Haris - you could have been that David

The period before the March 8 2008 Malaysian 12^th elections was depressing. The corrupt and power abusing UMNO/BN was perceived as all powerful and invincible. While the major objectives of those hoping for a positive change for Malaysia was to deny the blasted UMNO/BN its traditional two-third majority in the Malaysian Parliament, all of us had only a glimmer of hope. It was not easy for the opposition political parties to field candidates of caliber as most perceived the chances of winning to be very slim plus there is no real monetary rewards even if one wins.

So it was with this backdrop that when I heard of the possibility of Billi Lim contributing to a four-corner contest for the Bukit Bintang constituency, I arranged for a meeting hoping to dissuade him and that if he still wants to contest, to try to work out something with the opposition parties (Interview: Billi Lim, candidate for Bukit Bintang Parliamentary Constituent).

I now know that Bernard Khoo of Zorro Unmasked too did the same thing per: Wee Choo Keong, but he succeeded while I failed. See Sibu Wong can replace Wangsa Maju Wee:

Over many rounds at the National Press Club prior to March 8, 2008 I (Bernard) amongst others have dissuaded him to enter the fray forcing a three-cornered fight in Bukit Bintang. Good sense prevailed and he agreed to contest under PKR in Wangsa Maju.

Well, Wee Choo Keong got elected, but has ended up deserting and betraying Pakatan Rakyat and the people who supported and voted for him.

Thus when I read Haris Ibrahim's It’s about doing what is right, and being prepared to pay the price where he compared the contest between the resource poor Pakatan Rakyat and the literally filthy rich SUPP and BN to the well know Biblical story of David and Goliath, it reminded me a a spat between me and Haris when I was with his civil initiative "People's Parliament: Get a MP" when I learned of his intention to encourage independent candidates to contest in the already difficult to win 12^th general elections. I then suggested the same thing that I had suggested to Billi Lim and Bernard had suggested to Wee Choo Keong, that is, to try to work with the opposition parties instead of sponsoring independents which have slim chances of winning plus end up splitting the votes of those hoping for positive changes. Haris accused me of being a DAP recruiting agent when all I had wanted was to avoid multi-sided contests.

It occurred to me that had we been able to reason without getting hot and upset, Haris Ibrahim could have been that David instead of that frog Wee Choo Keong. Well, I sincerely hope that Haris has put that incident behind and have forgiven me for blurting out something that I should not have.