Dr. Majak D’ Agoot: A Victim of Forgiveness and Concentrated Language
6 min readBy Dut-machine De Mabior, Nairobi, Kenya
May 31, 2015 (SSB) — As I try to make sense and communicate to the online South Sudanese community whom we feed with our opinions, it may not be always that the opinions go down the gut of every reader. However we keep writing perhaps that is one way of promoting one’s talent. Even if some people have nothing to talk about, they still sit in front of their keyboards and do something on them. Maybe that is how they can appreciate the technology but as a man who studies electronics, that is a total abuse to the invention.
I take this time in response to David Bion’s article published on this very site titled “Dr. Majak D’ Agoot Should Apologise to South Sudanese for his Flea Tweet.” This reply is very healthy as it will only explain the wrongly conceived meaning of the tweet. Indeed to first confirm the tweet “I forgave my jailers for mine was a mere fleabite; the agony of my country a snakebite! I forgave them lest am encumbered with negativity!” which popped up on the official twitter handle of Dr. Majak D’ Agoot (@aquaengnoq) on the 13th of March, 2015. Why Mr. David Bion demands an apology over this at this time is why I wonder, perhaps he needs to distract the public attention from something! But whatever the case anyway, allow me explain what the grammar in there says.
In the above tweet, Dr. Majak was only trying to neglect his own suffering and the mistreatment he was accorded to as a matter of mere political crackdown on political dissidents. It was just a comparison that what happened to him was less in magnitude (fleabite) than the agony of the suffering population (snakebite). In the above tweet, there are two creatures mentioned, flea and snake. What I try to figure out is why my elder brother only singles out and concentrates so much on the flea yet there was a snake mentioned. I think there is prejudice in the interpretation. I may be forced to say that Mr. Bion takes the part of the statement to only justify his infused argument. As stated above, anyone who has been to a concrete class of literature will treat the above statement as figurative language coupled in an “understatement” for fleabite and an “overstatement” for snakebite.
Comparing Dr. Majak to Bashir and swearing before the South Sudanese readership that he, Dr. Majak, holds the same view with President Omar is not only disrespectful to history but also an indication that South Sudanese could be forgetting so fast. Of all the people in South Sudan, Dr. D’ Agoot as bad as Bashir! How can we think that way of a man who joined the rebellion at the age of 19 forgoing his UNHCR scholarship, fought tirelessly during the tough days, contributed immensely as an expert of guerrilla warfare, did all his best during the CPA to have a successful referendum and finally independence. Are we writing history from the scripts of sycophancy, that we now think, the true enemies, yes the NCP converts in Juba are the true liberators of South Sudan?
Oh no! I beg to differ. In no way is Dr. Majak statement comparable to that of Bashir because Dr. D’ Agoot’s statement only exhibits the true patriotism of a man who thinks less of himself than the country. But as the case was thrown out of the court due to lack of evidence, it simply means the jailers of Dr. Majak were not the South Sudanese public but a group of individuals interested in killing the political future of the country. Since it was clearly not him against the South Sudanese public (voters) how would he call them fleas again? Let’s judge our wordings before releasing them. Dr. Majak has never been an enemy to the South Sudanese public, is not, will not and dare not be. He had to forgive his jailers because of the suffering South Sudanese public indeed. So brother, do not try to impose your ideas on the innocent public yearning for peace which Dr. Majak is advocating for every minute of his free life after the jail term.
To whether Dr. Majak can win against the incumbent president by 90% margin, it’s not a topic of debate. Serious nationals don’t talk about the future when the present is only death. What we are thinking is how to restore the country to order and then who wins or who does not comes later. To add on the same, this self Majak-phobia has to die. The man has never uttered a word or anything around the South Sudan presidency. Why is it always self-declared and even go ahead to predict the winning margin? I am sure brother Bion was not bragged to by anyone that Dr. Majak is capable of winning the elections. He only sat down, did his analysis on the tract records of Dr. Majak and concluded that he is fit enough to win by that margin based on what he does for the country, the above forgiving tweet inclusive.
It is not a secret that Lt. Gen. Majak, like any other politician, has supporters, but the thinking of his supporters as I write is how to create a peaceful state out of the currently confused. If thinking of him becoming the president is something that is a part of the ambition, then it will automatically appear when it’s appropriate. I appreciate Brother David Bion for doing an opinion poll and project that Dr. Majak can win by a margin of 90%. That should not worry anybody because opinions must be respected.
As I conclude, let’s avoid this politic of mere human character assassination and start thinking as the future of the country how our mothers in the wilderness of the IDPs and UN camps may be resettled. We must talk of how to reconcile our divided society. It’s not up to us to think that corruption is business as usual, we must figure out the ways to eradicate it. Joblessness is something that can worry a true national. How to gain fundamental freedoms could be in my list of priorities. Creating wealth for the country is more important. Reducing the high levels of illiteracy is a nice idea for discussion. Lowering the mortality death rate is worth talking about than defaming a politician.
Securing the properties and lives of South Sudanese will not be a waste of time if written about. If only we write to our ignorant public about their rights, then it makes sense. Making our balance of payment favourable to stabilize the economy is at the core of all issues needed to be discussed to find a solution. But what do we opt to do? Politicking! Let’s talk of how to restore the broken social contract and leadership is a God given opportunity, it will go to whoever the Almighty has chosen with or without propaganda.
Therefore, nothing negative in the tweet as interpreted, I may only say, Dr. Majak of high academic caliber only spoke concentrated English which was too concentrated for a first degree understanding! He only turned out to be a victim of his humane forgiving heart (comparing his ordeal to a mere fleabite which doesn’t hurt much) and the academic figurative language of metaphor and understatement. Simple!
The author is a student of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Kenyatta University, Nairobi Kenya and can be reached through his email: Dut-machine De Mabior <dutmachine@gmail.com>
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