YOURSAY | 'Bersatu is now almost indistinguishable from Umno, except for a few individuals.'

There are good people in Umno too, says Dr M

Abasir: This has turned out to be the biggest con played on gullible Malaysians since 1957. When compared to this wanton betrayal of trust, 1MDB really amounts to nothing.

The "good ones" referred to by the cunning and utterly ruthless Dr Mahathir Mohamad are directly responsible for encouraging and enabling the following: an irreparably disunited nation poisoned by ketuanan Melayu/Islam; the active and deliberate promotion of mediocrity in every sphere; the breakdown of law and order that enabled, for example, the forced disappearance of citizens and the deaths of thousands in custody; rampant corruption in the uniformed and civil services; the sowing of religious discord by fanatical state-sponsored imams; and the wholesale thieving in the name of "bangsa dan agama".

What is all the more disturbing is that this deception has been perpetrated on the people in the name of "Harapan". The country is truly cursed.

Some questions. If Mahathir had, before May 9, informed Malaysians of his intentions to open Bersatu to these "good ones", a few months down the line, would Pakatan Harapan be where it is today?

Was this manoeuvre to boost his ranks with "good ones" from Umno discussed beforehand with his Harapan partners or has it been a nasty shock for them too?

And finally, by what or whose yardstick does Bersatu determine who is good and who isn't? Is Mahathir's political secretary Muhammad Zahid Md Arip, named in the Isa Samad/Felda charges as a corruption enabler, a shining example of a "good one"?

Vijay47: You cannot be wrong, Mahathir, when you hold that there are good people in Umno. Heck, there would even be bad people in Harapan. It is somewhat assuring for us when you say that the Umno evil will be interred with their bones.

Your first condition - that they must resign from their party - is a given, the problem is the subsequent assessment they would be subject to. How long would the probationary period be and how is the candidate required to perform during such time? By giving total and unreserved support to Harapan?

I would rather that they speak out firmly and openly against ill-advised measures that the government may come out with, which, going by recent stands like Icerd (International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination), would not be a rarity.

A related question for us centres around how non-parliamentarians would be treated. Discards and traitors like Salleh Said Keruak, Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, and Pandikar Amin Mulia come to mind.

Quigonbond: Mahathir, how good can they be? At a fundamental level, they lack the integrity and the courage to demand an investigation into 1MDB. You have personally said that they are all ‘dedak’ (animal feed) eaters.

You’ve once said ‘Melayu mudah lupa’. Is it a case now of ‘Tun mudah lupa’?

You are risking serious contamination of Harapan aspirations, or worse, a reverse takeover by Umno.

How do you ensure that this exodus is the result of your machinations, or are they the operatives of former PM Najib Abdul Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor?

Enough of the political expediency and show as your lasting legacy will be the much-needed moral leadership that Malaysia needs.

Party-hopping is wrong at so many levels. These hoppers did not even say they feel sorry they were duped by Najib and that they felt they had betrayed their voters. They all quit because there is no more money to line their pockets and grease their fat fingers.

Even if the voters made the wrong choice, let them fix their mistake in the next election. If you want to expedite the process, then move for an anti-hopping amendment in the Federal Constitution that triggers by-elections but these hoppers can run again.

If they win under Harapan ticket, they would have shown that they haven’t betrayed their voters, and give hopping the legitimacy it needs. No one can also accuse you of being undemocratic because that person has a chance to contest again.

CKL: With each turn of the lens, the object is coming into sharper focus. Bersatu is now almost indistinguishable from Umno, except for a few individuals like Najib, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Ku Nan (Tengku Adnan).

It is a party of the Malays, for the Malays. Bersatu is not a multiracial reform-minded party like PKR and DAP, or even Amanah. It could well end up with as many MPs as PKR and DAP.

This will pose challenges, especially for prime minister-in-waiting Anwar Ibrahim. Political control will then depend on where Warisan and the Sarawak parties put their loyalties. Interesting times ahead.

Anonymous_b3cdcd05: If there are good people in Umno, they should have supported Tun (Mahathir) when he stood up against the kleptocrat. But none did. Where were the good people Tun speaks of?

That is why Tun had to throw in the towel to the party he formed, and seek the help of Harapan to oust the kleptocrat. Tun must thank the kleptocrat as without him none of the Harapan parties would have accepted him.

Tun was accepted only because of the common monster they wanted to slay. To be fair to Harapan, Tun must give an undertaking that none of the frogs from Umno will be given any role in government.

Mushiro: Tun seems to be setting the rules and changing the rules according to the convenience of Bersatu. He is greedy for Bersatu to expand, by hook or by crook, and take control of Harapan.

Surprisingly, not many PKR, DAP and Amanah leaders are willing to speak up.

Hmmm... Mahathir is not in touch with the grassroots if he thinks that he had a reputation of being “one of the good people in Umno”.

In GE14, the rakyat had to choose between two evils, and they chose what they thought was the lesser evil. Now it is being revealed that the lesser evil is perhaps greater than we thought.

Also, many of the rakyat think that Harapan made a mistake in accepting Bersatu. Now it seems to be increasingly clear that Bersatu is the Umno-BN Trojan horse in Harapan, and that Harapan will likely just become BN 2.0.

A sad day indeed, but the fight for democracy must continue.

Anonymous 9916: Who says Malaysia will ever change? This is proof that some Harapan parties are becoming another BN.

There is no one who can be trusted, whether in Harapan or Umno. Everyone is doing power play to shore up their own positions. These politicians will not have time to take care of the people.

Caripasal: Mahathir, we have never said that you are a good person. I, like many more Harapan supporters, have never voted for you.

We voted for Harapan to win the election, not for you to become the PM. You were there, by chance.

For your information, no one in Umno is good. No one.

Yoursay: Let the ‘good ones’ stay out of Harapan until next GE

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