Undermining South Sudan unity

By Luk Kuth Dak

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education”.

The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

May 30, 2009 — Indeed, we know, all of us know, that South Sudan has all kinds of problems and challenges, and that, at this moment in time, it is only fighting for existence.

Unfortunately, one of it’s major problems , and the most worrisome of all is it has an enormous number of PhD holders who are obviously educated, but cannot be described as intellectuals, and are sadly, self- opinionated, self – centered, and in some cases, ignorant, due to the fact that, most – if not all – of them hardly read a book. This category of flashy degree holders have not been to a library or book store, since – perhaps, the last time they sat for their final examinations. Certainly, this explains – fully, why South Sudan has this huge deficit on authors, researchers and theorists who can address the nation’s challenges.

Apart from their usual bragging around about their PhDs, they really have nothing to offer to Southern Sudanese people, who are deeply despaired and flabbergasted by their heartless acts and preposterous conduct. For instance, if you run into one of them, he, most certainly will introduce himself as: “I am Dr. so and so”, in such a way that: the first thing that will jump into the hearers’ minds is that: the Dr. (X) is in fact, a medical doctor or a veterinarian, but certainly, not a PhD holder in political science, economics or any other field in humanities or social sciences.

In his autobiography, former US Ambassador to the UN, and former Atlanta Mayor, Andrew young, wrote: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used to introduce himself by only two words: I am Martin! Surely, Dr. King, a man with tremendous talent, across all boards, had every reason to display his outstanding achievements. But, he clearly did not let them get into his head, as is the case with some of South Sudan’s so – called ‘doctors’. Furthermore, in very many occasions, I have personally heard the late Dr. John Garang de Mabior introduce himself as “ John Garang- which explains why he was so special and charismatic.

In addition, if you think I’m jealous of those PhDs, that’s O.K. However, if you have been a regular reader of my articles in ( Sudan Tribune, South Sudan Nation, South Sudan Net, the Anyuak Media and Gurtong), then, there is no doubt in my mind that you’re well aware that I have held my tongue – or pen, from personal criticism. Hence, I did not take such position in fear of any of the so –called PhDs. After all, I am a free lance journalist, whose only boss is “ Me”. But – for fairness’ sake, I was more than willing to give everybody a chance to show that he or she had just made a serious mistake and that they may feel regret, make amends and eventually make South’s interest their top priority.

And if you, ( the readers), remember when Mr. ( pharmacist) Reik Gai Kok, bowed to Dr. Amr Musa, the Secretary General of the Arab League, and disparaged his notorious, but sinful statement that, “ South Sudan will always be a part of the Arabs and Islamic nation”, or when he said that, “ Abyie is part of North Sudan”, you did not hear from me, for a good three to four months. I was hoping that somehow, maybe Mr. Riek would eventually come to his “Old self”.

When Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin, the estranged ranking member of the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement ( SPLM/A, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the Government of National Unity ( GNU) and his hand picked, former Ambassador to Washington, John Ukech Lueth, decided to betray the trust bestowed upon them by the Southern Sudanese people, and both of them claimed that: there was no genocide in Darfur, you did not hear from me either, simply because I wanted to allow them the time to – perhaps, recant their positions before I went ahead with a few articles criticizing them.

Consequently, it is worth- mentioning, however, that: Dr. Lam Akol, is arguably an intelligent man, and there is really nothing not to be liked about him personally, except the fact that, for some reason or another he has chosen to direct his God’s given talents, to jeopardize the interests of his own people, who carried him to his pinnacle, in the first place.

And when the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement “ Flip – flopped” about its position on the International Criminal Court’s indictment of the embattled President Omar al – Basher, I bit my tongue, too, to give it a moment to rethink its stance before I wrote an article about it, which angered some high ranking (SPLM) officials!

But, today, however, I have a change of mind. We cannot simply continue to stand by idly and suffer from such disheartening acts of evil, like the latest cold blooded massacre by the Lou- Nuer and their masters in the Islamic National Front, against the innocent people of Terkech, Nasir.

As I have mentioned in my previous article, the most sophisticated weapons used in the massacre, could not possibly have been manufactured by the Lou people. Nonetheless, the brutal way in which the massacre was carefully conducted and carried out, targetting innocent children, women and elderly, ( a method known only to be the trade mark of the (INF), seriously and dangerously suggests that: either that there were some involvement of some foreign elements, or the Lou- Nuer people no longer believe in the Nuer culture in which ( no matter how vicious the war might have been, or how many casualties there were, on both sides), women, elderly, and more importantly children, are NOT to be touched.

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools”. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Just because we do not agree on anything and everything, it does not mean that we should demonize one another. We, the Gajioks will continue to love our brothers and sisters in the Lou Nation, (despite the fact that they have violated our well-being). That’s exactly how it used to be, in the first place. However, our quest to bring those responsible for the massacre to justice- including Reik Gai Kok, will never cease.

It is just a matter of time.

The author is a former anchorman with Radio Juba, a contributor to Sudan Tribune, South Sudan Nation. He can be reached at: [email protected].