A week after he resigned as deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, P Waythamoorthy told the Indian Malaysian community that he was sorry he had been unable to help them improve their lives.

Why did he not apologise to the rest of the rakyat, too?  It was partly Waythamoorthy’s treachery which deprived Malaysians of the best opportunity to change the government in GE13.
 
We were disgusted that he could even contemplate forming an alliance with Najib Abdul Razak, let alone complete the deal.  Was he just naïve, or was he just another pompous and reckless wannabe politician? It would be pointless telling Waythamoorthy, ‘We told you so!’.
 
Cast your mind back to the run-up to May 5 last year. Civil society groups, opposition politicians, journalists and individuals were being harassed by thugs, allegedly aligned to the ruling party.

Ambiga Sreenevasan had to endure butt dances, Mat Rempit rode their kap-chai through groups of people attending ceramah, and six members of Parti Sosialis Malaysia, were arrested. The Election Commission was complicit with the ruling party in denying the rakyat clean elections and they allegedly turned a blind eye to foreigners who voted in GE13.
 
In one fell swoop, Waythamoorthy appeared to dismiss all the allegations of a dirty election. He signed a MOU. with Najib, then urged Indian voters to back Najib in GE13, before he settled comfortably into his role as senator. This succession of events was Waythamoorthy’s metaphorical two fingers to the rakyat.
 
Remember Waythamoorthy’s ‘smooth’ and ‘effortless’ return from exile in London? In hindsight, the relative ease of his entry into Malaysia should have rung alarm bells.
 
Soon after, he acted like a cat playing with a ball of wool, pushing it from one paw to the other, when he touted the Hindraf blueprint by playing the opposition against Umno Baru. Was this just another sandiwara so that he could get the best deal from one of the parties? Had the deal already been hatched?
 
A good Bollywood tear-jerker always helps. Waythamoorthy then tugged at the emotional heartstrings of the Indian diaspora by going on a hunger strike. His die-hard supporters compared him with Gandhi. There is no comparison.
 
Mahatma Gandhi went on many hunger strikes to protest the injustice of British rule in India. Fearful that he would die on their watch, the British made concessions. Gandhi fought for all the people on the Indian subcontinent - Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Christians.

Suspicious timing
 
In marriages, the ‘seven-year itch’ occurs when serious problems indicate the possible end of a relationship.

In Malaysia, politicians suffer from the ‘five-year hitch’. This is when they start to make excuses and say that the promises they made cannot be fulfilled for another five years; in other words, promises can only be achieved just before the next election.
 
The first of Najib’s cabinet to admit he had the ‘five-year hitch’ was Waythamoorthy.

Two weeks after GE13, he announced that he would need five years to resolve the issue of stateless Indians. He said Hindraf had a mechanism to solve the problem, but he declined to give details. Many wondered if a plan even existed.
 
In politics, timing is everything and we have seen turncoats coming out of the woodwork at crucial times, to discredit the opposition. Their job is to spread confusion. They sow the seeds of doubt in those who have made up their minds. They force fence-sitters to cling harder to the fences.
 
We know that there is infighting within Umno Baru and that all the stops have been pulled out to discredit Najib.

The timing of Waythamoorthy’s resignation is suspicious and it makes one wonder if he is party to a bigger, and well-engineered plan, formulated by a former prime minister, to topple Najib.
 
The rakyat are fed up with men who lack principle, whether they are from the opposition, Umno-Baru or any other political party. People like Waythamoorthy are the embodiment of our mistrust and abhorrence of politicians.
 
Seven years ago, Waythamoorthy was projected into the limelight and he became a champion of the people, because he and his brother highlighted the plight of the marginalised Indians. The poor people from the estates were given hope and, though they could ill-afford to do so, they donated money to the cause.
 
Hindraf was hounded and its leaders jailed, but Waythamoorthy fled into exile. He returned to reignite the dreams of the marginalised people. The irony is that he doused their hopes by teaming up with Najib.
 
Will Waythamoorthy learn that one does not fight racism with more racism? Malaysians need to combine their efforts and fight racism, oppression and injustice, as one.
 
Today, he imagines that he has redeemed himself with his resignation. He tried to justify his failures by putting the blame on Najib.

Waythamoorthy sounds like the spouse who is building his case with a divorce lawyer, by painting a bad picture of his wife. In a failed relationship, both are guilty.
 
There is little point in Waythamoorthy resuscitating his short-lived political career. The best way he can redeem himself is not to talk about what might have been, or who should be blamed, but to rehabilitate his reputation through charitable work.

 
MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO).