If you are a husband who has affairs outside of your marriage, can you blame your wife for being unfaithful?
Of course not - when you are not deserving of trust, you cannot be betrayed, even if you are betrayed. If you condemn someone else for betraying you, when you are not worthy of trust, it is equal to you yourself condemning yourself.
A couple of days ago, Umno President Zahid Hamidi said that Umno did not betray the PH led unity government in Negeri Sembilan, although its 14 Aduns had pulled it's support from the state government and tried to topple it, because he had personally talked to the 14 Aduns later and stopped them from trying to topple the state government. Therefore, According to Zahid, if the state MB Aminuddin Harun had decided to dissolve the state assembly and call for elections, Umno cannot be blamed for it , because as far as he was concerned, Umno was still backing the state government.
Today however, Anwar Ibrahim is saying that no, there was indeed an element of betrayal in Negeri Sembilan - it was because the Umno Aduns had tried to topple Aminuddin's government that Aminuddin had to dissolve the state assembly, and what the 14 Umno Adun did was tantamount to betrayal, because Aminuddin was administrating the state well and was not implicated in act of corruption or wrong doing.
Personally, I think that saying Aminuddin doesn't deserve to be betrayed because he was administrating the state well and was not corrupt is like an unfaithful wife saying that she doesn't deserve to be cheated on by her husband because she takes care of their children well and always prepares a nutritious dinner and lunch.
It is beside the point.
In the way that I see it, if you are a thief and so am I, if I steal your things, you can't fault me for doing you a wrong - we are thieves afterall, and stealing is what we do - rather that fault me, you are supposed to just admire me for being a better thief than you.
In the same way, I see the relationship between Umno and PH is based on the concept of "winning at all cost" or the "end justifies the means."
Under their terms, the decision as to whether both parties should cooperate with each other or compete with each other is based on what they stand to win or lose.
Instead of expecting BN to not betray it, as if it was worthy of trust, what PH should have done is make sure that BN always had more to lose by competing against it than cooperating with it. The moment that BN felt that it had more to win by competing with PH than cooperating with it, under the terms of their relationship, there is no reason why it should continue to cooperate with PH.
When BN decided to overthrow PH because it could, rather than blame BN for betraying it, what PH should do is admire BN for being "cleverer" than it is.
I think in life, a sense of self awareness is necessary.
If you have always been steadfast in holding on to your principles, then you can expect other principled people to see you as a principled person, and treat you accordingly.
But if you have always done whatever you must to win, and somebody else who also only cares only about winning is causing you to lose, so that they can win, instead of bringing up the issue or trust or betrayal, as if either of you are a principled duo that have always put your principles above your self interest, it would be best for the both of you to just be true to your self interest, and find a way to win, by putting the other side in a position where they will realise that it is better for them to cooperate with you than compete with you.
I don't know how Zahid or Anwar see themselves, but I am quite sure that there is no sane person in the country who sees either of them as principled.
All of us just see them as winners who will do whatever it takes to win.
So instead of talking to us about trust or betrayal, as if talking about it will make us believe that they are a principled duo, maybe it is just best for them to just try to win.
It is best for them, and best for us too, because all this talk about trust and betrayal is getting tiresome.
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