The Malaysian Insider

AUG 20 — "All great world-historic facts and personages appear twice. The first time as tragedy, the second time as farce." So Marx wrote in the 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte.

I doubt the trumped-up sodomy charges, now in its second version, against Anwar Ibrahim would appear even as a footnote in world history but it could very well ended as a chapter that our grandchildren have to master to pass their history exam. We could only imagine how they would amuse themselves at the farce.

But how such a tragedy, and now a farce, could be staged in our country? We have all the trappings of modernity, the facade of rule of law and governance, and an expanding enlightened middle class where such occurrence would be incongruous with our national life.

AUG 12 — Crossing over is too neutral. Let’s call it defection.

I have forgotten the exact date of Dr Chandra Muzaffar’s defection to the Barisan Nasional. He was a founding member of my party, yes, and deputy president too.

Was there any sweetener involved? Only God knows. He became a scholar again, and a BN public intellectual. For several years he was out of the limelight; for as long as he was a PKR leader, he was a bête noire to the BN media establishment.