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Yoursay: 'Leadership by compromise' will spell Harapan's doom
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YOURSAY | 'There is no greater form of humiliation than dressing up cowardice as prudence.'

Umno's gangster politics still prevails in New Malaysia

Anonymous 350791436750385: Judging by the complete submission of Pakatan Harapan to the racists groomed by PAS and Umno who oppose the ratification of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd), we have to conclude that the ruling coalition has a long way to go to understanding how to rule a country effectively and how to handle the lever of power when necessary.

This leadership by compromise will be the beginning of the downfall for Harapan.

If former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak had wanted to ratify Icerd in his time, you could rest assured there would have been no incident, and things would have gone smoothly. Credit where it is due to him and his minions.

Anonymous: Harapan needs to do a complete revamp of the police force and put in place a no-nonsense upright character as the new inspector-general of police. Right now, there are still many in the police force who are beholden to the former regime.

Caripasal: Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has no intention to ratify Icerd. He was merely using the bigoted troops of Umno and PAS to speak on his behalf when he said he would seek opposition opinion.

Mahathir allowed them to instigate the Malays publicly. The police basically did nothing when they stirred up racial issues. Why did the home minister, another Bersatu MP, stay silent too? The entire drama seems well orchestrated, and has gone according to script.

Across the Straits: Defanging Umno is the priority. This tactics of playing up Malay sentiment to show they are still relevant has been the modus operandi. Hasn't Harapan learnt, after so long?

SV: The violence that erupted the last couple of days over the relocation of the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman temple in Subang Jaya, while not directly related to the ratification of Icerd, initially led to very dangerous assumptions before the facts of the case became known.

The Harapan government has to show more decisive action against all provocateurs of violence. And the biggest one that needs to be addressed is social equity – address this and we will see what real national unity can do at a global stage.

Headhunter: Let's face it, Icerd is only the excuse they were looking for. All the while they were hoping for something they could use to trigger tensions, and DAP was in their crosshairs all the time.

Umno is a badly wounded animal, and you know how a wounded animal can be. The fact is that they have been ejected from the gravy train, and their lifeline to unlimited free cash has been cut.

That must have hurt like hell and creating instability is the only option available to them. They don't give a damn if some could perish from their actions.

Legit: The Harapan administration has handled this Icerd issue very poorly. For every minister like Saifuddin Abdullah and P Waythamoorthy, who tried to explain that Icerd has no implications on the Federal Constitution.

On the other hand, we had others like Anwar Ibrahim and Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, who were insistent on not ratifying Icerd. The prime minister was never clear about what he wanted to do with it. The other ministers just kept silent.

Umno and PAS effectively used their gangster tactics to intimidate the government. The Harapan government should resort to the rule of law to act against these thugs; instead, they have shown to be pussycats in the face of thuggery.

Existential Turd: There is no greater form of humiliation than dressing up cowardice as prudence. It is a most perverse kind of self-immolation.

Icerd rally: Umno Youth takes pre-emptive step, gathers lawyers

Cogito Ergo Sum: This is very telling. Anticipating that the protesters at the Dec 8 rally against Icerd will misbehave, Umno Youth has set up a special legal task force, just in case things get out of hand.

They would be better served deploying the battery of lawyers to defend their current and former presidents and other leaders charged with criminal offences. That, and getting their members to stay at home come December.

Anonymous_1538808416: In view of the recent Seafield temple incident, police should really consider revoking the permit for the upcoming rally. They would be entirely justified in doing so, because the timing is too close with the Seafield temple riots and the incident is still fresh in everyone's mind.

Though the Seafield temple riots were not racial in nature, it is still too risky to allow the anti-Icerd rally to proceed, as certain quarters might take advantage of it and turn the so-called celebration into something else.

Police should be strict this time round, revoke the permit and arrest whoever refuses to budge, especially the organisers.

Anonymous 2461031491365771: It only takes one good lawyer to tell you not to do it. With a team of 30 lawyers, it looks like the plan is mischief and riot. So why bother? Better yet, as some have suggested, just hold a kenduri for everyone celebrating the non-ratification of the United Nations treaty. Only in that way will you win.

Anonymous_2dfe64eb: It’s no wonder people like to append the label ‘dumb’ to the former ruling party. There is no upside to the planned rally. If it ends peacefully, it achieves nothing, since the government has already announced that Icerd will not be ratified. If any untoward incident happens, the whole world will blame the rallygoers, no matter how much they may disclaim.

Dingy: This anti-Icerd demonstration is just to camouflage the real objective here – create chaos to overthrow the Harapan government. Changing the government is the only way to drop all the charges against Najib, his wife Rosmah Mansor, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and the rest.

But a democratic change of government can only take place in five years’ time, and by then it would be too late for the courts to find them guilty. It has to happen before the trials begin.

Wira: What is there to celebrate? The recognition of the weakness and shame of the organisers? Take a good look at all those countries that have ratified Icerd. I think people should avoid this shameful event. Let only the leaders attend.

Anonymous_72d8db65: What can you do? There are several leaders from the previous administration awaiting trials and who are under investigation. The stakes for them are very high, and like drowning men, they will do anything to survive, even destroy our nation. Such a pity that all these people – those who buy into the outrage – are being used to do their leaders’ ‘dirty laundry’.

Salam: The only thing this so-called demonstration will demonstrate is the extreme stupidity of those taking part. And how much this lot is willing to waste the valuable time and energy of the police, whose energies are needed to handle other more serious issues.

GMod: Seriously, don’t these people have day jobs and better things to do with their time? Is it any surprise that this country is going backwards when 30 lawyers and all these folk can allocate all this time and effort for a rally that serves no purpose, to protest against something that isn’t even going to be enacted? Time to consider why I bother staying on here.

Justice Now: I wonder if these so-called anti-Icerd groups realise the implications of their actions? An overwhelming majority of the nations of the world have ratified the anti-racial discrimination declaration.

It is one thing to not ratify Icerd, but it is an entirely different matter to affirm racial discrimination. It is like South Africa affirming apartheid. It would tell the world that Malaysians are not the friendly, harmonious people that have been portrayed, but an intolerant and chauvinistic society where the colour of your skin matters more than anything. It is so sad that a small group of people are now defining the identity of Malaysia.

Oxymoronic Tendencies: This just stinks of political mischief. They are going to celebrate that they have nothing to protest about. No longer can Malaysia be considered a moderate Muslim state while the likes of Umno and PAS stir the racial and religious pot daily.

The challenge is how Harapan effectively counters these issues. So far, their handling of the Icerd issue has been a public relations disaster, and the Seafield temple situation doesn’t seem to have been handled any better. These are incisive – nay, divisive – times for the Harapan government.

N1: Evil sours with unholy intention.


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