A rebuttal to Dr. Michael Koma: Aweilians are not supporting Gen. Paul Malong blindly
6 min readAweilians are not supporting Malong blindly, but they were forced to do so by the humiliating language of generalization, a rebuttal to Micheal Koma’s article, Malong’s Sin
By Dut Kuot Akok, Juba, South Sudan
November 19, 2017 (SSB) — According to the article which appeared in the Dawn newspaper of Saturday, page 3, vol 2, issue 507 entitled Malong’s Sin. In that article, Michael Koma had narrated how the politically concocted case of Malong should be treated as an individual case rather than to engulf the whole community who seem like to have opted to shelter behind their son according to the aforementioned writer.
He went further by narrating the previous insubordination did by General Malong dating back to liberation days where he said that he was arrested by late Chairman Dr. John Garang in Itang on charges of insubordination.
Also, he said that Malong was not appointed by the community but by the president who knows his ins and outs if he started to abused the comradeship by undermining the president, and as such, he should be treated as he wants and bring his rebelliousness to an end the way he expects.
To start first with the accusation of blindly support, I think the aforementioned writer knows the genesis of the problem we are living in today; he witnessed the crisis of December 2013. And since we all know, the crisis of 2013 was fuelled by the illiterate language of generalization. Our people do not know how to differentiate an individual from the community. It is he (Koma) who know how to view differences between the leaders in an intellectual and political perspective while the majority of our people who are affected by illiteracy and poverty do view things based on tribal perspectives.
And if you both happened to be from the same tribe as of Now, they immediately shift to sectional and clannish perspectives. You will be surprised to hear some derogative statements which were said to innocent Aweilians who had nothing to do with political activities. The statement like Malual (Red) will soon be turned to Machar (black) which refer to Dinka Malual of Aweil. All these unfortunate words were said selfishly even to some poor boys who survive after they sweat under the heat sun of Konyokonyo Market. It is a continuous process up to date.
I as an individual did encounter such puzzling words when I was asked in the morning after Malong left to Yirol by a person whom we are related by blood but we both came from different states that ‘’ what are you doing here while your uncle had left, why don’t you join his rebellion,’’ see how derogative and humiliating was his statement.
His questions were about to let me lost my temper but I tried to cool down my temper and politely responded to him intellectually that, Malong has not declared his rebellion yet since he is on the way going to Aweil, and if he declared later that he has rebelled then it will be the right time for me to answer such questions.
In reality, His immediate departure was wrongly interpreted by those who want to turn it into the project of which they did. In my own observation, his departure was to avoid political gossipers who will use the situation to engineer their personal interests. And to be sincere, this language of generalization will destroy us if not discard; the tasteless fruits we are reaping today were planted by the illiterate language of generalization.
The engineer of this attitude has nurtured a monster that is so devastating to the peaceful coexistence among the people of South Sudan. It was first started by Dr. Machar in which he ordered the 1991 Dinka Bor massacred so as to weaken the movement under Dr. John because he is from Dinka Bor and Dinka community as a whole. The uncalculated action of Dr. Machar was followed by target killing of patriotic soldiers who refused to go with Machar because of their tribal background, they innocently lose their lives because of Machar’s sin.
Further, the living testimony to all of us including Micheal Koma was the inhuman target killing of December 2013. Many people seek shelter in POC in Juba, Bor, Bentiu and Malakal not because they support Machar or President Kiir but it is because of their ethnic background, we have heard how the former speaker of parliament complain that he was being targeted too due to his ethnic background.
Henceforth, the problem is not the people, but primitively utters of those who perceived that they have absolute power. Moreover, his narrative by singling out Aweilians is unfair because we have witnessed his overwhelming reception in Yirol. His tireless determination and sacrifices since he jumped down the bandwagon of liberation for the sake of our liberty have achieved his fame and popularity not only in Aweil but across the corners of South Sudan as a whole.
And to be specific, his half released didn’t go down well with other people. The first group who are not happy are those who were making money out of his home confinement, their project seems like to have come to an end. Other groups are those who were praying day and night to see war engulfing the two communities so as to give room for UN to take over and thereafter handed it over to them at the end of the day.
And concerning the issue of insubordination, here I will not dwell much on it since I am not a soldier but there is one thing I failed to classified whether it was a rebellion or insubordination which is the event of 2004 in Rumbek. If it happened to be one of the above mentioned then, we should cease our blanket accusation against General Pual Malong since he is also a human being like the former.
Also, if it was insubordination, then there should be military rules for handling the case and not just to keep confining him and thereafter order for the released of his bodyguards while he is still under house arrest. It was illogical because there were no guarantees since the order seems like the death penalty in nature.
Dut Kuot Akok, The writer has honoured degree in rural development, University of Juba. He can be reached via his Email address: Dutkuot8@gmail.com.
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