Thursday, 21 June 2012
Reconciliation and the Bittersweet Truth
Bersih co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasen said a good thing a few days ago when she called for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to be set up should Pakatan Rakyat win Putrajaya at the next general election so that there would be no witch-hunt that could divide the nation further.
I don’t mean to take the thunder away from her, but this is something that has already been in the mind of Pakatan leader Anwar Ibrahim for some time, long before Ambiga mentioned it.
Anwar has spoken before about his admiration for Nelson Mandela, who, after he won the presidency of South Africa, established such a TRC in order to forgive the transgressions of the Apartheid regime. Anwar has also spoken about his intent to emulate Mandela’s move.
It’s not surprising therefore that Nurul Izzah and N Surendran, vice-presidents of Pakatan party PKR, have come out to concur with Ambiga. They both used the appropriate rhetoric in saying that Pakatan will be more concerned about “saving Malaysia” than putting people in prison.
Lim Kit Siang of Pakatan partner the DAP echoed this when he said, “We’re not concerned about going on a witch-hunt... We have a lot to deal with, and there are more important things to go for than bloodletting.”
Another Pakatan partner, PAS, seems in favor of a similarly reasonable bent. Its leaders Dzulkefly Ahmad and Khalid Samad have said Pakatan would not want to punish everyone and that it would instead focus on governance and policy issues.
It is most reassuring that revenge is not on Pakatan’s agenda. It also speaks well of the coalition’s political maturity. Then again, this should not be surprising.
By Kee Thuan Chye
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