Two days later (15 May 2009) I read P. Gunasegaram's column"COMMENT" in The Star. The title of his comment that day was "Forgetting May 13". He started off by saying " It (May13 incident) rose out of a confluence of unfortunate factors fanned by politicians...." and he went on to say without giving names: " The politics of that era is the realm of his (current PM) predecessor's predecessor, now a ripe 85, who was viewed as a young and upcoming Umno ultra at that time." This is very interesting and amazing. As a young and upcoming young Umno member without holding any major post how he managed to do that.
The question here is what is the point of getting to the bottom of the truth. As P. Gunaegaram put it, it will be better off forgetting May 13 and cutting it out of our memory but with one caveat , history needs to be retold more accurately. To me it is important to get the record straight as it is part of the whole check and balance system so that in future the leaders would take decision with utmost care lest his wrong doing will be exposed and recorded in history.
For Malaysia to achieve greatness and oneness, to me one of the prerequisite is its people is courageous, forthright and open-minded in discussing issues freely to get to a solution which is fair and rational.
4 comments:
In this country you can never have the truth reported and recorded publicly especially it is related to the rich and powerful. Just look at all the nonsenses and lies in the newspapers, this is the main reason why there are so many Malaysian with high blood pressure problem.
You are right. That is why it is very important for all Malaysian to persist until we get the two party system as the first step and eventually achieve an open and democratic system. Hope that we can see this happen during our life time in this earth so that we can live a life that we truely aspire.
Hi Saw! I do not agree with Guna that May 13 should be forgotten or swept under the carpet. May 13 happened. It was part of our history. May 13 should be accurately reflected in the history books, not to the extent of spoking further racial sentiments of course. But politicians in particular and the general public at large can all take a leaf from the unfortunate incident.
Su, you are right. To me a great nation is one its people are brave and confident to admit and learn from mistakes of the past
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