Umno-PKR Tit-For-Tat?

A Kadir Jasin

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[UPDATE, Feb. 3]

MALAYSIAKINI reported that the Election Commission today announced that by-elections are not necessary for the state seats of Changkat Jering and Behrang as there are doubts over the resignation letters said to have been submitted by their representatives.

The Commission chairman, Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof, however said the Perak Pakatan Rakyat Government is free to challenge the decision in court.

[UPDATE, Feb. 2]

1. MALAYSIAKINI reported that Jamaluddin and Mohd Osman denied that they have stepped down as Assemblymen as claimed by the State Speaker, V. Sivakumar (DAP Tronoh), yesterday. Jamaluddin and Osman issued statements through their representatives at separate press conferences, insisting they are still members Behrang and Changkat Jering respectively.

2. The independent news portal quoted the Perak DAP chairman, Ngeh Koo Han, as saying that the undated resignation letters signed Jamaluddin and Mohd Osman are valid. He said the date of the letter or the absence of it is not relevant as the law takes into account the signatory’s intention.

3. This morning, V Sivakumar officially informed the state Election Commission Chief of the vacancies left behind by Jamaluddin and Mohd Osman.

4. Malaysiakini also reported that the Ipoh Barat PKR division chief, Fauzi Muda, has made a statutory declaration claiming that Umno deputy president, Mohd Najib Abdul Razak, offered him RM50 million last year for his services to induce the crossover of two Pakatan Rakyat representatives in Perak. It carried no reaction from Mohd Najib.

[LATEST]

The Star SMS service and Malaysiakini reported that Jamaludin and Mohd Osman have resigned as Assemblymen. House Speaker, V. Sivakumar said by-election will be held within 60 day.

Malaysiakini also reported the ‘disappearance' of Deputy Speaker, Hee Yit Fong, thereby fuelling speculation that she may join the MCA.. Hee, 46, is the DAP's representative for Jelapang.

The news portal learnt that she hadmissed state and party functions recently and was absent from a meeting chaired by Mohamad Nizar this morning.

[Original Posting]

IT’S now the turn of the Parti Keadilan Rakyat to worry about the loyalty and integrity of its elected representatives. It worries that Umno and the Barisan Nasional may be poaching them.

The independent news portal, Malaysiakini, reported that the Perak PKR had accused the Deputy Prime Minister, Mohd Najib Abdul Razak, of attempting to entice two of its state executive councilors to defect to Umno.

According to Malaysiakini, over the past few days, rumours have circulated that Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi and Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu are quitting PKR. It said the duo, who had gone missing for a few days, have not publicly denied the speculation.

The allegation came only days after the PKR celebrated the defection of the Barisan Nasional State Assemblyman for Bota, Nasaruddin Hashim, to its side.

Whether it turns out to be a tit-for-tat between Umno and the PKR or the latter cooking up a story to test the loyalty of its Wakil Rakyat, this latest development makes for an interesting reading.

But it could also be real. Mohd Najib had just taken over the chairmanship of the Perak Umno Liaison Committee following the resignation of the former Menteri Besar, Tajol Rosli Ghazali, a few days ago. The latter took responsibility for Nasaruddin’s defection.

Tajol Rosli’s resignation is a blessing for Mohd Najib. When he takes over the party and the government next month, God willing, one of the first things Mohd Najib should consider doing is to remove all state liaison chiefs whose states fell to the oppositions in the last year’s general elections.

With Mohd Najib as the chief of the Perak Umno, the PKR has a genuine reason to worry that he might use his position to encourage PKR’s representatives to defect.

Rumours have also been circulating that the Perak Menteri Besar, Mohamad Nizar Jamaludin, who is from Pas, might be replaced by a PKR representative. PAS and PKR leaders have dismissed the rumours.

Being the most junior partner in the Perak Pakatan Rakyat coalition government, Pas is in an awkward position.

Mohamad Nizar, an engineer, was appointed the Menteri Besar because the DAP, despite being the dominant partner, does not have a Malay representative to offer and the PKR’s could not offer a suitable Malay candidate. The Perak constitution requires that the MB be Malay.

Pas has six members in the assembly against the DAP’s 18 and PKR’s eight, including the BN turncoat Nasaruddin.

But neither the PKR nor Umno should be using this immoral and undemocratic ploy to beef their strength or to topple one another. The defection of elected representatives is an act of betrayal.

It is already threatening to sour relations between the PKR, which derives much of its membership and tactics from Umno, and DAP.

The DAP has from the beginning been uncomfortable with Anwar Ibrahim’s attempts to buy the loyalty of the BN Parliamentarians in his botch attempt to topple the BN Government on Sept. 16 last year.

On Jan. 3, The Star newspaper quoted the DAP chairman and MP for Bukit Gelugor, Karpal Singh, as saying that PR should only embark on capturing the federal and state governments during the next general elections, and not seize power via the crossovers of BN’s representatives.

He said the people’s choice during the election should be honoured, and they would feel cheated if the MPs or assemblymen hop over to another party.

"I must make it very clear that I have not at any one time been in support of Anwar’s stand on crossovers.

“In fact, as far back as March 23, 2008, I had gone to the extent of saying DAP would support the Barisan-led Federal Government to amend the Constitution to make party-hopping illegal by providing more than the eight MPs required by the Barisan to make up for the two-thirds majority needed to amend the Constitution,” he said in a statement.

DAP, he said, is against elected representatives betraying the sacred trust of their constituents through party-hopping.

On March 23, 2008, laywer-blogger Haris Ibrahim (apologies not Harris Hashim as earlier state) of People’s Parliament, posted the following excerpt of his letter to Anwar objecting to party-hopping:

“I write now on behalf of the many voters whose choice of candidate and party to represent them are, based on the many news reports, in serious jeopardy should defections by BN MPs come to pass. On their behalf, I ask that should you be approached by such MPs seeking to cross over, that you insist that your party will only accept them into your fold after they have first obtained the sanction of their voters to their proposed defection.

“A statement from you now to confirm that no defecting MP will be accepted without such MP first getting the consent of the voters will go a long way to allay our concerns.”

Harris appeared to feel so strongly about the “immorality” of party hopping by elected representatives that he even urged his readers to write to Anwar.

Apart from trying to be morally upright and democratically responsible, Karpal Singh’s vehement objection to Anwar’s underhanded method has a more sinister political dimension.

Should Anwar succeed in corrupting the BN MPs and State Assemblymen, especially his former colleagues from Umno, to cross over to PKR, the DAP could see its superiority in Perak and Penang reduced.

Already it is playing the second fiddle to PKR in Parliament with 28 seats against the latter’s 31. Pas has 23 seats.

Even Pas has a reason to worry if Anwar succeeds in corrupting Umno’s State Assemblymen and MPs to defect to its camp.

In the past, the shifting loyalty of the Malays moves back and forth between Umno and Pas. Now, apart from Umno, Pas has also to contend with PKR.

Pas could end up being the ultimate loser if the defecting Umno members and supporters side with PKR instead with Pas.

Also the party has to consider the long-term implications of its collaboration with the DAP via Pakatan Rakyat. I am sure its leaders are aware that the Muslims in general and its supporters in particular are angered by the DAP’s stance on the position of Islam in the Constitution and its opposition to Hudud and Qisas.

But it appears that many PKR leaders, members and supporters have no qualm adopting Umno’s alleged dirty tactics to gain power while at the same time claiming that they are more transparent, ethical and trustworthy than Umno.

There’s a Malay proverb that says a dog may not eat another dog’s excreta, but it’ll invariably sniff it. That’s ok for dogs and cats.

They mark their territories and announce their presence, their gender and their sexual condition with their excreta. Dogs even sniff each other’s behind in friendly gesture.

And a bull in heat will follow an ovulating female for days without eating and drinking just for a chance to mate with her.

A bull elephant would even go mad – tumpah minyak – when it’s in the heat and cannot find an ovulating female. The minyak or oil is actually the musk a mature male elephant produces when it is in the heat.

When I was growing up in Kedah in the 1950’s and 60’s, elephants were still widely kept as beasts of burden and stories of mahut (elephant handlers) and bystanders being killed or injured by a “tumpah minyak” elephant were common.