Republic of virtue, 5/09

Preamble to a Penanti proclamation PDF Print
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Saturday, 09 May 2009 11:26

virtue

Azly Rahman
http://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/

Two scores and ten years ago, our forefathers and foremothers brought forth in this kampong the plan for a just republic that never materialised. We argued and waged peace for a republic of virtue but instead were given a warmongering State of Denial.

We toiled to established a kingdom of peace and tolerance but saw instead the evolution of a dictatorship of plutocracy and totalitarianism. We have become ‘It’ in our journey towards the ‘Thou’. The "I" in us has gone astray, intoxicated by the "it-ness" of things.

Two scores and ten years ago, we thought we had Independence - given on a silver platter by a dying imperial power. But what we got was a state that evolved out of ketuanan Melayu. We wanted Liberty but we got Plutocracy.

Two scores and ten years later we are seeing a country divided, sub-divided, and further sub-divided into tribes and post-industrial tribes. The politics of race have strengthened and inspired the few to plunder and patronise the many. We are seeing chaos disguised in the name of consensus.

We live in an imperfect world. We live in Maya, in the shadow of Plato's cave. We have allowed totalitarianism, corruption, repression, and hedonism to take root in our democratic institutions.

We constantly need to make changes to our institutions, so that democracy will have its breathing space, will evolve, and will flourish in accordance to the laws of Nature.

As the French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau once said: "Everything in good in the hands of the Author of things, everything degenerates in the Hands of Man…"

In Malaysia, imperfection has made us slaves to the policies created out of our prejudices and arrogance, out of our greed and lust for power, and out of our ill-conceived idea of human liberation and economic development.

But let us not despair for even religion has asked us to revolt against the corrupt few; and philosophy has given us the wisdom to tear apart totalitarianism. We must recast our vision and cast off our garments of illusion.

Voices of change

This imperfect world needs more than just incremental change and compromise. It needs radical changes and no compromises. We made that change, sudden yet peaceful and civil, on March 8 last year. It was our Velvet Revolution, inspired by our own sense of non-violence, aided by technologies of cybernetics.

Those hard long years of battling injustices, the sacrifices of those imprisoned without trial, of those humiliated and stripped of their dignity, those brutally beaten, those hunted down on the streets of our cities, those silenced and stupefied in our universities, those sprayed with chemicals, and the voice of the little girl - a child of the Hindraf revolution who brought roses to ask for her father's release - all these violent images of oppression that we do not deserve have taught us to be stronger.

A few days before the Malaysian tsunami that swept away the powerful machinery of the ruling regime, sweeping it to the backyard of our national history, we were battling with this feeling that the regime would still be holding power and will continue to use it to oppress, intimidate, and to rob the people - for another 50 years.

We are now at an exciting historical juncture. No longer are we objects of history; we have become makers of history. History marches on, crafted by those oppressed by their own people.

Let Penanti not be a wait that abandoned us on this dangerous crossroad of history. This victory is already ours. We cannot underestimate our struggle - the struggle of Malaysians regardless of race, class, gender, creed and origin.

This victory will be a gift for our children. This will be the best gift we can leave the next generation in a country where ‘justice’ is put in its proper place.

This is the concept of adil and is what we base our struggle on. This is the concept of bersih, cekap, amanah in the truest sense of the word.

OUR USUAL REMINDER, FOLKS:
While the opinion in the article is mine,
the comments are yours;
present them rationally and ethically.
AND -- SET ALL I.S.A. DETAINEES FREE]

Comments (11)Add Comment
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written by SamSan, May 09, 2009 11:57:38
Hurrah, Che Det's wish is now fullfilled by Najib with the use of brute force to demolish a democratically elected State Government of Perak and thus to rubbish the State Constituion. Now Che Det will go for the jugular of Tun Badawi for exposing Che Det's corrupt practices with the judiciary as evidenced by the solid V.K. Lingam judge and jugdement fixing scandal. All of Tun Badawi's family will be wiped out by Che Det in a matter of time. If I was Tun Badawi and family, I will run quickly to Perth for cover.
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written by ahmadneil, May 09, 2009 12:03:45
The majority in Penanti MUST be widen to show umno and Najib that we, the civilized society ,will not take anything that they tried to force down or throat.
The voters in Penanti MUST translates their anger into votes.umno MUST be buried for good.
Najib is turning umno into a demon.
The mock funeral of Altantuya must start in Penanti.
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written by SamSan, May 09, 2009 12:09:54
This is a special warning to all law abiding citizens who have given up hope on our thoroughly raped and sodomised constitution and rule of law. Che Det is watching and will not spare taking drastic measures behind the scene to quell any future protest or demonstrations by any party including the law fraternity. Che Det's special warning to the law fraternity is don't think just like the law fraternity in Pakistan where you can bring down AMENO dictatorship. Che Det wishes to emphasize that the present AMENO is not the UMNO setup by our founding fathers. As far as Che Det is concerned, our founding father Tunku's legacy is dead and gone. This is a new AMENO bent on being law unto itself. So to all citizens, just abide by what AMENO says and be contented with the tid bits AMENO throws at you and don't try to stop us BN leaders from continuing to steal and plunder ALLah's bounty. ALLah's bounty is only meant for a selected AMENO and BN cronies.
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written by fireduck, May 09, 2009 13:15:21
I've come to love by-elections. We can get to express our displeasure via the by-election. And the votes to be returned must be very high, folks. And make sure the majority is huge. Voice out now.

But my bet is that Najib WILL chicken out or Penanti.
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written by cheekhiaw, May 09, 2009 13:45:31
Thieves, liars and murderers will not reign supreme forever, not even with special rights.

xxx
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written by fairnessforall, May 09, 2009 14:04:28
After what BN did in Perak, I wont be surprised they hold guns to the head of voters in penanti and force them to vote BN. There is no way BN can win and if they do, obviously its through cheating and intimidating the voters.
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written by Fuminari, May 09, 2009 14:11:07
looking at what happened to perak,we must really ask ourselves....hav we really got independence??
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written by Sinewy, May 09, 2009 14:53:26
After the last GE on 8th March 2008, it is funny that on 7 May 2009 the najib gang came out to remind the fair minded malaysian why the voters caused the 308 political upheaval in malaysia against the brutal and tyrannic UMNO. They came that day to remind the fair minded malaysian about the UMNO that totally disregards the people liberty and freedom to choose the government. They came that day to demonstrate how UMNO can use the government institutions to intimidate the people and achieve UMNO's objective by all means, even by force and threat. They came that day to show the people that they are the master of the land and the tax payers are just slaves in their eyes.They came that day to make themselves the lord of the land with only minority support while the majority can go to hell...
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written by educationist, May 09, 2009 15:12:52
As Bkt Gantang was the Perakians rakyat reply to the UMNOputras immoral and unscrupulous ouster of Nizar, so should Penanti be the rakyat's verdict on the shameless abuse of power by all the institutions of the state to evict Siva.
The voice of change must be heard!
The rakyat must not allow the UMNOputras to go unpunished for this affront to the dignity of all rakyat who values fairplay and justice.
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written by EYFF, May 23, 2009 14:38:37
And so, who is the father of Malaysia’s independence?
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While the jury is still out on this. But it sure spawned a lot of bastards and all claiming a share to the throne !

All we can say is not group in Malaya ever fought against the British Colonist for Malaya's independent except Mr Chin Peng!!

How is this patriot, Mr Chin Peng, treated by Malaysia (aka UMNO)!!

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