Godfather-warlord row benefits nobody

Pakatan Parties must remain united for 13GE

The ‘godfather-warlord’ row is what the DAP and Pakatan can least afford now. While neither godfather nor warlord is needed, a good godfather at times is inevitable as the founding and long-standing members who have contributed a great deal towards the development of the party must be appreciated, remembered and respected especially by new members.

In the case of DAP, Karpal Singh is one such veteran who falls into this group, who must be respected and given due recognition for his contributions and sacrifices to the party and nation. He must be paid tribute for his uncompromising and principled stand in every issue that the nation faced and every crisis that he underwent in the last four decades.

On the other hand, warlords are not needed at all as they not only hold the leadership to ransom but can be dangerous as they can divide the party to its core and cause its downfall. We are all witnessing that in Umno, where warlords remain the main obstacle to the reforms and change its leaders may want to initiate to remain relevant.

Prof.Ramasamy,like us, may not see many things in common with Karpal but being a new member in the fold, he must give due respect to Karpal. It is like a son respecting the father, with whom he may disagree and even consider irrelevant. If the son doesn't respect his father for all his sacrifices, he will be seen as arrogant and disobedient and I am sure an intellectual like Prof.Rama would not want to be seen as that.

Whatever their differences may be, the people need them especially at this time when unity in the opposition Pakatan is pivotal for its success in the coming defining 13th general elections. We hope they can settle their differences, however serious they may be, amicably and quickly.

Prof.Rama may be a hardworking, diligent and an efficient DCM but he should realise that he is increasingly being seen by the Malays and Chinese as representing only the Indians which is really unfortunate. It will be wiser for him to devout his time and energy to change his image as the DCM for all Malaysians and not just for Indians, instead of prolonging his quarrel with Karpal that is not going to take him anywhere but only detrimental to his political career.

It would be wise for him to take a lesson on humility from his boss, Lim Guan Eng who by his positive attitude and humility has earned the love and respect as the Chief Minister of all Penagites and is beginning to be recognised as a leader of all Malaysians.