YOURSAY | ‘Hopefully, you can work for a multi-ethnic, inclusive Malaysia...’.
Manjit Bhatia: When Maszlee Malik was tapped to be the then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's education minister, despite his PhD, he was completely clueless on education and education priorities.
Instead, he tried to stamp his mark by issuing policy diktats on the size of schoolbags and the colour of school shoes and learning Arabic script instead of learning subjects that would advance the prospects of Malaysian children in jobs that will advance the country stuck in a rut. Mahathir's rut to start with, then Najib Abdul Razak's rut because with his wife they allegedly stole public monies.
And here's Maszlee now, having made the only sane decision through his political life to pull out of the dead-as-a-doornail Pejuang with no legs but Malay ‘ketuanan’ nationalist ideology of old.
He says if one has "passion and opportunity", things can happen. I'd like to believe this but I've seen it far too many times, especially in racist, corrupt Malaysia, that it never happens. It can't now. It can't tomorrow.
You can have all the passion you can muster but if one door after another is slammed in your face to spite your nose, you don't have a single jot of opportunity to see your passion materialise.
That's because you aren't part of the gang, as it were. You need the inside lane to get to the spoils that politicians in Malaysia have been milking for decades for themselves at the expense of ordinary people, including - especially - ordinary Malays.
So how will Maszlee reconcile "passion" with "opportunity" in racist, corrupt Malaysia ruled by Perikatan Nasional (PN) politicians? I, certainly, would like to know.
OceanMaster: "Maszlee explained his decision was based on facts garnered through detailed observation and field research on the aspirations and needs of the people."
Maszlee, please share with us what your detailed observation and field research on the aspirations and needs of people are.
Change is constant; so it is good to hear that you now see things differently than when you first stood for election under Bersatu’s banner.
But you also need to provide a broader understanding of your renewed philosophy, as most of us can only remember you for black shoes and Jawi for vernacular school students.
So you can imagine the eagerness and anticipation among the public to hear from the man who now apparently has seen the light.
Jetson: Maszlee is making the right move together with his former party mate, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman. Pejuang is now left with only two main MPs - the father and son.
Mahathir should realise that there is no political future for Pejuang. He is, at the same time, dragging down the future of his son together with its other two remaining MPs.
His time is up. Mahathir has already achieved in life what he started to do. It will be history soon and the future generations that will decide on whether his contributions to the nation were right or wrong.
The other three MPs should think of their own future. If they keep following Mahathir to achieve his personal agenda, then they will be burying their political careers for good.
Ferdtan: It is obvious that Maszlee, a most loyal supporter of Mahathir, is getting frustrated with him; apparently because Mahathir acts unilaterally whatever he thinks fit without bothering to consult with any of his colleagues. He is arrogantly treating his followers as servile subjects.
This is similar to the case when he was Pakatan Harapan’s PM - when he behaved like he was a titular dictator, without respecting opinions/agreements of other partners.
Now Maszlee knows the ugly truth; he was just a mere prawn.
The Way Home: The opportune exit by Maszlee from Pejuang is an emphatic indication of the beginning of the end of Mahathir’s legacy.
Being a long-time loyalist, his departure could not have come at the worst of time when support for the nonagenarian has now shrunk to its lowest with merely four MPs remaining in Parliament to boast of.
Maszlee’s moral compass has steered its rightful course to guide him to avoid the treacherous paths and ignoble terrains undertaken by the self-indulgent Mahathir who admits no wrongs with his biased indoctrination cum practice on race and religion as a means to ensure the survival of his legacy.
Contrary to Mahathir’s high expectation, his much-disgraced legacy will crumble further in the event the two-time former prime minister fails to awaken himself to the harm he has caused to the nation by his treacherous and conniving manipulation.
Mazilamani: Mazlee may be the first to speak about elite politicians whose self-interests come first before the rakyat's interests, but the first to think about it and witness it first hand was Muda leader Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, when he was closely associated with the first family.
The reason they (Maszlee and Syed Saddiq) withdrew from the Pejuang may be kept close to their hearts, but surely, they would have come into knowledge about certain things which they cannot speak about, except to leave the party for their own good and security.
Odysseus: This is a good decision as the old man is going to drag everyone into the abyss. His mind and thinking are full of hatred and too engrossed with Malay-Muslim politics.
He will say and do anything to put himself under the spotlight of racial religious politics. It’s time for him to retire as more and more of his people are abandoning him.
YellowMarline8834: Maszlee, if you still remember when everyone was mocking you when you were the education minister, DAP leaders Lim Kit Siang and Ong Kian Ming still thought that you were a good person but were inexperienced in this game of politicking.
I hope you will choose the right party to soldier on. Being an independent MP is not a good move. Best of luck to you and please do not join Umno or PAS, or crawl back to Bersatu.
Sun: Good move, Maszlee. Hopefully, you can work for a multi-ethnic, inclusive Malaysia devoid of the politics of hatred. You went one-up when you refused to join the current government and its 113 MPs.
Now, you go another notch up when you cut free from the politics of hate of Mahathir. Go another notch higher when you begin to speak for Malaysians as a whole.
People will overlook your early slips, so long as it does not become a fall. Good luck.
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