Oration Against Mark Antony

For Malay language version please go here.

"Consider, I beg you, Marcus Antonius, do some time or other consider the republic: think of the family of which you are born, not of the men with whom you are living. Be reconciled to the republic. However, do you decide on your conduct. As to mine, I myself will declare what that shall be. I defended the republic as a young man; I will not abandon it now that I am old. I scorned the sword of Catiline; I will not quail before yours. No; I will rather cheerfully expose my own person, if the liberty of the city can be restored by my death." ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 B.C.–43 B.C.)

Photo credit: Google Images

Well... That's not a photo of Marcus Tullius Cicero, who according to wikipedia was a Roman philosopher, politician, lawyer, orator, political theorist, consul and constitutionalist who came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.

Above is a photo of Tun Mahathir Mohammad who, again according to wikipedia was the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia and had held the post for 22 years from 1981 to 2003, making him Malaysia's longest-serving Prime Minister whose political career spanned almost 40 years.

So what does Cicero got to do with Mahathir ? Well, both were respected statesman and great orator of their times and both have held the highest political office of their country and more importantly never stop to criticized those who are holding the office after them. I will not write more about Cicero since anyone who's interested in him can simply google all the information about him which I will assure you is interesting enough (to me) since he had lived throughout the final days of the Roman republic, witnessing and participating in civil wars until he finally was ordered to be killed by Marcus Antonius, to whom his final oration was directed to.

While the Romans were engaged in bloody civil war back then between the Triumvirs and the Liberators, the Malaysians today were also engaged in bloodless civil war, divided by politics if not by political parties. For the sides of independents and neutrals like me, the most interesting thing happening is around the attack by Mahathir towards the current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. 

These attacks can be found at Mahathir's blog : http://chedet.cc/

Photo credit: Google Images

The attacks were mostly related to the 1MDB issue which may (or may not - only time well tell) the fall of not just Najib, but will also destroy the ruling coalition who have been ruling the country since independence. The most interesting thing is that Mahathir have been receiving support not just from the pro opposition supporters (for obvious reason) but also from those who consider themselves pro government supporters. While many people hated him because he was thought to be an ultra Malay nationalist, the support he received was from various segment of Malaysians, regardless of races especially those who have grown up during his reign.

It will be interesting to see how these attacks will go on as the main call from Mahathir is that for Najib to resign. Just like Cicero, Mahathir is already in his old age after serving the country though if you read more about Cicero and the Triumvirate you will find that Cicero was ordered to be killed during the Proscription.

I will end my rambling today with some rearrangement of Cicero's speech.

"Consider, I beg you, Najib Razak, do some time or other consider the nation: think not of the family of which you are born, but of the men with whom you are living. Be reconciled to the nation. However, do you decide on your conduct. As to mine, I myself will declare what that shall be. I defended the country as a young man; I will not abandon it now that I am old. I scorned the sword of Anwar*; I will not quail before yours. No; I will rather cheerfully expose my own person, if the liberty of the city can be restored by my death." ~ Tun Mahathir Mohammad.

Notes :

* Anwar Ibrahim
Full English translated text of Cicero's Oration Against Mark Antony can be fount at :
http://www.bartleby.com/268/2/14.html
http://www.bartleby.com/268/2/15.html

Disclaimer : All images are for illustration purposes only and this blog author does not claim any copyright to the published images and he only copied the images already publicly available on the internet (unless stated). The blog author also wishes to state that his opinion posted on this blog are his alone and not paid by any political parties.