Night thoughts for the main man

If this administration did as it promised – you know, uphold transparency and openness – do you think we'd be facing such strife and threat today? If affairs had been conducted above-board, what ammo would any party have against the running of this country? What would it have had to fear?

The people were behind you; the GE remains solid proof. The catch is in the past tense - were; the Sarawak state elections is proof.

Keep The Promise – that was all we wanted, and what we still want now. This was the first and obvious path for Malaysia to take after the crazy hazy years of Mahapolitick. All we wanted was fresh air and clean skies; to breathe again. To breathe easy.

I can tell you, the very blogdom and free media that Zam and Fu so despise is the same world that would have been happier working with you. The paeans were ready to be sung, like the time you sprang the surprise visit at Immigrations, or when you pushed for the Royal Police Commission.

You had it all. A good believable demeanour, a good believeable background, and a good believable rakyat narrative. Nobody expected you to be the know-all and do-all, that's just impossible. But we did expect you to assemble a team of the finest pahlawans available on this land, to bring back credence to politics in Malaysia. We believed.

After all, integrity, being open and transparent was just the beginning. We had hoped to cultivate again the fundamentals of higher civilisation – how to listen, how to discuss, how to see and feel. For one another; not against.

The Promise kept would have paved many, many inroads into our nation's psyche without a single toll-booth. It would have generated high performance without the need for a complex on foreign soil. It would have satisfied a good margin of the 9MP without having spent a single sen.

The Promise was framed simply and could have been realised just as simply. Make integrity, openness and transparency the unshakeable hallmark of the Administration. Bite it and never ever let go. If any party – minister, official, councillor, public servant, judge, family member – reneges on that agreement, remove it. With surgical coldness, remove it. This country is hardly short on capable replacements, you must agree. By the same token, demand the same of us all, the common citizens.

That was all we asked. To carve The Promise with laser determination.

However big the Machinery that preceded you, you could have been equal if not bigger to slay it. See, you had the people with you, lending pure meaning to the adage “The meek shall inherit the earth”. For the first time in a generation, you had the people ready – beyond the crudeness of race, ideology, and creed. Boy, were we ready.

Today, the administration is facing attacks on many fronts. It isn't hard to see why. Information is still stored in silos guarded by ogres from your own appointment, directly or indirectly. They aren't mere Little Napoleons. It is this opacity and stonewalling which create suspicion and contempt. How bad is it? This bad - that the Past, the figure whose era we wanted so badly to surmount, has actually risen again, not back from the dead as a zombie but a living, breathing, spitting, fiery entity. It has always strived on division and suspicion with deadly success and yes, now you are its target.

Will you fight fire with fire?

Will you use threat, close down the very corridors that had always supported your political stand? Will you unfurl the memory of Ops Lallang to restore order and subservience?

Or will you walk towards the battered wall, recite your pledge, and with laser determination, fight fire with water – open the window to The Promise.

Do that, and I – and millions of honest, dedicated Malaysians who want fresh air and clean skies – will be there. And we will stand firm to keep this window open. Is it in you?