How far is BN willing to go?

By Othman Wahab | TMI

The strong-arm tactics have started and the trumped-up charges have started to flow.

I can imagine the headlines in tomorrow’s papers: “30 detained for waging war against King” and “Group trying to revive communism.”

And of course, the name of Chin Peng will be all over. I must say the Najib administration and the police are quite “imaginative.” They have gone one step further than the dictators and autocrats in Algeria or Syria, reviving the bogey of communism.

This gambit is aimed directly at the Malay electorate, hoping that this story about waging war against a Malay Ruler and the spectre of communism will tarnish Bersih and perhaps create confusion among PAS supporters as well as convince Malays that they should steer clear of Bersih.

I mean so far the government has portrayed Ambiga Sreenivasan as anti-Islam and anti-Malay. Over the next few days, serious looking ministers will be quoted on the national security “threat” facing the country.

Of course, this is all wayang. The threat, if any, comes from the morally-bankrupt Umno. History is replete with dictators and autocrats using all sorts of bogeymen to stay in power. Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe is a master at this craft.

The biggest threat to our country comes from this collection of Umno politicians who want to cling to power. If innocent people need to be locked up, so be it. If people need to be fixed up, so be it. If fathers and mothers need to be detained, so be it.

This plot to revive communism is as plausible as the plan by Christians to take over Malaysia. (Also hatched by Umno). We are entering a dark period in Malaysian history but we should not despair.

Good always triumphs over evil. Always.