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'Elegant silence'

Reader Thana Ramayah sends me something that I feel compelled to share:

Silence is not a virtue always. Megawati, the daughter of a famous nationalist father, became Ibu to 220 million Indonesians in 2001. She hardly gave any interviews as she lacked opinion. She disappointed the masses who expected a charismatic leader. She is an honest and reliable constitionalist but a fragmented country like Indonesia needed a team of honest, uncorrupted politicians to alter its fate.

She could not deliver and chose to be silent on biting issues. Finally the same silence made her shrink into non- existance within three years.

Here are some Quotes on "Silence"



Adrienne Rich: Lying is done with words and also with silence.

Alice Walker:
No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.

Bob Dylan:
I accept chaos. I am not sure whether it accepts me. I know some people are terrified of the bomb. But then some people are terrified to be seen carrying a modern screen magazine. Experience teaches us that silence terrifies people the most.

Confucius:
Silence is the true friend that never betrays.

Francis Bacon:
Silence is the virtue of fools.

Mark Twain:
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

Martin Luther King, Jr.:
We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

Martin Luther King, jr.:
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Martin Luther King, jr.:
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends

Martin Niemoller:
In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.

Martin Niemöller:
First they came for the Jews. I was silent. I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists. I was silent. I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists. I was silent. I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me. There was no one left to speak for me.

Rachel Naomi Remen:
The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention…. A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.

Robert Greeleaf:
Many attempts to communicate are nullified by saying too much.

Sally Berger:
You never saw a fish on the wall with its mouth shut.

Sam Levenson:
It's so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don't say it.

Sam Rayburn:
No one has a finer command of language than the person who keeps his mouth shut.

Anon:
Sometimes silence is not golden--just yellow.

Paramahansa Yogananda:
In shallow men, the fish of little thoughts make such commotion. In oceanic minds, the whales of inspiration make hardly a ruffle.

Thana Ramayah:
When Laws are silent interpreting becomes noisy.

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Comments

Since the PM is maintaining silence, maybe the next elections will speak for itself.
Way to go Abdullah?

next elections?? maybe no next elections for him, with so many in UMNO now doubting his leadership. Those open support in the news are the very same you hear for Tun when Tun was in power. They just support blindly. If tomorrow Joe becomes PM, the same sh*tty group of people will support blindly. That is the kind of spineless politicians we have.

Well if he stay and last long enough..BN will lose votes definitely...becos the feel good factor is gone.

Most people I know felt good when Tun left and the promise of better things by the "gentle, caring..blah blah blah new PM" swung votes BN way.

It will be real embarassment for AAB. Just like Sarawak CM..he won..yet he lost.

i didn't like Tun when he was in power and i don't like Pak Lah as well for his poor leadership.

anyway, i believe Tun is a wise old man who has gone through a lot of things which we know or which we will never know. I am glad that he stood up to criticise the current leader. it's always better to have different opinions, especially for someone like him who had lead this country for many years. Not many people will have the influence like Tun as a commoner to face the government.

i believe when a person reach the age of 80, what he's doing now is not for himself, but to improve the nation.

just some comment from the grass root level.

Mark Twain:
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.~~

the above quote best reflects many of the psycophantic voices from the iKabinet supporting their PM while almost 3/4 of the same vlices supported Dr Mahathir just years ago.
But the electorate are also guilty of being accessories to the Act/ors by casting their votes that gave Pak Lah's wooden Kabinet 92% mandate.

There is an old malay saying normally used by lovers....."Diam tanda nya setuju" - My silence says I concur.....

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