Why is UMNO so afraid of team Anwar ?

There is a comforting if untested notion that all this a part of an evolutionary process, and that things will improve with time. The digital world is new, and as of now, a wild unregulated space, without adequate safeguards and requisite social conventions, including a reward and punishment system. This, it can be argued, will inevitably become more rule-bound, as we discover the costs of our freedoms, and some of rabid beaviour on display will get toned down. The rise of populist leaders who feed on anxiety and create divisions have existed before, but history tells us that these are almost always transient phases, a periodic itch that societies scratch furiously, but briefly.

The question is, left to ourselves, will democracies move towards greater individual freedoms and away from divisions based on religion, race and ethnicity? As the hold of the elite weakens, does the politics of democracy becoming a purer version of itself or does it get attracted to its baser side? This is a very big bet to make. Is the emergence of a more populist and strident form of leadership a pointer to our destination, or is it part of our learning curve?

There is enough reason to be pessimistic. Structurally, media- which determines how we see the world by making it visible to us in a particular way, is geared to heighten polarities. Social media resembles an arena where warring tribes engage in relentless hostilities, with ever escalating rancor. The state is increasingly intolerant when it comes to dissent – surveillance and pre-emptive action is on the rise and NGOs worldwide are under pressure. Media, the market and politics are all pointing in the same direction. Each increasingly privileges the desires of people and caters uncritically to these. The big ideas that defined democracies- equality, justice, freedom of expression are all under attack- not from non-democratic forces but from the instruments and processes that are highly democratic.

The effect of media can be imagined in another way too. Theorist Tom Pettit proposed that the last 500 years have been what he termed as the Gutenberg Parenthesis, that began with Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press and continued till the advent of the Internet, which he argues represents a return to a more oral consciousness. The authority of the printed word represented at its pinnacle in the form of the book, is eroding as more oral codes of communication are gaining dominance. We are ‘going forward to the past’ in terms of media and its impact on society. While Pettit sees this as an overthrow of the tyranny of structure as imposed by formalized ideas of knowledge, his formulation could be used to imagine other possibilities.

At its most basic level, the era of print made knowledge more easily accessible and freely circulated. It helped shape a common currency of ideas, some of which were privileged as shared ideals that society must aspire to. The culture fostered by the print world emphasized rationality and logic. It also alienated human beings from the world that they lived in, but this detachment helped foster many of the ideals that have propelled liberal thought. The coming of television and now the internet has meant that we have returned in some form to our oral roots.

If we were to accept this axis of analysis, then it could be argued that liberalism and the idea of modernity that drives it is not an inevitable progression based on the human instinct for freedom, but a development contingent on what the dominant media form of the time is.

To reduce complex social and political phenomena to a single variable is rarely meaningful or useful, but in this case, it poses a question that is both provocative and plausible. The question in effect is whether progressive liberal ideals were an accident of media; an interruption that is now petering out. Recent events of the world might not be part of a cycle, but be indicative of a longer term shift towards a more tribal consciousness. It is too soon to imagine what kind of changes lie in store, for the codes of a digitally powered society are still in the process of being formed. But liberalism as we know it might not merely be under attack, but might possibly not survive the changes that we are seeing. The ideals that democracies take for granted might be up for negotiation, not merely for now but for good. It is not a comforting thought, which is why it is worth thinking about.

In Politics some scripts will play again  escapism is the problem, not the solution
the former Prime Minister–Mahathir was accompanied by PKR deputy president Azmin Ali and former Umno division leader Khairuddin Abu Hassan.  this new alliance in the opposition. While  dismissing those criticisms drenched in schadenfreude, take note of the cogent arguments against the former Prime Minster “hijacking the opposition for his own agenda”. the claim by Bersatu protem committee president Muhyiddin Yassin is merely an assumption and is meant to distract BN, but the ruling coalition would not take the bait.



If former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is really a spent force, then why is UMNO so afraid of him? Furthermore, why is it that most UMNO operatives I talk to fly into paroxysms of rage whenever the subject of political prisoner Anwar Ibrahim is broached?

While personality politics of course plays a role in this matter, the real reason – the most important reason – is that these former UMNO members did what is anathema to UMNO. They split the Malay vote
The wide spectrum of justice can breed paradox.
a good dose of empathy is vital. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, empathy is “the feeling that you understand and share another person’s experiences and emotions”. by the recent upsurge in the Kashmir Valley are asking themselves why voters are so agitated. Here is my empathy thought-experiment on the reasons.
The reconciliatory handshake between former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and jailed PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim - whom he had sacked as his deputy and vilified 18 years ago - is proof that there are truly no permanent enemies in politics, analysts said.
Political analyst Associate Prof Ahmad Ghazali Abu Hassan said he viewed the occasion as a healthy development, and a sign of a matured democracWhile the cordial courtroom meeting between former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and his nemesis Dr Mahathir Mohamad is unprecedented, PKR secretary general Rafizi Ramli said it remains to be seen whether this would have any tangible outcome. READMORE In Politics some scripts will play again