January 10, 2018
Malaysia : 92-year-old man with lots of baggage leads the Political Opposition for GE-14
by TK Chua@www.malaysiakini.com
To me, the opposition has more than enough people with prime ministerial material. The issue is us, the people. We are unwilling or incapable of taking risks. We fail to put faith in younger or new people. All we need is a prime minister with a magnanimous heart who hates injustice, is cosmopolitan, egalitarian, and not opulent but simple and frugal.–TK Chua
LETTER | What else is new? The opposition lacks capable leaders and for this reason, they have to depend on a 92-year-old man with lots of baggage to lead.
But I think we Malaysians have failed to critically examine ourselves. Pakatan Harapan put up former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad as its prime ministerial candidate and Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as his deputy PM because we Malaysians are conservative, feudalistic, and unadventurous. We only know how to walk the well-trodden path.
To me, the opposition has more than enough people with prime ministerial material.. The issue is us, the people. We are unwilling or incapable of taking risks. We fail to put faith in younger or new people.
To me, Rafizi Ramli, Azmin Ali, Nurul Izzah Anwar, Mujahid Yusof Rawa, Mat Sabu, Khalid Abdul Samad, Lim Guan Eng, Gobind Singh Deo, Tony Pua and many others are all more than capable of becoming the prime minister of this country. But are we progressive and adventurous enough to accept them?
We do not need a rocket scientist; neither do we need a financial wizard to be the prime minister of Malaysia. In fact, it is dangerous to have a prime minister who is too “smart”. All we need is a prime minister with a magnanimous heart who hates injustice, is cosmopolitan, egalitarian, and not opulent but simple and frugal.
Unfortunately, this is not our focus. Instead, we are more keen to know his racial origin, his gender, his religious credentials, his views on religions, and his stigmas.
I believe if we have a prime minister who is sufficiently honest, all knowledge, expertise and technical issues required of the office will fall in place. A prime minister can always consult and seek the best advice if the motivation is right.
Sometimes I think it is our fault. We can’t articulate clearly what we want. We only want a prime minister who is good in marketing short-term expediency, dishing out temporary goodies, and indulging in religious and racial rhetoric.
Have we ever thought what kind of Malaysia this nation will be if Nurul Izaah, Hannah Yeoh or Kasthuri Patto become the prime minister of Malaysia? Think about it.
T K Chua is a public intellectual whose articles are widely read because he writes with conviction.
Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger 
The Prime Minister should be an intelligent man of integrity and courage with good health. –Din Merican
If Trump can be US President, what makes you think of any man with great integrity and courage with good health be the next PM of Malaysia. If it can happen, I bet a smart dog like CLF can be PM
Dog in latin = Canis Lupus Flamiaris
I suppose by “man” you also include woman.
________________
No. I am referring to Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. –Din Merican
Real world politics …… not surprising after decades of propaganda and indoctrination by the ruling regime of its core constituencies.
with the rope tightening on our necks, we cannot afford to take risks. Forget the liberalism. with a balanced coalition that is our Hobson’s choice.
Dato’ Din, many of my colleagues have expressed to me : it is really strange , why (” WHY ” ) our so-called Leaders are ALWAYS in the habit of choosing half-past-six kind of Candidates to be given high posts , whether Penjawat Awam or so-called YBs , as Ministers & Mentris Besar-kepala to become the home State ‘ Mentris ‘ AND @ Federal level…..? – strange culture , or is it in the DNA …..i often wonder !
Our DNA, maybe not. But, one of our nature Yes. Star Wars always make sense to all culture. There is a reason. For myself, being a little bit humble to accept that we can a little better check and balance system to be put in place would go a long way. That is why I kept on suggesting @BraveNewWorld.
We don’t need Utopian romantics at this juncture of Malusia’s devolution and headlong plunge into the Abyss. We do not have the luxury of ‘Time’ and the Tipping Point draws ever closer. Romanticism and theatrics are only possible if afflicted by terminal disease or when it’s time to meet your Maker.
We need to focus with unrelenting purpose, leadership, firmness and experience.
If being egalitarian, ‘cosmopolitan’, just, faithful, integral and brave, are all that’s needed – then no Malusian qualifies – including Anwar or any of his ‘-ristas’ – and especially not Azmin, Rafizi and their cohorts. We do not need ‘pretty faces’ nor SYTs (sweet young things) who have no governing experience.
So i agree with Mariam:
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2018/01/10/whats-your-alternative-to-mahathir/
MM blog mentioned a lot. One thing she did not mention is that Harapan offer nothing different for the nonMelayu. For the Melayu, things would still be the same. Same DNA. We just get hyped up over nothing. On a more pragmatic side, I can see 1PM and KJ working on throwing PAS into the longkang once they secured their seats, just like how they handled Hindraf. I can also see a side of TunM and DSAI embracing PAS and putting the DAP aside, just like how TunM handled MCA and Gerakan. Most of all, there is a high chance that none of that matters. Curse of May13 would not go away if no major statesman Melayu would stand up to reconcile things.
“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” – George Orwell.
If Harapan is man enough, face your past, so that the next generations would not have to die for your sin, for they would surely will. Welayu.
‘We just get hyped up over nothing.’
WE? Speak for yourself. You’ve no right to comment if you reside elsewhere, have no intention to vote, never served faithfully nor ever paid taxes to the country – as some of us have and continue to do so – whether Bumi or Non.
Nons who remain here, are pragmatic folk. Most of us see Octo as the only one with enough gravitas (whether good or bad) who can truly influence the kampung Malays – who suffer from all sorts of delusions, dependencies and addictions. Not even Anwar, whom i have never fully trusted, can do that. Certainly not the hacks from DAP. And certainly not those who wear Idealism and Vengeance as a badge of honor.
The Malay dilemma was promulgated by Octo – but it’s now morphed into a Malay Trilemma – to sink and drown, float and hope or swim and compete. What Octo offers is a period of reflection and pause – to float, as it were – for the religio-fascist Malays to gradually come to terms their wretched state of denial, entitlement hubris and rent seeking ‘katak di bawah tempurung’ ignorance.
Reestablishment of the rule of law, separation of powers and the instruments of governance based on constitutional preeminence, the Rukun Negara and a properly functioning constitutional monarchy. All which have been subsumed by the wanton, corrupt and devilish machinations of KleptoMO1’s administration.
Octo doesn’t have the luxury of time to carry out any of these, but he will pass on the job to someone else. If it is to be Anwar, whom i doubt has the cojones, so be it. But the CHAIN must be broken first. Octo tied Malusia up, and only he can unshackle us. Ironic, but true.
While a lot of impatient folk want an immediate cure – they don’t know what it means, for the withdrawal symptoms can be severe and deadly. No one here really suffers from the 513 syndrome anymore – except for those who are insanely paranoid and prone to talking to themselves – or the progeny of those who have PTSD and have migrated elsewhere.
So my advice is don’t talk about DNA so glibly, if you have no idea what it really means. It has a habit of mutating..
@CLF: I deserve every rebuke that you mentioned.
The man who most responsible for problems of the nation also is the one who is leading the fight against it. What this is really is Malay INDECISION about what they want and do..The Malay Agenda is by no means defined. Its really about what kind of people the Malays want to be without being sure of what they can be.
Mahathir’s fight is about what HE DOES NOT want – corruption, Najib and theocracy. BUT he really never and is still not defining what the Malays should want. These are questions Mahathir does not answer.
Obviously it’s a touch and go for the PM-in-waiting. The Deputy PM is the right choice. Neither are spring chickens. At 92, his slap would be worse than “his bite”.
“What else is new? The opposition lacks capable leaders and for this reason, they have to depend on a 92-year-old man with lots of baggage to lead.”
Yeah, what else is new? BN lacks capable leaders and for this reason, they have to depend on a thief who stole, yes you said it, billions, not millions from the country’s coffers and a man who waved the keris and threatens his own fellow non-Muslim citizen!
“We fail to put faith in younger or new people.”
The list given may be considered new in terms of PMship but hardly young, except perhaps for Nurul. If I remember rightly, Louis IV was around 16 years old when he became France’s “Sun King.” Qin Shi Huang took over the throne as first emperor of China at around 18. Peter the Great the Tsar of Russia at 24, Elizabeth I of England at 25. Nearer to our time, William Pitt the Younger at 24 (?), Teddy Roosevelt at 42, and Lee Kuan Yew at around 36. Recently Sebastian Kurz became PM of Austria at 31, and our dear leader of North Korea at 33.
Maybe Qin Shi Huang really took hold of China a bit later – from 20 to 23years old or thereabouts. Sorry for the error.
The past brought us to the present
Both do not count
Only the future matters
Let the citizens decide
It takes a crook to catch a crook and deal with the captive. Novices have non role yet. It is not going to be peaceful transition of power change. Iron fist is needed . One has to put aside sentiments and deal with these bunch of Mafia like crooks ruthlessly and TUN is the only person capable with experience to deal with these crooks.
“One has to put aside sentiments and deal with these bunch of Mafia like crooks ruthlessly and TUN is the only person capable with experience to deal with these crooks”.
Just give your votes and blind faith to PH ! Be brave !