Came across a funny, The forgiving nature of Dr M in Bernama today. Dr M's long time party comrade and now his Political Secretary, Datuk Mohamad Johari Baharum, revealed that there is another side to our Dr M, which only few are privy to. One aspect of Dr Mahathir's congenial nature is his big heart and forgiving trait. Datuk Mohamad Johari Baharum quotes two episodes ::
1. The re-entry of the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) into the Barisan Nasional During the 1990 election campaign, Pairin and the PBS had withdrawn, at the last minute, from the BN, this withdrawal really hurt Dr Mahathir very deeply. "Pairin was worried that the PM will put strong conditions for the re-entry, but to the contrary he had a pleasant surprise that not only Dr Mahathir accepted the application without any preconditions but also the Prime Minister treated Pairin and PBS Deputy President Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili who was with him, most graciously and saw them off until the door. "The meeting which was scheduled to last for 15 minutes, stretched to 45 minutes: "This really touched Pairin very much and he shed tears," Johari said.
2. Former Umno Youth head Datuk Zahid Hamidi re-entry in Dr M's good books. Zahid Hamidi the then Umno Youth chief was aligned to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. He very strongly criticised Dr Mahathir and accused him of nepotism and cronyism during the 1996 Umno general assembly which shocked party delegates and members alike. Zahid retracted what he had said and asked for forgiveness and Dr Mahathir not only magnanimously forgave him but also rehabilitated him in the corporate world
Of course, we could name many many more episodes where politicos and others who have hurtDr M but later have been subjected to Dr M's big hearted embrace and have been rehabilitated and allowed to return to the fold.. Names like :: Rais, Tengku Razaleigh, Pak Lah, the famous "katak" Ibrahim and many more. Recently he had also said that he would have pardoned one DSAI, if only he was king. But were all those forgiven owing to Dr M's 'big heart' or 'besar hati' or was it his head he was using then and the expediencies of politics?
The Funnies, The Spins, The Humourous and The Humourless......
"I do not aim at fusion. Each religion has its own contribution to make to human evolution.
I regard the great faiths of the WORLD as so many branches of a tree, each distinct from the other though having the same source.----Mahatma Ghandhi.
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