“But back in 1990 and/or 1999, Malaysians did not act. There are dozens of excuses why they did not act. And all those excuses concern what others did or did not do. They are not about what we did or did not do. We are not to blame. Others are to blame…But how to say, “It is my fault”? How to admit, “I am to blame”? So the Malays blame with the Chinese, the Indians and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak; the Chinese blame the Malays, the Indians and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak; and so on and so forth.” – RPK, in his “Do you feel like kicking yourself?” post.
Last night, Pete, I spoke at the Ceramah in Melaka.
Towards the end of my speech, I apologised to the 1,000-odd people in the audience for my past apathy.
I admitted that I saw what was happening, but was not concerned enough to try and do something about the plunder of my nation and the injustice to my fellow Malaysians.
I told them I was grateful to God for opening my heart to feel the pain and misery of the many who are suffering under an oppressed regime and to give me the strength to now try and atone for my past wrongs.
And I swore, Pete, that, as God is my witness, I will work with the many fine young Malaysians who have stepped forward to remove UMNO and BN from power and return justice back to this nation and her people.
Malays blame the Chinese, the Indians and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak, you say?
Pete, I hope they are making it worth your while to write as you do now.
KTWong87
November 14, 2012
“Pete, I hope they are making it worth your while to write as you do now”…
That turn-coat mercenary still getting under the skins of one and all eh?
At the rate he is going, who knows? Next thing you know, he may even be back here, suitably rehabilitated (with at the most some light rap like a fine and few days/suspended sentence?)… and before you can blink, awarded some datuk-ship together with some juicy consultancy / advisory positions…
Unless the nation is saved already from those infesting Putrajaya currently.
Allen Tan
November 14, 2012
BN wins, RPK can come back. That’s why he must speak well of BN now.
shakuntala
November 15, 2012
1,000 Malaysians at the Ceramah in Melaka ..that’s some attendance for good old, little Melaka.
The ABU message reaching out…..wuenderbar!
Fantastic name…ABU, , so intimate, so affectionately Malaysian.
Why not an ABU ceramah in KL?.
Shakuntala,
KLites are well-informed through the internet.
ABU’s resources need to be used to take the message to those who may not have access to the internet
Taipan
November 15, 2012
When you can rub shoulders with the Lib Dems, sip the best of English tea, dine at the finest restaurant with the best of English cuisine, to chomp on the most expensive cuban cigars, a yacht in Phuket to escape the cold winter, it’s a whole new world out there worthy of all the Pound Sterling.
With such friends as RPK, who needs enemies? Do you feel like kicking yourself now, Haris?
We Stand Together
November 15, 2012
In between the posts where he goes completely off his rocker I see that Pete exhibits some lucidity. This is a good sign. Very good. I was worried that he might be deteriorating.
Pete is giving us a lot of hints. He is being held hostage.
Whitelight
November 15, 2012
Wow Haris your last statement:-
” Pete, I hope they are making it worth your while to write as you do now.”
really caught me by surprise. Just curious is this just your opinion or are you 100% sure?
Anyway I agree with you Pete’s writing has changed over time and I am very concerned about it too. Hope the general readership exercises caution when reading his articles.
wandererAUS
November 15, 2012
Little rajah, you sold your soul to the devils, you have taken us all for a ride….what more do we need to say. What you write is now suspicious and hallow to us. It is not the same with Haris, a principled man, a rare breed and a true Malaysian! I stand by him all the way!
Pete, we can’t match you as a writer but, we certainly cab beat you completely with our integrity and dignity.
Lau Chin Jien
November 15, 2012
Well whether you all like it or not, there are quite a number of people mentioning that they will vote back BN after reading his articles. You can verify it by reading at the comment section.🙂
Bro,
Don’t discount the possibility that they are cybertroopers trying to create the perception of a swing back to BN.
Haing said that, yes, I agree, that there is no room for complacency on our part.
Amaranathan
November 15, 2012
Having read RPK’s mentioned-above article ,as well as others, I am trying to fathom where all ypu commentators have come to the conclusion that he’s swung to the BN or trying to swing everybody else. If anything, in that particular article, he has chastised the general Malaysian population of only knowing how to complain about the Govt. and not do anything about it ( i.e replace the Govt!). Duh, don’t sound to pro-BN to me! And ,if anything, the man is non-aligned, and he chastises the hypocrisy on both sides of the political divide, as well as the rest of the population.’Exercise caution” while reading his articles? How about having an open mind instead, and having faith in your own convictions, and not being afraid or shaken with the differing views of others?
HuaYong
November 15, 2012
i am not open minded at all, my take is petra imply that the malay made / and shall make the right choice not to work along with others to vote out a corrupt regime.
did petra not aware how many of those from the 1990 and 1999 era had returned to umno? and why we should kick ourselves to vote for a better option compare to all this double face? no, we all make the right choice. we will only give our vote to one that persist to the end, even anwar show more perseverance despite his infamous chameleon personality, of course when compare against that petra.
Lau Chin Jien
November 15, 2012
Hi Haris, what you said might be true also and again I agree with you that we on our side should not be slack too. We ought to really stay focused and work harder. I salute your work bro.
thor
November 15, 2012
RPK did his part in the 2008 scheme of things, I would say that much — even if, at the time, I was wary of his diva-like personality and his penchant for turning politics into never-ending episodes of cliffhanging soap opera. With him always as the principal character, of course, wherever the narrative was winding.
In his mind he was always too big to contain, too important not to project into whatever issue it was that he was writing about. He was not negligible of ego. No sir, he was not. At all. It seemed inevitable then that a clash of some sort would transpire down the road. Well, it has. Doesn’t matter what the exact nature of it is. Or why.
It was interesting while it lasted, and now, we bid you adieu, little raja of big pomp.
Sam
November 15, 2012
I feel for you Haris. It’s a long road and the travelling companions are few and a varied lot. Can be really lonely at times.
RPK still has the sharp mind of a well-read, well-exposed debater. But he seems to be loosing the critical ingredient of FOCUS, other than winning any and every debate. This is pretty obvious from his choice of uploads and in his caustic responses to comments.
Talk about ABU, he slams Pakatan as being no better; talk about Malays, he slams Muslims as being out-of-sync; talk about Christianity, he side-steps it as contradictory to history; talk about history, and he says history is written by the victors; talk about “winning”, he counters with “goodness”; talk about “goodness”, and he hides in the wilderness of “no absolutes”. But if there are “no absolutes”, why even bother to initiate a debate? especially if you have doubts as to whether you really exist!!?? This is the black-hole that RPK, like many, many other “thinkers, seems to have got sucked (suckered) into.
Let him be, my friend. It will be the meek who will eventually inherit the earth. Because they alone have experienced the real power of transformation!
Keep your spirits up, bro!
We Stand Together
November 15, 2012
All of these are hints from RPK. He can’t be too blatant about it as I believe he is being held hostage.
However he is trying to tell us how his handlers and jailors think.
Taipan
November 16, 2012
WST ~ Held hostage? By whom? And what?
We Stand Together
November 16, 2012
Well do you know who is providing the funds to keep RPK and his family alive in exile, as well as who is providing the funds to keep his website an ongoing concern? Well they are dictating what he writes and I do not believe they can be considered our friends.
Taipan
November 16, 2012
Sam,
This couldn’t have been more timely. Yes, it’s a long road for ABU but as for Haris, he will never walk alone. We will make sure of that. How then, you may ask but the recent fund drives carried out by ABU and RPK (for Nurul) were enough to convince me. The telling is in the figure itself! It is not that the people love Nurul less but rather they doubted RPK more.
RPK may attract some followers who still perceive him as the white knight in shining armour (sheesh!) but the truth is he has lost his plot and no longer relevant to the cause. A Jekyll and Hyde is what I would describe him now. I’d rather he come clean about it instead of struggling to regain his lost glory. He is taking his followers as fools and this really pissed me off!
Bro,
I know ABU and I will never walk alone.
God bless, bro
Another Anak Bangsa Malaysia
November 15, 2012
RPK is a cantankerous old man who is at war with Azmin Ali and others in PKR.
I tried looking for an old article of his where he said the war would only end when either Azmin Ali or him was destroyed but I was unable to find it, so you will just have to believe me when I say that RPK and Azmin Ali have “issues” they need to solve.
RPK seems to be sweet on Nurul Izzah, though, as evident by his call for fighting funds for her, but then there are few voters who are entirely immune from the charm and good looks of Nurul Izzah.
Has RPK “turned”? Personally, I don’t think so.
His recent writings, say, the last 9 months, seem more a result of the Azmin Ali war than plain ole BN propaganda. Mind you, sometimes it is difficult to tell when he delivering backhanders and brickbats to PKR with his essays and exposes. His hatred and anger for Azmin Ali seems to transcend his sense of nationalism for Malaysia.
Are RPK’s writings still relevant to Malaysian politics? Hm, a difficult question to answer properly but in short, yes. Some of his writings have the capacity to cause friction amongst Malaysians although one has to say that some of his contentions are probably of the “uncomfortable truths” category.
On the other hand, there is much which RPK has written which is just the rehashing of old ideas he has previously toyed with or stuff which are just navel gazing contemplative pap.
Overall, I would rate RPK as a person I would read merely to get another person’s political thinking but I am hardly going to seek inspiration from it as the “fire of nationalism” does not seem to burn as brightly in RPK’s essays any more – sad to say.
S. Menon
November 15, 2012
Quite frankly, Haris, I do not even know why you choose to get upset by, or respond to, his tirades. He thrives on attention, wants to be recognised as a very erudite person and persists in throwing a spanner into the works every chance he gets.
In fact, he reminds me of the bullies we used to have at school. They thrived on attention and got a lot worse whenever they evoked a response. When iognored, they just faded away into the woodwork!
shakuntala
November 15, 2012
Of course we blame ourselves, why ever not?
We did not have the expanse of thought and ideas in the years that Petra Kamaruddin mentions,nor did we have good intentioned and brave [ersons, to give us the impetus to feel, as we do today, that we must once and for all, with all our hearts and souls……………..get rid of the BN government,
Quite honestly, it is never too late, to resolve, like ABU to do this…..as urgently as possible.
.
.
.
….
Ipohgal
November 15, 2012
Empty vessel make the most noise, that’s our RPK.
bigjoe99
November 16, 2012
Political process failure is simply just happens again and again everywhere no matter what the system. Read/listen Ron Paul’s farewell speech to Congress:
http://dinmerican.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/48491/
In the greatest economic engine ever created, the most free country in the world still, political process still fails to terrible consequences. Whereas in America the intellectual leadership has not failed and consequently will eventual lead to resolution, I would not say the same for our country or most country for that matter..
What we have going is not mass movement in real intellectual awakening as ABU represent, but rather a confluence of things – Anwar reentering mainstream politics, the rise of the internet and the simple ending of life-cycle of UMNO’s feudal political-economy.
RPK may have his point that fault is in many quarters BUT what he fail to see is that its not the real point. The real point is that the opportunity is PRECIOUS whatever the blame is past and the fault is present. Many others have made the same mistake include Zaid Ibrahim..
Should the opportunity pass and reform does not happen this time, while eventually it will happen again, the cost will be terrible and it will take a long long time and NEVER WILL HAVE THE SAME POSSIBILITY AGAIN…
Americans are waking up to the realisation of the cost of not listening to wisdom of Ron Paul’s idea and unwilling to pay for their mistake. Do we want to make OUR OWN foolishness and also pay the same terrible cost that we are likely LESS ABLE to fix.
Another Anak Bangsa Malaysia
November 16, 2012
bigjoe99,
I tried reading Ron Paul’s farewell speech but my brain started to overheat and hurt – there is only that much a 1-bit brain can be asked to do🙂
As far as political processes go, I encountered a slightly simpler model which I believe, originally, referred to the Chinese system. Apparently, there are 4 stages in one cycle – revolution, reform, corruption, decay.
The current Chinese system is said to be moving into the corrupt phase, just like it used to be in times gone. The new leadership just elected are going to try to pull the whole she-bang back to the reform stage for obvious reasons.
Now, I am no political scientist so I wouldn’t really know where the Chinese political system would be according to the 4-stage cycle above.
However, it is easy to see that Malaysia has definitely hit the decay stage and revolution, albeit what passes for a revolution Malaysian-style, is now underway.
When a new Government sits in Putrajaya and reforms are being undertaken, I sincerely hope that the corruption phase of this simplistic model can be kept at bay for as long as possible.
Voter Wan Abdullah
November 16, 2012
Thou I dun believe in God..I swear I will work harder to help bring the downfall of BN via cyberspace.
Malaysianatheart
November 16, 2012
Sigh! I wonder why you lot even bother! Hoi, people, wake up! WHATEVER RPK’s motives, whether he is being held hostage or he is in it for the money, or he is in fact just neutral or non-aligned or is just trying to prod Malaysians in the right direction is IRRELEVANT! RPK is IRRELEVANT. Don’t you guys get it?? It matters dick shit what he writes or says or does. The fact that there are so many theories on what his motives are alone is enough reason to distrust him COMPLETELY. Why is it so difficult for Haris to let go? Why man? Why do you insist on trying to bring the dead back to life? What … err … or who …. are you playing at??
We Stand Together
November 17, 2012
This is unacceptable.
Raja Petra should never have had to leave Malaysia in the first place. No matter what we think about him, never forget that his flight is a sign of how corrupt and oppressive the regime in Malaysia is. This is a level of corruption and oppressiveness that goes deeper than surface level iterations of politics.
Raja Petra put pressure on the man who was to be PM. This was about taking the lid off a cover up of a foul murder, and he had to leave the country just so that he wouldn’t be put under the ISA again and again. What do you call something like that?
We can stop lionising and praising people to the high heavens when they say and do what we want, only to tear them down when they don’t. It has not escaped me that we create heroes and martyrs only to salve our consciences and mask our own lack of courage.
Raja Petra will not be forgotten. We MUST make Malaysia safe for him to return to. For that to happen, we know what needs to be done.
shakuntala
November 16, 2012
Think Haris is just answering the guy that’s all….It is like point, counter point. He perhaps is needling him. I often wonder why Haris does not get any answers. In a way, you may be right Malaysianatheart, he may be thinking too that Haris is still after him. Think not, the countering is just so the other can know that what he is saying or trying to insinuate is not correct.
Haris is being personal with him, calling him by his name the other keeps silent.
Think though the other is terribly arrogant and enjoys being followed by Haris.
Mind you we are only guessing, let Haris game him, it would be fun to see the other disappear completely, which hopefully he does…..he can’t come home again!
Shakuntala,
See my last sentence.
Malaysianatheart and so many others seem to have missed that.
What am I telling him and the world at large?
shakuntala
November 17, 2012
Got you Haris,what we dare not cough out….because he was an old, so called hero, what we all safe keep in a corner of our minds,resfusing to really and honestly, say that he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, waiting for the slightest, smallest crack to call us all racists.
You’re telling him….. that he is THE indisputable effing racist, trying to fan flames which sensibly and reasonably, refuse to ignite……
.Hidup ABU!
Phua Kai Lit
November 18, 2012
http://voices.yahoo.com/politicians-narcissistic-personality-disorder-3844054.html