YOURSAY | Can Anwar remain neutral in Pardons Board role?

Pick your poison? In the Sixties, the Americans doing their periodic bloodletting in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia used a similar argument to rationalize their occupation of those countries and the horrors inflicted on the millions there. The communist bogeyman served them well. In the Eighties and Nineties, Mahathir did the same to terrify the Malays with his dire predictions of the DAP taking over and destroying Tanah Melayu if UMNO loses power. Now we have this frightening scarecrow of PN as the looming alternative if Anwar upsets UMNO by not facilitating the pardoning of the country's most notorious thief. In each of the first two cases, those postulating the "lesser of two evils" theory benefited immensely. In the present case, the reformasi-touting Anwar who lusted after the premiership for at least two decades and who finally got in by conniving with a fellow facing several charges for corrupt acts, stands to gain if he accedes to the demands of the latter. And the argument, if he does as asked goes like this : "its ok, we'd rather have an unrepentant felon freed than give up the illusion of a reformasi government."

Lai Voon Hon11:33 AM, 09 Apr 2023