National Operations Council, 2021 brand.

 Wed June 16,2021.

52 years ago we had our first NOC, called "Mageran", following the infamous May 13 race riots. Today the Malay Rulers are supposed to decide whether there'll be Mageran II, following a hung Parliament because of the pandemic.

Mageran I was a couple of years in the making. The non-Malays had grown more vocal, more visible in their anti-Malayness. There are enough reports and write-ups on this.  I witnessed the racism in 1965 when I entered the university in Lembah Pantai.  It was there. An Indian undergraduate showed me  his copy of "the Rocket" with its anti-Malay news. By 1969, many shopkeepers in KL had become unfriendly to Malay customers. I experienced it. 

Mageran II is also now a couple of years in the making. The hung Parliament is supposed to have been forced by the pandemic. But there are other issues that only make things worse. Mageran II seems inevitable.

Dr. Ismail announced on the black-and-white tv in 1969 that "democracy is dead". That was 3 days after General Elections III. Dr. Ismail wasn't the PM. Now, too,  it doesn't take a PM to announce that, half-a-century later, democracy is again dead.

The 2018 General Elections didn't produce a single strong party that could hold sway. Friends or foes, they have to swallow pride and face reality and act accordingly to survive to perhaps fight another day. Who was it who said "politics have strange bed-fellows"?

Corona 19 isn't a pretty lass waiting for suitors. It's a deadly virus waiting for no one. Medicine is paramount. Politics is a distraction. A manager must be installed to concentrate on the singular fight against the planet-based pandemic. The manager cannot hold back doing the right thing, even if not the popular one.  He must do the necessary, even if it's not pretty. Politics is power-sharing and dream-making.

The Malay rulers must rise to the occasion and do the right thing, for themselves and country. Apparently time and advice have been sought and offered. Hopefully they can sift through the whey, because the advice-givers all have axes to grind. The one key feature should be the honest truth.  

An NOC, under whatever names, would be charged with running the country as only it can.  Divisive politics must be pushed aside until the medical problem is completely cleared. After that, the right of the people to install a government of their choice would be reinstated. For now, the dire need to stay alive and healthy  must be everyone's only concern. Dead, and nothing else matter. An NOC matters.

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