Meanwhile, Reformasi continued peacefully

While the terrorist campaign was going on, I continued to enjoy reading the many very intelligiently articulated views of Kim Quek. I am glad the socially experienced and intellectually sound 66-year old retired engineer from Johor Baru has now compiled his articles into a book titled Where to, Malaysia? - A future with Anwar’s Reformasi or back to Mahathirism (Kuala Lumpur, SIRD, 2005).

As philosopher George Santayana once said: " Those who do not remember the past are condemned to relive it". Kim Quek's new book certainly serves the great purpose of helping coming generations of Malaysians not to relive the shameful episode of 1998-2004.

Meanwhile, Reformasi also continued peacefully in elections, by-elections, courtrooms and the cyberspace, although some vicious and opportunistic propagandists desperately attempted to link it somehow to 'Islamic fundamentalism' for Western consumption. Domestically, it was still portrayed as West-sponsored. However, in this age of multilingualism and the Internet, the divide between foreign and domestic has already vanished.