I had previously stated that Wan Saiful Wan Jan acted pathetically for retracting his allegation and apologising for it after claiming that his fellow MPs had threatened and enticed him to throw his support behind Anwar, after making the allegation in parliament.
In his initial allegation, Wan Saiful had claimed that he was offered RM 1.7 million in allocation, by a series of people he had met across hotels in KL if he were willing to betray his party and switch his support towards Anwar.
Despite the seriousness of his allegation, Wan Saiful would retract his allegation just a couple of days later, and apologise for it, without explaining why he made such a serious and detailed allegation in the first place.
I personally think that Wan Saiful should have at least said that he is psychologically disturbed and was hallucinating for coming up with such a story in parliament to justify his retraction, but Wan Saiful seemed too proud to admit his shortcomings.
I don’t understand how a person can have that much pride while at the same time being so cowardly as to make such an inexplicable and abrupt turnaround. If you are a person who can publicly say something in parliament, before turning around and acting like you never said it at all, why bother having any pride or self-respect at all? Isn’t pride and self-respect just a burden to a person like you?
Anyway, I thought that his action was so pathetic that I not only didn't see the point of him serving as an MP in the highest house in the nation, I didn't even see the point of him living.
If was him, I would have probably entered a room, closed the door and put a bullet through my head, while leaving behind a note to explain that I had taken my life so that people would forgive me for acting so shamelessly, and not hold anyone associated with me, be it my children or parents, accountable for my shameful act.
I don’t know whether Wan Saiful had read my post condemning his shameful behaviour, but in either case, I am glad that at least Wan Saiful had finally realised the errors of his way, and named the MPs who had approached him with an offer to betray his party.
One of the two MPs he had named, Gua Musang MP Azizi Abu Naim, had come out to deny the allegation that he had enticed Wan Saiful to act in a dishonourable manner, but somehow I find his version of events to be weak.
According to Azizi, he had just bumped into Wan Saiful in a café in KL, and it was Wan Saiful who had approached him, not the other way around.
“I never asked to meet him (Wan Saiful) to secure his support for the prime minister. I merely bumped into him at a cafe in a hotel in Kuala Lumpur
“He then asked me about the privileges I had obtained since giving the prime minister my support. I replied that I had only received the same allocations as government MPs (for my constituency),” Azizi claimed.
Hearing his story, I feel that rather than Wan Saiful, maybe it is Azizi who should enter a room alone with a revolver and a single bullet.
One should not do wrong things. If one cannot help but do wrong things, one should at least be smart enough to prepare a good alibi in case one is caught for doing wrong things. If one does not even have the intelligence to develop a believable alibi, then what is the point of one being around at all? Other than using up the oxygen in the air, what else can be expected of one?
Anyway, enough about Azizi. I shall stop commenting about him because I think we have wasted enough time on him.
Coming back to Wan Saiful, I will say that I am glad to hear that after his pathetic apology a couple of weeks ago, at least Wan Saiful has displayed a sign that he is a human being with a sense of shame.
To err is human, to forgive is divine.
I think by naming the people who had made me a shameful offer, Wan Saiful has shown a sign that he is in possession of shame and equipped with the capability of realising his mistake. He is also showing the sign that when he is prodded by shame, at least he is able to muster the courage to do whatever is necessary to redeem himself.
I think that the fact that he is capable of these things, is grounds for us to not dismiss him as a waste of oxygen, at least for now.
We can't applaud him yet, for he has done nothing of worth, but at least his correction here is a sign that the man is not a complete waste of oxygen and time.
Nehru Sathiamoorthy is the author of “While Waiting for the World to end”. He was a columnist at FMT and a frequent contributor to the South China Morning Post, The Star, Malaysia-Today, MalaysiaNow, MalaysiaKini and Focus Malaysia.
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