— Jacob Sinnathamby
The Malaysian Insider
Nov 29, 2011
NOV 29 — It may sound simplistic but the choice before Malaysians in the coming general election boils down to either good or evil.
And we don’t have to fear evil because evil can never prevail against goodness. You do not have to take my word for this. Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein believed that they could rule forever with an iron fist. They subjugated their own people, threatened them, killed them and struck fear into their hearts with secret police.
But when their time came, they were hunted down like animals and treated with utter contempt, treated nothing more than common criminals. They will be remembered with contempt in history. Contrast that with meek and humble people like Gandhi, Mother Theresa and others who are remembered fondly because of the good works they did and because they carved goodness in the hearts of everyone they met.
These people may not have been rich, backed by the state apparatus or holding senior positions in government but they were men and women of virtue and had goodness in their hearts.
Contrast that with people like Ahmad Maslan, the Umno information chief who today sought to create more division in a country polarised along racial and religious lines. Contrast that also with the state-sponsored demonstrators who were allowed to disturb a peaceful march by lawyers who disagreed with the Peaceful Assembly Bill.
Ahmad Maslan speaks through both sides of his mouth, a common characteristic of the likes of Gaddafi. On one hand, he makes a pitch and says that Umno members should not hurt non-Malays. And then before an Umno audience he says that the DAP are agents of Christianisation. Who gave this man the authority to denigrate Christianity, the religion of many Chinese and Indians and east Malaysians?
He then went on to frighten Malays about the loss of political power? When threatened, this is also what Mubarak, Gaddafi and Saddam did; they painted minorities or foreigners as bogeymen.
Interestingly, these dictators also unleashed supporters against their people who went to the streets with legitimate grouses. In the last days in Tahrir Square, Mubarak’s hoodlums tried to intimidate the people calling for his resignation. They rode horses through the crowds and bashed up leaders of the protest movement.
In Kuala Lumpur and Penang, the state-sponsored thugs come dressed in yellow (aimed at discrediting Bersih) and are tasked with the job of intimidating those who don’t agree with the establishment. Today, they were given the task of disrupting the march by lawyers. Like their counterparts in Egypt and Libya, they never fall afoul of the authorities and don’t have to worry about being arrested.
And I believe that if we are united in our love for this country and belief in each other, these forces of evil and their sponsors in the high positions will not prevail.
History has shown that the meek and good-hearted, guided by our belief in God, can wear the mantle of victory over the forces of evil.
It is up to us to stand up to bullies like Ahmad Maslan.
Our UmnoB/BN demons here r > powerful than HM’bak, MG’fi n SH’sein, NO DIE 1
Rakyat here too compliant n very supportive of UmnoB/BN, very syiok 2 gomen 1
Another syiok syiok diri project: LOW COST carrier terminal KLIA2 2 cost RM3.9 billion fr original projected RM2 billion, almost 100% increase n still counting
Shld hv been ready NOW but delayed till Apr 2013, more time 2 ban ban jiak pa pa lor
Oh yes I agree totally.
Recent events in the mid-east showed us that bombs and bullets could not subdue the egytians, libyans and iraqis. In fact the american learned this very painful lesson in vietnam. With overwhelming firepower advantage the americans thought they could simply bomb the vietnamese into submission. In consequence they wiped out 70% of the vietnamese jungle with explosives and chemicals. Little did they realise that all the atrocities serve only to harden the vietnamese determination to fight on.
So no problem ppl. When bullets, bombs and chemicals cant do the work of protecting the devil, can this piece of sham legislation do better?
Ahmad Maslan is doing a great job for Pakatan by alienating non-Malay voters and compelling them to vote for Pakatan.
///Standing up to BULLETS///
The “Arab Spring” could stand up to police arrests, tortures and even bullets. Look at the Syrians – are they afraid of the bullets? Najib’s tough Peaceful Assembly Bill will not deter true democratic freedom believers.
All PR parliamentarians walked out …when Ibrahim Ali was allowed to speak on the Bill.
That itself shows how low class UMNO b politics has become.
People Power against Evil.
13th GE will be votes from People with responsibilities to country and people.
Change the government voters must…to send a message that UMNO b does not own the country at all.
Their dirty race and religion politics and fooling Malaysians…..to steal as much as they can….days are over.
Anwar talk about “REFORMASI”…..constant and non stop…..Najib came out with “1Malaysia” ….”People First. Performance Now”…keep doing the opposite.
What do you expect UMNO to do ? Apologise for the doubling of costs of KLIA2, or the tripling of costs for Istana Negara ? Apologise for the NFC scandal ? Apologise for the stupidity of their leaders in being misled by MCA in the PKFZ case ?
Nah, they won’t talk about the scandals created again and again. It’s about preserving their right to steal, and hence they must have a bogeyman.
They are fully aware that if they lose the next GE, there will be RCIs on all these scandals, and they all have to run away to the comforts of their mansions in London, Perth or Medan. When thieves are cornered, they will come out with guns blazing.
When thieves are cornered, they will come out with guns blazing.
Except for saifool, who comes out with his water pistol squirting
They are Jerks and giving Malays a bad name. Tunku is crying in his grave.
Today Star headline…Najib tells UMNO b elected guys not to stay on…if they are unpopular with voters.
They must sacrifice and make way for fresh candidates.
Pot calling a kettle black?
And Muhyiddin said to UMNO b members…..
“Do not retreat. Do not sabotage. Do not boycott, do not play dirty, do not close the party’s office during elections and do not stab people from behind.
Do not do anything that will hamper the party’s chance of winning.”
Give you one guess…why they talk like that.
Now that the Penang State Govt has decided to give RM100 a month in aid to its trishaw riders, expect the mat rempits to demand a RM60 aid a month too for them to buy petrol to race along the roads
The (now) Assembly Act will turn out to be a spanner in umno’s own works. That is how I see it.
After 55 years governing the country…Malaysians want a change of government and even the biggest idiot can understand the logic of it…..except these UMNO b politicians.
They are now accusing DAP want to get rid of the Sultans….MCA accuses PAS betraying the Malays…this and that…such low class politics.
Why are the so afraid to loose the 13th GE?…unless they have so much things to hide and exposed when PR takes over.
The more they talk nonsense…using race and religion…the more votes they will loose out to PR.
The new 2 million young voters….want change…and nothing they say or do will make these smart young voters.
These are serious patriots.
Evil (“bullies”) in our context is not personified by singular individuals whether Mubarak Gaddafi or Saddam or any BN/UMNO politician. The writer says “contrast that with people like Ahmad Maslan, the Umno information chief who today sought to create more division in a country polarised along racial and religious lines” and the “state-sponsored demonstrators who were allowed to disturb a peaceful march by lawyers who disagreed with the Peaceful Assembly Bill.” Now why would Ahmad Maslan say (as he said) or state-sponsored demonstrators demonstrate as they did unless it is also true that they have audience or followers??? Therefore evil is, in our context, is a reference more to groups of persons and their attitudes than individual. Attitudes include not just their self interest without a damn to the rest – but also what they say and do to influence and galvanise the attitudes of their audience/followers, inherently receptive to what they say or do. This implies that the singular evil of our time and in our context is prejudice – racial and religious prejudice- amongst swathes of people receptive to racial and religious demagoguery.
[Continuing] if I were right to say that the singular evil of our time and in our context is prejudice – racial and religious prejudice- amongst swathes of people receptive to racial and religious demagoguery, then the writer’s statement “we don’t have to fear evil because evil can never prevail against goodness” is more a triumph of hope over unpleasant facts! For the evidence of history leading till present day, Evil (in sense of racial/religious prejudice) has more often triumphed over the Good than the other way around. One of the advantages of Evil in its fight against the Goodness is that Evil knows no moral bounds. Conscience does not restrain it. Anything goes. This means Evil has more weaponry. Goodness’s main weapon is men’s conscience, qualities of fair play and capacity to be rational and logical. These are in greater deficit amongst people in general than stupidity and prejudice whose limits are almost unlimited! Good can therefore triumph over Evil only if Good employs evil methods- an example what happened (te Reign of Guillotine Terror) in aftermath of French Revolution. Now if one needs Evil to combat Evil in order to be successful then its no more a battle between Good and Evil that we’re talking about!
///History has shown that the meek and good-hearted, guided by our belief in God, can wear the mantle of victory over the forces of evil./// – Jacob Sinnathamby
What you say soothes the soul like balm but nothing you said is supported by History that you mentioned. There are more examples in hostory of how in any single or series of engagement Evil defeats the Meek and Good hearted. In fact Evil uses the name and justification of God to perpetrate its evil deeds successfully. A lot of terrible things have done throughout history by God fearing men led by leaders of Religions. What have you got to say to that?
Our most recent example of how Evil triumphs over goodness by the Meek/Good is how what you described as “the state-sponsored thugs” disrupted successfully the laywers’ march.
The limits of the Good : how many time when confronted by thugs you can prevail on them by appeal to goodness kindness rationality etc? They will pull a knife on you, and before you can open your mouth you’re dead! The only way is that you either run with tail behind your legs or you pull a gun (if you have one) and kill them. Evil then can more often be combated successfully by reciprocal Evil only – seldom by Goodness though its romantric and hopeful to say so.
Like MMK told UmnoB, NO NEED 2 worry 1 lah, NO Arab Spring here 1, mayb MONSOON n then, NO FEAR, all water got rid off by d monsson DRAINS what
Jeffrey:
Are you suggesting that we all give up hope (capitulate to Evil) or we all arm ourselves, become part of Evil, and fight Evil with Evil ?
Your suggestions basically throw out the examples of Gandhi-ji and Nelson Mendela.
“…It is up to us to stand up to bullies like Ahmad Maslan.”
Please do not give too much credit to Ahmad Maslan and call him a bully. He is nothing more than a two bit coward that hides behind that UMNO skirt. On his own he would not the cojones to stand up and declare his position. He is playing to the gallery and scum like him are the court jesters that the likes of Najib and top UMNO leaders loves and uses to do their dirty work. These are the kind of boot lickers that will stoop to any level to curry favour with their bosses. And do not be too bothered with his comments. He is just the mouthpiece for those at the top who wants to make those racist remarks but are unable to do so.
The only people who are racist and prejudiced is our government – I do see kindness amongst the public, e.g. A Chinese lady helping a blind Malay man down a flight of stairs to the bus stop, or a Muslim woman offering her seat to a pregnant Chinese woman on the train. I do not understand why Najib needs the ‘1 Malaysia theme’ for this country to instill such principles and values into people when we already have it! By extension, why do they fear the Opposition taking over for a change? The purpose of new governance is the better the quality of life for the people, not to seek revenge and shame them or Muslims in public eyes into oblivion. In other countries, when one party loses to the other, they gracefully accept their loses, shake hands with the winning party and congratulate them. Over here, we throw darts and stab behind with daggers. I’m really fustrated.
Reference to Godfather’s comments, the question of giving up hope does not arise. This is because it is in the nature of Man not to give up hope. That is why since Kindergarden and in all religious teachings one is taught that Good will always triumph over Evil because if it were not taught that Good will eventually triumph, much fervour and spirit to fight Evil will be sapped and undermined. However to have hopes does not mean one let hope be the master against reality of facts. And reality of facts is there is no such thing as an axiom of truth that in contest berween Good vs Evil, Good always triumph as a matter of fate or karma by reason only because it represents porsitive Good…. Often Evil triumphs The fact is Goodness has its moments of triumph, and so does Evil. In fact, although no one has done a survey, there are likely more cases of Evil triumphs because it is not obstructed by moral compunctions and considerations. And also there are more prejudiced than enlightened people anywhere. But when it triumphs no one wants to rejoice or remember or talk about it.
When the righteous triumphs, there is great elation, and we hear and read about it like Gandhi-ji and Nelson Mendela or when Hilter committed suicide but when the wicked rise to power and triumph men go into hiding and don’t talk about it or cite it as example. For every dictator who was removed with extreme prejudice (Nero, Mussolini, Hitler Gadaffi) there’s probably equal or more of them who lived happily ever after till ripe old age due to natural causes with no one ever talked about them. Look at the present leaders of various dictatorships (Burma, Saudi, North korea etc), and past like Attila the Hun Joseph Stalin, Bad King John of England, Mao, Khomeini Ivan IV Vasilyevich (the Terrible) and many other evil persons (as long as they did not lose in a war against their enemies who exacted revenge). Even Nearer home there’s also dictator who is enjoying relative bliss (up till now) free from harm.Here I like to think we discuss facts and not hope and its importance.
If this country had no Chinese or Indian immigrants, and the Malays constitute over 90 pct of the population (the rest being Indonesians or Cambodians of muslim descent), then I would wager that the Malaysian Spring would have occurred much earlier than the Arab Spring. And those evil people, including the sly fox currently enjoying bliss, would have been strung up at Dataran Merdeka. That would have been a vindication of good against evil.
If Chinese or Indian immigrants were the excuse and cover for abuses to be perpetrated under the banner of race etc then equally – one will never know here – if this country had no Chinese or Indian immigrants, and the Malays constitute over 90 pct of the population (the rest being Indonesians or Cambodians of muslim descent), it is also possible that Malaysian Spring need not have to occur (much less earlier) as there might possibly be far less abuses by elites due to the lack of a convenient cover/pretext.
Democratics princips have good values if it is implemented properly and decisively by a group of prudent -honest- educated politicians regardless of race religions
Look why so chaotic happening all over 26 arab nations,we must understand today globalised countries where religious differences define their politics, greeds and power, >>>DEMOCRACY has no chance then only will encounter autocratic ruling,experience corruption of all sorts, racial minority discrimination ,religious tortues and all kinds of evils greeds everywhere from top to bottom within their political space .
There is Not a single atmospere of peace
like the end of Umno BN.
Its Time for a movement of change through PR leaderships