who? If not here, where? If not today, when?