The Ijok by-elections have dramatically laid bare some 'skeletons from the cupboard' the implications of which, because they are of fundamental significance for the political well-being of our multiracial country, must be immediately rectified and rehabilitated by the winning political party.
The 'skeleton' here is the "Dawn Raid" at the London Stock Market in 1981 that was described with great pride and joy by the PKR candidate Khalid Ibrahim in terms "In mere hours Guthrie had become a Malaysian company".
This pride was rightly so because a newly independent country should assume ownership and take control of its major industries.
The record for this pre-emptive strike at home however was heavily criticized by the Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in the campaign by accusing Khalid of "lying" by not acknowledging the presence of the DPM's father, Tun Razak at the briefing for this takeover.
This accusation was shown to be erroneous, but Najib had a point in mentioning Tun Razak's immense interest in this question. In fact it is well known that the Umno leaders were only convinced of the possibility of this take over by the arguments of JJ Puthucheary in his pioneering book entitled Ownership and Control in the Malayan Economy (1960).