YOURSAY | ‘Why resurrect the bad when the good is being trampled on?’

Zaid: Dr M and Anwar must get together

Send in the Clowns: It is long overdue these two political 'foes', Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim, bury their personal grievances.

Surely, they do not want to bring their hatred to their graves?

If United States and Cuba can embrace each other and walk the path of peace, why cannot our two prominent leaders do likewise?

Do we want a Najib Abdul Razak + Abdul Hadi Awang + Ahmad Zahid Hamidi government? Time is not a luxury to a collapsing Malaysia.

Abasir: "...radical Islam and racial politics will destroy this country if not checked." Correct, former minister Zaid Ibrahim.

What is also correct is that the seeds of radical Islam were deftly planted by Anwar while the embers of racial politics were fanned by Mahathir.

And you want these two men to get together, again? That aside, you said something about "good Malay leaders". What's that?

Jaguh: I would say forget the past, Anwar and Dr M included. There is a lot of new and younger blood out there that have no baggage to take Malaysia forward.

Even the Group of 25 Eminent Malays (G25) are past their prime, more so with some disunity shown lately.

Work with the royalties, bring us back to the good old times of the 50s where there was no fight over religion or race.

The Analyser: Personally, I would prefer to put my money on an unproven novice than to invest in either of your two proven failures. Is nobody in this god-obsessed country capable of thinking for themselves?

Dr Suresh Kumar: Zaid seems to be still stuck in a time warp. While recycling our garbage is good for the environment, recycling politicians who have been responsible for the destruction of our values and institutions can never be good for the people.

Are we in such a dearth of right-thinking Malaysians capable of leading the country that we have to fall back on the two 'puritans' who have long passed their expiration dates?

Pray tell me, why should one need to play the race and religion cards to help the Malays to be on par with other races? Why didn’t he help the estate community who are still mired in the virtual cycle of poverty? What is the result today due to the deadly game of one-upmanship played by these two leaders?

And Zaid has the temerity to even think, let alone suggest, that they are the ones left in the country to save us. If this is not an assault on our intelligence, I do not know what is.

ACR: The first sentence in this piece is perhaps the only point I would agree wholly with Zaid. The rest of the article does not take note of history and is not grounded in reality.

Umno's Malay supremacy was evident pre-Merdeka and even in the 60s prior to 1969, though Abdullah Ahmad used the ‘ketuanan’ term in the late 80s.

Just review the Hansard of the exchanges in the House between Syed Jaafar Albar and Mahathir on Umno's side and DR Seenivasagam and Lee Kuan Yew on the other side in the 1963-65 period.

The Malaysian: Sad indeed! Without playing the race card, Mahathir could have inspired many talented Malaysians, including some Malays, to get a solid education from Oxford and Cambridge universities.

Zaid should not be suggesting that Mahathir at 90 years old has got to save the nation together with Anwar, who ideally should be serenely retired and playing with his grandchildren.

Yes, we can't turn the clock back. But we must get back to basics.

Anwar's purported Islamic ‘extreme’ ideology early in his career I can forgive. But Mahathir needs to cleanse his warped mind and remove racial politics in Umno.

Vent: Zaid, you are dead right that “radical Islam and racial politics will destroy this country”!

I also accede to you that “Husam Musa is prime minister material” but only if he turns his back on PAS and that social activists Ambiga Sreenevasan and Maria Chin should step into politics.

But I totally disagree that Mahathir and Anwar can ever “save” this nation, which both have scarred systematically.

Neither sympathy for Anwar’s unwarranted incarceration nor nostalgia for Mahathir’s period of stability should ever blind us to either Anwar’s religious chauvinism or Mahathir’s arrogant authoritarianism.

And don’t even go anyway near that dithering Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and ‘Malay first’ nationalist Muhyiddin Yassin.

Why resurrect the bad when the good is being trampled on? Why don’t you take up the challenge?

You were far much too much competition for Anwar, Azmin Ali and the feeble bunch in PKR. Here’s the chance for you to shine now. Lead the way.

Hang Jebat: Very well said, Zaid. But the ultras in Umno will always be against you.

They are so used to saying "Amin”, with the hands outstretched expecting goodies to fall from Umno, not heaven.

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