YOURSAY | Between a stifling humid room and a frying pan

YOURSAY | ‘I choose the stifling humid room any day.’

COMMENT | Zahid the lesser of two evils?

BusinessFirst: I cannot think of any reasonable Pakatan Harapan supporter who is happy with what we are facing today but what choice have we got?

It is either Umno with Pakatan Harapan or Perikatan Nasional with PAS and Bersatu, even if I do not buy into the racist and religious extremism argument, which by the way I believe is justified.

From a business point of view, how they managed the economy was a disaster.

If they ran Malaysia for another five years the ringgit will probably collapse through their sheer incompetence.

As it is, the ringgit is already under pressure due to the present worldwide economic situation.

Hence, I think if there were another better coalition, most would drop our current PKR-led administration.

Between a stifling humid room and the frying pan, I choose the stifling humid room any day.

Where we are now is choosing the lesser of two evils.

Man on the Silver Mountain: The inevitable, dreaded nightmare, finally happened.

Harapan, specifically Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, made that deal with Umno, specifically its president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Probably, everybody knew what would happen, except of course for those who wanted to lie to themselves.

Nevertheless, make no mistake about it, people knew what was on the table.

The stark truth in everyone’s mouth was that anything else was better than the Bersatu-PAS combo, extremist racial and religious fanatics.

With them, there was simply no place for anybody other than themselves, not for non-Malays, which was obvious, or the Malays, and that depended on how you saw it.

It was a foregone conclusion that Zahid would be freed. When it finally came, the method was callous, expected, and made you sick to the stomach.

They had no choice though. You cannot withdraw a prima facie case, whatmore a very high-profile one without facing intense criticism and scrutinisation. And rightly so.

That makes it just sickening. If the trial was allowed to carry on and the judge made a verdict of innocence, then it is probably a softer blow to the mental faculty.

So, that leaves us where we are now. For those who banked on Anwar to be the saviour of the nation, they probably did it because there were no better alternatives.

He was all that they got. Like how they propped up former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to be Harapan PM.

They did the same to Anwar, hoping that his bad experiences which included defeat and incarceration, would change him.

Alas, people say a leopard will not change its spots.

The people are put to ransom once more. They do not have much of a choice because yes, it is between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Anonymous_47029368: Do we have to tolerate the lesser evil to avoid the bigger evil? The type of silly arguments so far propagated by sycophants to fool people into continuing to accept the “lesser” evil.

Corruption is a big evil and can bankrupt and destroy the country. Remember the 1MDB scandal that could have bankrupted this country if continued to be covered up?

The nation still has to bear billions of debts for years to come. If we “tolerate” corruption at the top, the government will have totally lost all its moral standing in the future to deal with corruption at all levels.

Thus, the people, regardless of race and religion, must send a strong and unequivocal message to Anwar’s “Madani” government that there must be zero tolerance for corruption, more so at the very top.

Remember that when poison kills, don’t ever fool and tell the people that they can take it because it is less lethal.

Karnak: There are many, many ways to skin a cat.

I have, by now, heard all manner of conspiracy theories, including one in which Zahid was hit with these charges because he refused to dissolve Umno.

But let's get something straight, here - Wrong is wrong. Illegal is illegal. Unjust is unjust.

If Zahid was indeed wronged, he can have his day in court. If the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) was pressured into bringing charges, we can examine the charges and evidence - the judge is there to do that.

If Zahid was not wronged, imagine what message this sends.

And I would like to point out, that just because accusations and allegations are hurled by parties with a vested interest to see Zahid's downfall, this does not mean there was no wrongdoing.

And even if you revert to a realpolitik argument, as you have, what is the practical effect of Zahid’s discharge? Haven’t you read the comments on Malaysiakini? Well, how's that for the lesser of two evils?

MS: “Maybe letting Zahid go is the ‘less evil’ option? So that some good ministers like Rafizi Ramli (economy) and Anthony Loke (transport) can keep working to fix this country?”

As it is, foreign investment seems to be surging ahead after just nine months under the current government.

The “lesser evil” fallacy has been exposed over the years and for Andrew Sia to bandy it here is simply nonsensical if not puerile.

We know what happens if we apply the lesser-of-two-evils excuse over and over again as this compromised government has done.

It pushes all meaningful reform policies which includes anti-corruption initiatives off the political agenda.

If nominally progressive parties like the once vociferous and now subservient DAP can be taken for granted, anyone who cares about good governance will lose any incentive to move in the direction they promised.

For us to support the so-called lesser of two evils, under these conditions, is to validate something verging on a sham democracy, a normalised kleptocracy - which in simple terms is really a power struggle between two factions of the ruling Malay elite.

Mugi: PN leaders like Muhyiddin Yassin and PAS’ Abdul Hadi Awang should welcome Zahid's DNAA with open arms.

Now is the opportunity for supporters of the unity government and Anwar to swing their votes if PN can shift their rhetoric to the middle.

Malaysian politics is a pendulum, it swings. Many non-Malays support something in the middle.

If the DAP is not careful and does not take any action, it will become MCA 2.0 while PAS and Bersatu reap their rewards at DAP’s expense.

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