Rais Yatim: ISA/Guantanamo Hypocrisy, Obfuscating true Malay strength

Firstly, thanks to all who helped make last Sunday’s gathering a peaceful one.. :)

I first saw via The Dandelions, a snippet today by Rais Yatim:

Malaysia hopes to be able to bring home two of its citizens held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp when Barack Obama takes over as the president of the United States in January, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.

“No charges have been brought against them, and this is worse than the ISA (Internal Security Act),” he said after the official presentation of the South East Asia Write Award 2008 winner here.

So how? You want to bring them back from detention without trial in America so that you can…… detain them without trial in Malaysia? Out of the frying pan, into the fire?

This of course prompted me to walk down memory lane. Nik has a quote by Rais during his Semangat 46 days, when he was critical of the ISA to the point of writing strongly against it in his PhD dissertation. Unfortunately, Dr. Rais is no longer a credit to either his research or the doctorate it earned him.

Incidentally, I found this other piece attributed to Rais here, here and here (a piece of yet indeterminate date which, even more incidentally, mentions mention of a secretary of Anwar who was remanded and then released. Hmmm…).

I think this is not an issue around which one can pussyfoot. Zaid Ibrahim, to his credit, understands this. In the latter piece mentioned, Rais also hits Anwar for being inconsistent and silent against the ISA until he was victimised the second time.

I can accept to an extent this criticism. But to obsess about the past while ignoring the present – a present wherein Zaid and Anwar have matched walk with talk – is disingenuous.

In the meantime, trying to get popular by bashing other countries ala Mahathir for injustices (and make no mistake, Guantanamo is an injustice) that one perpetrates in exactly the same way (worse? don’t bluffla) is also lame.

Rais, famous for saying ‘brilliant’ things like women should get permission to travel overseas, has also been doing his own pre-Umno elections posturing – spouting nonsense like the strength of Malays lie in their numbers, adding that:

“Ketuanan Melayu cannot be based on sentiments or through ego politics. Only when we are strong, can we say we are tuan. If we are not, people would not respect us,” he said.

:|

Yes, only strength should be respected. But what strength are you talking about?

Does that mean the bigger the gun I carry, the more respectable I am? Is seeking tuan-ship or dominion over others worthy of respect?

I think it is a willingness to serve as well as accepting the mandate and trust to lead with infinite humility that is strong and respectable.

The strength of the Malays, or that of any other ethnic group for that matter, never lies in numbers or brute force; it is instead reflected in their strength of virtue, their commitment to principle, and the goodness of their hearts.

The strategy of being stronger by having more babies hasn’t really been used since the middle ages (I know Rais is oldlah, but not that old right?).

I don’t remember where I got the impression from, but I used to think Rais was kind of a decent guy. Sigh. Another one bites the dust.

*

On the subject of respectability, this is a good place as any to address some criticisms from way back concerning how rude I was to call our PM “Dollah.”

I think experience should show that I brush of criticism pretty easily. But when someone says I’m rude and don’t respect my elders, of course I have to ambil hati a bit and reflect.

I may not be the most well behaved young man in the world (just ask my parents!), but I think my record as far as respect for elders in the real world…… well, could be worse?

As for terminology. Back when i started this blog, I even used titles for everyone DS here, TS there, Dtk this and that.

After a while, I malas dy.

I have been conditioned against Pak Lah, as it denotes a familiarity that I think is misleading. Abdullah I find too long. So I settled on Dollah (I understand it was fairly common before he became PM. Dollah Kok Lanas was termed to differentiate the two I think?). I often use TDM not so much for the Tun-ship, but because its short.

Disrespectful? You’ll see I also write ‘Anwar.’ Does this mean that when I see my ex-boss, I go “Hey Anwar! How’s it going dude?”

Goodness :P :)

Similarly, if I meet the PM, I’m not going to go “Hey Dollah! How’s it going dude?”

Pushing thirty, I still find it hard to stop calling some people uncle this or aunty that.

But as a writer and regular commentator, it gets a bit odd if you write DS this and TS that… there’s something that just doesn’t quite jive.

So, my conclusion: apologies for any unintended disrespect, thanks to those who defended me; I’ll probably stick to the current norms, and hope ppl will take them in the spirit meant :)