A Season for Open Letters

There is now a flood of Open Letters and I found most funny was one in Malaysiakini which you cannot open unless you are a subscriber! It was an excellent letter as can be expected, by Kim Quek to Manickavasagam. The same letter could be found in Malaysia Today.

Zorro-unmasked has a purported reply from President-Elect Barack Obama to our Tun Dr. Mahathir’s Open Letter to him. He arranged parts of the reply to relevant parts of Dr. M’s. Well, I have copied the ‘letter from Barack Obama’ instead, just to be different or for ease of reading. Zorro's text has some unwanted programmer's text as a result of technical glitch, presumably from using Mozilla Firefox.

Dear Mr Former Prime Minister,

I know you wouldn’t vote for me even if you could…just my gut feel, garnered from your writings. What a way to start a letter? Rather unfriendly and negative, if you permit me to volunteer. I hope you are feeling just right and not under the weather, despite your monthly injections?

Come again….I am aware that you did pay big bucks to have a word with Bushy, and on returning you kinda bush-whacked him and America. NO? As to affecting you and your country, that is quite a motherhood statement.

I rallied my people with “YES WE CAN”…that sir, is not a promise. It is a commitment. Promises can be broken easily. Let me recall that when you were Prime Minister you changed the rules that made it difficult for anyone to challenge your premiership. They had to have a certain amount of nominations. Recently you reneged on that and told UMNO to abandon that policy.

Of course, the US of A needs a lot of changes. We change our President every 5 years. American’s will NOT allow me to be their President for more than two terms…10 years at most and not 22 years.

Your young country needs changes too. For a start, clean up your comical electoral roll; that laughable but devious postal vote thing; the corruption, which UMNO euphemistically label as money politics that you recently accused your own ex-party of being smeared with; that perverted ISA; your corrupt cops and toothless ACA; your blemished judiciary…I do not want to believe that you started this, but I am reliably informed that blogs in your country also revealed that your country does not allow its citizens, opposed to the Government, to have free assembly and cannot ride bicycles and burn candles. Lets not get into what the pot called the kettle but do ponder on this saying of yore: Physician, heal thyself…(before dispensing medicine so liberally.)

Admittedly America needs a change too and we all live in glass houses. YES? If changes do not happen, you can be sure that my people will kick me off the White House! There can be no such thing as hanging on for two decades.

Best hated…now that is something I am learning…. like saying “same difference” sir yeah?... most hated I have heard. Yes arrogance is a no-no, yes? Like how your arrogant coalition lost 5 states and they still continue to be arrogant.

Making resolutions…that is a very western culture…you still believe in these yellow culture resolutions stuff…by the way…I do not make resolutions…I make commitments. Resolutions are for the weak-willed.

Sir is this a coincidence? Your good friend Mugabe sent me these 10 pointers too. It is not important who the original author is, but I assure you that Congress and not I, as President, will deliberate, decide on or reject your generous advice.

I greatly appreciate your Christian thoughts.

I do not wish to be a great leader…Hitler was a great leader…I just want to be a GOOD leader.

And to you the same sir.

Yours Cordially,

Barack Obama
President-Elect