Do or Die battle!

Hardly a week has passed and resistance to PM within his own turf is surfacing. UM, the party paper, has suggested that the spirits of ISA be retained in the new laws to be enacted.

 Perkasa, has also begun pressuring the PM by saying that the new laws should not differ much from ISA.

The Old Horse gave support to abolishing the law, but then in the same breath , he is talking about extremists surfacing when ISA is done away.

All these are subtle signs of sabotage. These acts will make people skeptical of the PM’s move.

As Pak Lah has mentioned, there will be resistance from within, as was in his time. I believe that many instances during Pak Lah’s Premiership, his ministers and many top civil servants acted without his prior knowledge, like arresting people under ISA for protection. Many of the flip-flopping acts were due to huge resistance from inside too.

The war has started, and I expect the hardliners to slowly and steadily chip away PM’s support base, by saying or doing things that would be contrary to what he has promised.

The new laws are being drafted and we would not know what it would be. Do not discount the possibilities of those officers drafting the laws to adopt passive sabotage, such as delaying tactic.

I hope that the PM realises that once he has made the announcement, he has no more room to maneuvre. If the new laws are just repackaging, or what i like to call old wine in new bottle, whatever  credibility he has left would be gone. He has to keep to the spirits of his announcement that there would be more liberal and open society if he wants to gain support from the middle ground and keep his position intact in UMNO.

This reminds me of the story of Xiang Yu, who was a general in the Qin Dynasty (around 200BC). In one of his battles against the enemy, which outnumbered him 20 to 1 and which had his army surrounded against the bank of a river, he ordered his men to destroy all boats and all but 3 days of rations, and all cooking utensils. His men knew that if their only way to survive would be to defeat the overwhelming enemy army facing them, since so with a ferocity seldom seen in battles, their men fought their way forward and overran their enemies. This has become a classic legend in the History of China and a classic move in military strategy books.

I think PM must visualise himself as being pinned against the river, and thus has to push through what he promised on the eve of Malaysia Day. To go back on his word would be political suicide, and the only chance of survival would be for him to move ahead and fight head-on with those  trying to sabotage him. Revamp Utusan if needed be. Shut down Perkasa if needed be.. Kick out his No. 2 if needed be, like what Old Horse has done to a few of his NO.2s.