Blogger strike? No, so let’s get it on

The circumstances in which both SD1 and SD2 have come about depict a sad state of affairs.

A complete break down of Rule of Law.

Not even rule by law, but by plain lawlessness.

The incessant discussions in cyberspace now on the merits or otherwise of either SD tells me one thing : a total loss of confidence in our system of administration of justice.

SD1 and SD2 reminds me of the events of 1998.

Remember Sukma being taken into custody and shortly after pleading guilty, only later to cry foul that he had been bullied into confessing to a crime he says he never did?

Remember Munawar?

Nallakarruppan?

Remember how Anwar’s corruption trial turned principally on police testimony of their ‘turning over’ witnesses?

Yes, it sickens, as much now as it did then in 1998.

So why do we find ourselves re-visited by this curse?

Or did it never leave us?

What, could we then do nothing to nip this cancer in its infancy?

Powerless?

Or we chose to look away? We did not want to know? We had our lives, our children, our jobs, our friends?

We were not found wanting, and so we did nothing, and in the comfort of our own little world, we fashioned our justifications for doing nothing, without any thought for the have-nots who were just too busy trying to make it through the day to give a thought to what was happening.

What did we do then, in 1998?

I’m ashamed to say I did nothing.

And so, in 1998, in the battle that ensued for political power between the doyen and his recalcitrant understudy, as we looked away, our institutions fell by the wayside, one by one.

Nothing was spared.

Not the judiciary, not the prosecution, and not the police.

In total shambles.

Because we looked away.

I can never undo the sin of my silence.

All I can do is to never go that way again.

To never look away again.

Yesterday, this blog carried a hard-hitting post.

I struggled with it because I know Marina and, yes, on a personal level, I do like her.

And yet, as I read and re-read Marina’s post to decide whether to post Helen’s piece, 1998 came back to haunt me.

That we all looked away.

Marina wrote that she does not ‘have time to keep up with all these shenanigans’.

Well, I fear that these ’shenanigans’ are the clearest signs that, post 8th March, nothing has really changed and that we, as a nation, are slowly slipping into a dark dismal abyss from which we may never be able to extricate ourselves.

As Thor said in a comment at 3.19pm to that post :

‘…should we all turn our backs on what is happening now as if none of it concerns us? that all this is is just two politicians and their supporters mud-slinging? like i said earlier, there is a real crisis of confidence in our public institutions, the police, the judiciary, the AG’s office etc etc. it is all tied up with the acrimony between anwar and najib. and it is all very much a legacy of the old doctor who will not behave like a statesman. we switch off on all of this — at her & the star’s behest — at our own peril’

I approved the post never intending it to be hurtful, but realising that, for me, it said what needed to be said.

It became the voice of those who never have enough and so cannot give their time in this ongoing fight to reclaim this country for its people, appealing to you and I that, we, who do not go wanting for anything, should not look away.

Michelle, commenting to that post at 10.22am today, said :

‘As it says on the quote on the banner, we are here in our efforts to become law-makers and that’s how, or rather the point of People’s Parliament, taking back the power from our so-called benefactors and realising that we have a say in this government, as the rakyat…What can we, the members of People’s Parliament, get out of this post? Because, this isn’t a personal blog. It is a community blog, it is run by Haris and moderated by him, but he has always maintained it to be a platform for all.

Michelle is right on all counts.

This blog has never been about me, and it has been about taking back this nation for its people.

All its people.

What, Michelle asks, can we take from yesterday’s post?

Do not look away.

As I post on this blog for you, and I moderate on this blog for you, if there were any shortcomings in that post yesterday in the way that it was said, I apologise. I moderated it and so I had the final say.

For its content, though, I offer no apology. I stand by it.

I would like to move on from that post, please.

We have a nation to take back and to govern.