Eye opener

To witness a lawyer I hold in high esteem publicly behave as he did was a real eye-opener. It showed how far people could go regardless of their creed, deed or breed, when their very own ego is at stake.

As one of the parties involved, it was fair to say that nobody expected him to *not* talk about the issue. There were bound to be some comments. To mention another's name and spend a reasonably lengthy time berating that person, in public - in front of the thousand-strong delegates - with the air of an elder brother schooling his younger and insolent sibling, was to exceed expectations in the most negative manner. No junior, no matter how disrespectful, deserved this.

All this over an issue of... what? A raillery gone awry? A retort twisted?

To add salt to wound, after finishing, another guy stood up to applaud what was said and done.

A Chinese adage provides insightful observation to this scenario: the lower pole cannot be straight when its upper counterpart is slanting. True enough, the chairman's speech, or derogatory didactic, served as the green light for the involved delegates to take their bashing to the platform. Malaysiakini reported that this was the dark cloud of this year's convention: only 1 issue of national interest(hudud) was raised, the majority were...bashing continued.

A party, or its delegates, when faced with rumours of early elections swirling all over the place, still cannot unite to fight the common enemy, that is a harbinger. Most managed to name and remind the party and themselves who the real enemy is, what the real struggle is, but when blood is spilled, there arouse a collective thirst.

The No.1 cannot disclaim responsibility for this.

He could have nixed the issue, nipped it in the bud and ended it. He could have taken his grievances, if any, behind closed doors and lay out the cards and negotiate. He could have blamed it on the communication, rather than the person communicating, and verified it later on, personally. He could have not put on a display of political muscle and public beating.

All because he is No.1. This one reason is and should be good enough. If the captain of a ship is busy off somewhere else, and not commandeering, God bless the crew. Especially when faced with a storm.

With his experience, he should have understood the dignity and integrity every true man possess in his bosom. He should think of the other person as his own comrade, who was humble enough to take it in his stride and who was no commoner, either, not a boxing sandbag.

Such an embattled, over-my-dead-body stance should only be reserved for the worst enemy and staunchest of principles. The issue at hand involved neither, merely semantics.

It was difficult to have a sanguine mindset after, knowing full well that we have disappointed our allies and given the media a field day to write their hands off.

At the end of the day, no work was done, nothing fruitful or intellectually stimulating. The same problems facing us, are still staring at us. This allegedly Chinese-chauvinistic party is still the allegedly Chinese-chauvinistic party.

At the end of the day, as one of the sons put it: no winner, not the party anyway.

‎"All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers." -Francois Fenelon