Indeed the PM’s not so long ago war cry that UMNO will fight at all cost – even over crushed bodies and broken bones - to remain in power, is increasingly being observed to the letter. Today, Malaysians are being inundated with all kinds of threats, intimidation and strong-arm tactics to a point where we cannot anymore differentiate truth from lies.
And when truth and lies become clouded with political party priorities and ambitions, a society collapses into the trenches of socio-political and economic failures. The beneficiaries will of course be only those who wield control over the masses.
Murkier by the day
Malaysians are lost as to who to believe. Malaysians are tormented with unrelenting main stream showcased news while the alternate media spews breaking news coming from both extremes of the divide – the opposition party forts and the pro-BN blogs mushrooming around us.
Then to add to the clouding, you have ex-military servicemen and ex-cops telling their versions of political manipulations that betray the very fundamentals of democracy, while the leaders of these supposedly impartial organizations brazenly tell whistle-blowers to shut up or face the consequences.
Till today we do not know who gave the marching orders to blow to smitten the Mongolian national, using C4. Till today we do not know how come the immigration entry and egress records could vanish from the systems of the victim.
Till today we still cannot see justice dawning upon the souls of the two citizens who met their deaths at the MACC premises.
Till today we cannot ripe ourselves off clean from the sordid sodomy trial that is being propped up at great cost of the tax payers’ hard earned money.
Till today we do not know much about the weapons deals running into billions of ringgit.
Till today we know so little about the BMF scandal. Till today we do not see light at the end of the tunnel of the Lingam-gate saga or the MAS –Tajuddin saga.
The missing jigsaw puzzles are just far too many to list here.
Till today we do not know so many things that affect the working rakyat. But increasingly, if you ask it is a crime. If you persist, it is punishable. If you become adamant, you are a traitor of sorts.
Truth and lies not longer any different
Yet so much is being spewed out from the main stream media to pro-UMNO blogs to opposition aligned news sources where we cannot anymore know the truth from the lies. That is a defining danger that nations with good governance attempt to avoid at all cost.
Looks like, we are certainly and fast reaching a point where truth and lies do not matter. What matters is that the rakyat throw their total support for the UMNO / BN political survival and victory without questioning and all hell will not break loose.
That in itself is a sure measure that will sink this nation into a pit that will paralyze us while our neighbors rise to ride the waves of the next socio-politic and economic decade given their fortitude and solidarity for true democracy and civil liberties.
Indeed the days ahead of us are gloomy; unless if we still want to kid ourselves with more smokescreens that hide truth from lies and vice versa.
- J. D. Lovrenciear is a reader of Malaysia Chronicle
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