Why I Support Gen. “King Paul” Malong Awan and the Government of South Sudan
By David Deng Chapath, Kampala, Uganda
March 2, 2017 (SSB) — Before I explain the reasons I support the Army Chief and the Government, I would like to open this article with the quotation from Eugene McCarthy who once said that “being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game, and dumb enough to think it’s important.” This quotation means that in politics one must choose a side to support if he or she is to survive.
It is the same reason the people who constantly attack me for supporting the Government and the Army Chief because they have not chosen to be neutral but they have taken side. If they have not taken side they would have not seen me as threat or an enemy to them. The reason they see me as a threat or enemy is because I am friend to their enemies, so they see me as an enemy as it underscored by the common saying that “a friend of one’s enemy is also an enemy”.
What I have learned about the people who attack me for supporting the Government and Paul Malong Awan is that they are fair. This is because they play political game but they do not believe in the fact that some people exist to play the same people game with the same rules.
This is saddening because they don’t understand that the way they play the same political rules is the same way they must be judged by the same standards. However to them, they are hypocrite as they believe in democracy that they do not practice.
In other words, they believe in democracy without principles, which explains their attitudes towards someone who hold different political belief from what they have. Hence, it is easier for them to level someone as corrupt, useless and beggar yet they have forgotten that if we have not mastered the democratic rules then we could easily accuse them of being bought by the oppositions.
However, since we support democracy we don’t mind about their political gimmicks and voyeuristic perception of politics. The culture of South Sudanese rebels and their supporters hating opposing views to what they erroneously believe in must stop. This is because, it is the social disease of political correctness which has entered their daily lives, inverting good to bad and attempting to rewrite proud histories as an imposition of their rebellious views on the Government.
Having explained the behaviour of rebels and their supporters and our position as supporters of Government on democracy, hope that rebels have learned something and should understand that if they believe in democracy then they must obey the rules of democracy which provide that the opposing views must exist side by side in democratic arena.
However, if we or rebels and their supporters believe in democracy but do not obey it rules then they we are worse the so-called dictators they are opposing of being a dictator.
In South Sudan, however, I don’t believe whether there is a dictator as the President is not a dictator but rebels are the dictators as they want to do something but when they are stopped, they turn around and accused the government of being dictatorial regime and corrupt yet in real sense, rebels are corrupt socially, politically and economically.
It is the above reason I support the government and not rebels because rebels are different individuals without mission and vision except the group led by the First Vice President, Taban Deng Gai, which has vision and mission of bringing peace into the country.
However, rebels led by Riek Machar and General Olony are all corrupts individuals intoxicated with corruption and unlimited desired for power and such people are forces of destruction and will never be supported by any reasonable person.
As I stated above one of the reasons I support the government and the Army Chief, the other reasons for me supporting the government and the army chief are— first of all, the government of South Sudan is legitimate government and because of that I cannot support illegitimate rebellion which in most cases loot property of citizens of South Sudan. Hence, this is why I support the Government.
Second to it, the reason I support the Army Chief, General Paul Malong Awan, is that he loves South Sudan. For instance, if it were not him the whole South Sudan would have been destroyed by rebels in 2013 but for his effort the rebels were chased away in which they remained in exile to date
In addition, General Malong Awan is in charge of the army and because of that he manages the army and now due to his effort, the army of South Sudan is highly disciplined and professionalized. This shows that with time South Sudan is going to be one of the Countries with the strongest army in the world. All is due to his tireless work which shows that he needs peace in the country and which further shows that he is a patriotic South Sudanese army General.
Generally, I support the Government and Paul Malong Awan because the survival of South Sudan depends on them. Without them South Sudan would have been thrown into chaos by tribalist rebels. It is fit to see some people supporting tribalist rebels and turn around accusing me for supporting the government, which is hypocrite.
In short, I would like to quote for those who always attack me the statement of Karl Marx that: “ the human being is in the most literal sense a political animal, not merely a gregarious animal, but an animal which can individuate itself only in the midst of society”.
Hence, the above quotation is the basis of political liberalism and the rebels and their supporters must know that I cannot stop supporting the government because of the fact that rebels or their supporters hate me.
I promise that I will continue to support the Government to the end and with my support and others who support the Government and the army of South Sudan, we shall defeat rebels within no time.
NB//: the author is South Sudanese student residing in Uganda and can be reached through: dengdavid00@gmail.com
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