Kash’s World

Ordinary Malaysians must be wondering what the heck is going on. I’m not sure exactly who’s calling the shots in this administration but the sheer amount of flip-flops happening recently appears to confirm the widely held belief that a power struggle is in full blaze.

Or could it be that something unbelievable in Malaysia may have taken place? That some elements of our administrative and security forces may actually be out of control? And that they could be following the orders of some other group?

Consider the evidence

1. The order goes out to ban Malaysia-Today (a not so smart move if I may be the millionth person to say so). Anyway, the minister concerned who should have at least been in the know if he did not actually initiate this move did not know of the ban.
2. Then the order came to lift the ban which was a shock to RPK himself.
3. In between somewhere came advice so rare that no Malaysian appears to know when something similar had happened before. The Malaysian armed forces chief, someone normally so low profile that I bet nine out of ten Malaysians wouldn’t even know his name, weighs in with a dire warning that action was overdue to cool the situation down (my understanding of what he said).
4. The came the arrest of RPK; very deplorable but at least no one can say that it was unexpected given that some people just couldn’t figure out what to do with him. But Theresa Kok & the Sin Chew journalist? That was unbelievable and almost textbook stuff if someone wanted to stir things up instead of cooling the situation. I mean just what good can be achieved by holding them under ISA?
5. Already so confusing but wait, the situation becomes even more surreal. The Sin Chew paper’s reporter Tan Hoon Cheng’s release after less than 24 hours custody is very good news but, excuse me, you don’t arrest someone under the ISA for only 16 hours.
6. It‘s the reason given for Tan’s detention that really makes me wonder just what the heck is going on. Apparently she was arrested for her own safety. I’m not making this up, Malaysiakini reports our Home Minister as saying this. Tan must be the first person ever to be arrested under the ISA ‘for her own safety’. This makes me wonder why the Saiful guy was not arrested under the ISA. After all the police did say he was under police protection.

Sigh. I shiver to think of the reports that must be appearing in the international media. Luckily (for us I mean) Hurricane Ike is taking up lot’s of media time. Otherwise it would be worse, I tell you.

How most Malaysians want the overall situation to end is very easy to guess. But guessing how all this will really end up is much much more tricky.

I think however that it’s going to be the ordinary Malaysians that will decide how it pans out. If everyone stays calm but determined and continues to value harmony above selfish interests, nothing anyone can do will bring us back to the bad days of sixty nine.

No sir, we won’t play that game again. We’ve been down that road for forty years now and see where it got us. It’s time to try something different and radical. Like ‘Ketuanan Rakyat, for instance.

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