Can Dr. Machar still win hearts of angry people
By Zechariah Manyok Biar
September 26, 2009 — Those who win in democracy are those who win the hearts of voters, and one does not win the hearts of voters through words but through action. For example, when the current U.S. President Mr. Obama completed his Law degree from Harvard University, he chose to become a community organizer. Being a community organizer here in the USA is not a work that pays a lot. Obama’s wife was the one who took care of the family when Obama was taking care of disadvantaged citizens in Illinois. It was Obama’s heart for service that won him the support of youth, working class, middle class, and even upper class people like Warren Buffett. Americans did not care about Obama’s background when they voted for him because they knew that his passion for service was what they needed their president to have, especially in the time of economic crisis.
Obama’s magic for winning voters’ hearts is what Macharmaniacs (to borrow Isaiah Abraham’s term), including Isaiah Abraham by the way, do not understand. Dr. Riek Machar’s supporters do not understand that their behavior can be a disaster to Dr. Machar’s political future. You don’t have to kill people to make them vote for your guy. Simple!
However, we know that Riek has nothing to do with the current killings in Jonglei. We are aware that Nuer is divided into many sections that have distinctive culture. We know that the section of Nuer where Dr. Machar comes from is not roaming around, killing its neighbors for no reason at the moment.
But the restrained behavior of Riek’s section of Nuer has nothing to do with Riek’s leadership control. We still need to see a change in Riek’s leadership competence, especially his ability to control misbehavior.
It would be unfair to think that Dr. Machar was the only commander who killed innocent people during the North-South war. We know that both Kerubino Kwanyin Bol and William Nyuon Bany did the same scale of massive killing of civilians that we now hold Riek accountable for. The difference may be that those who did what Riek did are now dead. But every educated person will understand that things that happen during revolution wars are not always smooth. Many educated people are ready to forgive Riek like they have forgiven other commanders who committed atrocities during the war.
What many of us now want to see is whether there are signs that show us that Dr. Machar can become a good president or not. This concern can only be addressed by Riek and his supporters if Riek is really planning to be our president in the future.
If Riek’s supporters were good strategic planners, the questions they would ask themselves first include these: Can Riek still win the hearts of many Southerners even if he did a massive killing of civilians during the war? If the are answer is yes or no, then the next question would be why or why not? If “no” answer is confirmed and the reasons why Riek cannot win are identified, then the next question would be: How do we fix these problems to show people that Dr. Machar is a changed man who can bring positive changes to our nation?
Unfortunately, these questions do not exist on Riek supports’ minds. They think that the only way to bring Riek to power is for Riek’s community to become violent so that Southerners can vote Riek into president to fix the problem. This type of strategy will hurt Riek’s political future more than it could benefit it because it goes against logic.
Let us take the example of simple logic. If what Riek’s supporters say everyday that Riek is a Nuer guy only and not the Vice President of all other tribes is true, then we can associate him with what Lou-Nuer is now doing, not because Riek supports Lou-Nuer’s behavior, but because he has the power to convince Lou-Nuer to stop killing other people. The simple logic is that killings of people eliminate their support for you if you are a political leader. For example, if we just take the number of people killed recently in Duk as 75 people apart from the number that the attackers lost, then we will find many people who can never vote for Riek. Each of the 75 killed people has immediate family members, the extended family members, and close friends. That means each dead person among the 75 has about 40 people who love him or her dearly. If you multiply 40 people by 75 dead people, you will have 3000 people who can never vote for Riek. These are things that strategic planners consider.
When things like the above are identified, then those who really love to see Riek in power would be the first to campaign against the behavior of their people by telling them that what they are doing will hurt the political future of their people like Riek. Not only will those who dearly love the killed 75 innocent people vote against Riek, the behavior of the people who associate themselves with Riek or are associated with him based on mere Nuer name will send a clear disappointment to would-be Riek’s supporters in other communities. How can one entrust his or her life to people who do not seem to respect life?
Riek’s strategic planners may find that some people cannot vote for Riek because they are still bitter against him for what he did in the past. In this situation, the planners may find out what these people want Riek to do to show them that he is now a changed man. The answer that many people would give is that they would want Riek to apologize to them. Riek may let his pride block his logic here and say that apology would show his weakness.
But if we take the above simple logic, then we can say that ignoring the demand of those who are bitter against Riek would eliminate many voters for him. For example, if the massive killing of civilians by people under the command of Dr. Machar in the 1990s had taken the lives of 3000 people in Bor area, and you multiply 3000 by 40 people who love them dearly, then you can get 120,000 people who can never vote for Riek. These people who can never vote for Riek might campaign against him and each of them might convince 10 other people to vote against Riek. So, how can you ignore such a number?
The only solution for Riek in this situation is to sincerely apologize to the relatives of the people who were killed by people under his command in the 1990s. Dr. Machar may not convince everybody who is bitter with him to change his or her mind, but the symbolic meaning of his action will earn him support from some of the people who are against him now and from other communities who hate injustice.
If Riek chose not to apologize, then what comes into the minds of many people is that he still stands by what he did in the 1990s, or he may think that his apology may not result in the change of his people’s behaviors toward others. When I talk of Riek’s people, I mean his community supporters, not the whole Nuer community.
So my advice to Riek’s supporters is that they must know what people want. Talking without action does not win any vote in democracy. Riek must also not appear this time like a person who loves to take Southerners to stage one in their liberation struggle. Dr. Machar should build his legacy from his God-given ability of outwitting his opponents in negotiations. He will probably win the support of many people if he gets what Southerners want from the current referendum bill negotiations in Khartoum. President Kiir is giving Dr. Machar a great chance by assigning him what he can do well. Becoming president may come naturally for Dr. Machar later on if he convinced people that he is a changed man.
Zechariah Manyok Biar is a graduate student at Abilene Christian University, Texas, USA. He is pursuing a Master of Arts in Christian Ministry and a Master of Science in Social Work, specializing in Administration and Planning. For comments, contact him at email: [email protected]
Luk K Dak
Can Dr. Machar still win hearts of angry people
Ustaz Manyok,
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said: ” You do not need a college degree to serve. You do not a PhD to serve. All you need is heart full with grace and passion to serve others.
Don’t we need those servant leaders in South Sudan? I bet we do.
We could only have one president at a time, and you do have to be the President to serve. Pure and simple.
Luk Dak
Dinka Boy
Can Dr. Machar still win hearts of angry people
Dear Manyok Biar,
Thanks for your thoughtful message to citizens of Southern Sudan.
You really hit the nail on its head.
If someone demand to be president, the he must practice the moral act ,which means doing postive things to citizens so you become attractive.
My brother, i said this some days ago, and i am going to say it again. If your love one are dying for no reasons by the trailors, then how are they going to vote for someone, or separation? i doubt.
That is why a leader manage to moral standard to his/ her people.
See now, there are alot of death number in Southern Sudan espeially in Jonglei from the past and the present. The 1991 inccident occured and Riek was forgive by Dr John Garang, many defect like Matip, Taban Deng, Gatdet and they are now enjoying the atmosphere in the South. My friend, that is how leadership works.
Some nuer trailors always said that Dinka especially Dinka Bor are coward, but that is because they are leaders that is why their Civilians are being killied by Nuer militia, and they are now silence, but they have alot of Generals in the SPLA/M.
I hope fools will learned through Manyok Biar letter, otherwise they are born empty and will die empty without rulling anybody in the South.
If Riek was the leader, he should not just said he condmned the killing and not even mentioning those of Nuer lou Militia who frequently attack Twic East and Duk counties.
That is weird for vice -president to act that way.
Another, Hussein Mar talked to the Militia leader Mabil,but he did not take full accountability for the action and he is the diputy Governor.
My advise to Riek and others trailors, they should know how to persuade individuals before they think of leadership or separation. Some fools with no vssion might think fighting civilians will bring any good,but that is not. That could bring more division within South.
My brother Riek is atrailor and killer, he must give a pology and hunt down those Militia and this will make him a leader instead of talking and beating about the Bush.
thieleling
Can Dr. Machar still win hearts of angry people
Manyok Biar,
Dr. Riek is a great strategic thinker. And there are also great strategic thinkers in Dr. Riek’s camp should he decide to run. They do not need your advise. There is no intelligence in wasting time to win Manyok Biar’s heart. Why? Because you are heartless. There is nothing there to win.
You are addicted to write about Dr. Riek Machar everyday. There is no doubt you have “Dr.Macharphobia”. Your preconcieved prejudice against Dr. Machar will never change. It consumed you beyond the point of return. Please find something else in your life than being Dr.Macharphobic.
You said Dr. Machar has nothing to do with the “madness” in Jonglei. I agree with you that Dr. Machar has nothing to do with Jonglei madness. He is busy negotiating Referendum laws on behalf of South Sudanese. May God bless him on those tough negotiations with NCP!
The Jonglei “madness” is squarely a result of Kuol manyang’s tribalistic calculations. Your seeking of cheap publicity by basing-Dr. Reik Machar days & nights is disgusting. Get a life!!
don dinka
Can Dr. Machar still win hearts of angry people
To be a leader involves numerous characters that can either be good or bad depending on what course your leadership wants to achieve.look at some leaders like Saddam of Iraq, Charles Taylor and the rest are example of what the modern world will never tolerate at all cost and on the other side comes people like president Obama that draw people of different race, background and religion to the point of trusting what our future holds ( so thanks brother Manyok for pointing that out).
Riek Macher is the kind of a person that an insane person will not like to meddle with late alone sane fellow and trust the future on his hands.
well this guy is educated and that makes him a little bit tamed but he is absolutely irresponsible and he is not the fellow that we s sudanese think will unite all of us.
so to conclude the only way for Riek to take power is through a coup and that is obviously out fashion in the 21st century and we will be like Zimbabwe before we even start to enjoy our deserved freedom.
Akol Liai Mager
Can Dr. Machar still win hearts of angry people
Dear Manyok Biar and Isaiah Abraham,
Don’t you think that SPLM as a party will pay yet another heavy price just because of your writings? Don’t you think that you are using your muscles againt wrong enemy? If you don’t think so, I observed the following:
1. All postions including top leadership postion should have been the business of SPLM leaders, but you are making it yours.
2. Both of you are provoking another split in the SPLM
3. The main beneficiary receivers are NIF, NIF-DC, UMMA, DUP and so forth.
4. The silence majority and innocent & ordinary persons will be the victim of the split both of you are calling for.
5. Again as mentioned above, SPLM will lose ground for other sectarian and oppressors parties.
Request; please brothers, can I ask you to talk to Mr Aleu Ayieny and Mr Telor Deng just for the sake of regaining initiatives?
I believe Telor and Aleu have great and potential experiences for building or recovering patient and restraint and may be willing to share them with others and could be helpful.
I am just concern about your war spilling over to the SPLM leadership with great possibilities of SPLM’ enemies taking an advantage of power struggle to weaken its position in the implementation of the CPA, election, demarcation of South-North Borders and referendum.
I wish these writings on the subject of SPLM leadership position stop today before tomorrow, or the pens are directed toward the enemies, the NIF and its allies.
James Okuk Solomon
Can Dr. Machar still win hearts of angry people
Why did these Lou-Nuer went to kill Duk-Dinka in the first place? Should the Lou-Nuer hesitate to protect themselves and their common interests because they want the Bor-Dinka to become please with Dr. Riek Machar and vote him in as the GoSS President in 2010? I don’t think so because these Lou-Nuer should be free to choose whatever they want to do for their common interest and not for the selfish interest of Dr. Riek. What brother Zechariah Manyok wants to apply here is a type of LOGIC OF SELFISHNESS, if I may call it so. Let brother Manyok not ignore that the first requirement for a successful strategic critical thinking is to dig out the root causes of what had occurred: What is the root cause of Lou-Nuer and Bor-Dinka recurrent violent conflicts? Some of the Lou-Nuer have already stated the reasons for their attack on Duk Padiet and other parts of Jonglei State. I think it will be fair for those of brother Manyok and other concerned Bor-Dinka to state their reasons why they think Lou-Nuer should have not attacked them?
Regarding brother Manyok’s appeal for Dr. Riek’s aplology to Bor-Dinka for the 1991 atrocities so that he could win them for 2010 elections, I think this is not a good appeal at all because it is a simplistic trade of precious human lives with selfish gains for political power. If Dr. Riek has to apologize because he wants to gain confidence of some of Bor-Dinka for elections purposes, it means that this apology has nothing to do with the value of human life per se. This is an insult from brother Manyok to those Bor-Dinka whose relatives or friends were killed (including Manyok himself) during the 1991 SPLM/A split into Nasir and Torit factions!!!!!
Also I expected brother Manyok to think broader enough of the bitterness of his Bor-Dinka community and not regard them as if they are the only precious human being in the South. I mean, the requested apology for Dr. Riek might be negative for him as well regarding the gaining of Nuer’s confidence on his GoSS presidential aspiration. Dr. Riek’s apology might anger some Nuer people who are his supporters now because they are very bitter that Bor-Dinka had killed their members too and stole their cattle in the past. Thus, while aiming to gain the confidence of Bor-Dinka Dr. Riek might as well lose the confident of Lou-Nuer, and this will make him gain nothing at the end except shifting the gain in one hand and the loss on the other hand. This is a simple strategic logic that brother Manyok should have considered before coming to public with his narrow appeal for Dr. Riek’s apology. What he is demanding from Dr. Riek and his supporters is not as simple as he thinks because it involves bitterness from two sides of the conflict (i.e. Dinka and Nuer). Should Dr. Riek lose the Nuer votes to gain the Dinka votes and vice versa or should he gains both votes? This is a tough choice which should involve a genuine research for finding who shall be the majority for the elections votes to Dr. Riek if he apologize to Bor-Dinka or decided not to do it!!!!
Manyok
Can Dr. Machar still win hearts of angry people
Dear friends,
Just call me “Zechariah Manyok Biar” or “Manyok Biar” and not Dr. Manyok or Prof. Manyok because I am still not a Ph.D. holder to be called a doctor. I have also never taught in the university to be called a professor.
I would appreciate it if you just call me by my name without any title.
wenatemdejuach
Can Dr. Machar still win hearts of angry people
It is quite difficult to win poeple’s heart by force or through massarce.
it is good appreciation Zecharia, for you really identified the areas of South Sudan’s weaknesses.Keeping unneccessary folks in positions in which they have no qualification,keeping enermies at the outdoor.
Who is that DR. Riek machaar people are talking about? I am still carrying Machar’s scars and if I make a glance, it reminds me of what he did in 1991 attack.
He is not patriotic.In God’s eyes he has no single vote to win in the forthcoming election.Because you are elected for your positive contributions to the one you are working for.
Dr can not be listened in his mother’s home-land. whom will he lead?
Machar in simple term means black,and in physics, black is not a colour for it admits all the colours and reflects none.So he will die poor as he was born. Should you do things in darkness, God knows when to cast you. it is now adays that burying a person has become difficult.So if you donnot change to what majority are saying you remain like a dog which returns to its bomits
mohammed osman
Can Dr. Machar still win hearts of angry people
this southerners savages needs to go and put themselves together before you talk about us in north sudan. you are all nothing but stupid humans and islam will not bow to your ignorance.
Akuma
Can Dr. Machar still win hearts of angry people
Hay. are fool by Money that Dr. Riek have? now look for the war going on in jonglei he has a part since he is one created that channel of pre gonocide in jongei state, he kill thousands of civilians in the state.
Let talks of Icc ofr Bashir nad Riek should also prepared to depend himself if icc call him. Sudan has three criminal peopel Riek and Omar as genociders in sudan. Let Riek forget leadersip in sudan atleast all Dinka dead that were he came to power to lead the country.
Dr. Riek. Just forget what people caled leadership in your life since you are mouth politicians in suda alone but not elsewhere. look Nuer are killing Dinka in Duuk padieet and he has no voice to control his people.
Ashame, ashame, ashame………………… Dr. Riek if you don’t has kind of human noirmality in your resoning capacity
Dr. Akuma in chicago USA