PKR Can't Afford To be Illiberal

A Kadir Jasin

[MUTAKHIR, 30 Jan.] – JAWATANKUASA Disiplin Pas semalam menggantung Khalid Abdul Samad daripada jawatan Ketua Bahagian Shah Alam dan Ahli Biro Politik selama enam bulan.

Sementara itu, Dr Hassan Ali diberikan amaran bertulis kerana menyerang Kerajaan Selangor pimpinan PKR. Khalid dihukum kerana menyerang Hassan dan mendedahkan maklumat rahsia dalam blognya. Mereka boleh merayu kepada Majlis Syura Pas.

Tindakan tegas Pas itu menguji dan mencabar PKR agar mengambil tindakan ke atas Zulkifli yang berkelahi dengan Khalid. Tetapi adalah tidak tepat membandingkan Pas dengan PKR kerana Pas lebih bersatu padu dan berdisiplin.

[Original Post]

THE Party Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) cannot possibly give its recalcitrant Kulim-Bandar Baharu Member of Parliament Zulkifli Noordin the boot without the risk of being labeled illiberal.

Not when the call to expel him came from a member who is associated with liberalism, the rule of law and reform.

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The Malaysiakini news portal on Jan. 25, quoted the party’s Central Leadership Council member, Mohd Zaid Ibrahim, as calling for Zulkifli’s sacking.

The news portal further quoted Mohd Zaid as purportedly saying that the three-party opposition alliance, the Pakatan Rakyat, could not afford to have MPs who went against reform.

Zulkifli’s cardinal sin is his police report against the Shah Alam Pas MP Khalid Abdul Samad for calling for the amendment of a Selangor religious enactment that reserves the use of the term Allah for the Muslims.

Khalid is an ardent supporter of the High Court decision to allow Roman Catholic to use Allah in its bahasa Melayu literature. He is also a strong critic of the Selangor Religious Affairs Department.

Just to digress a bit, the Kulim-Bandar Baharu MP looks like a thoroughly modern man except for his birthplace Baling.

Zulkifli received his early education Ashby Road (English) Primary School and Anderson Secondary School in Ipoh and King Edward VII in Taiping.

He attended the Royal Military College, the Pakuranga College, Bucklands Beach, Auckland and did law at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand (1982-1986).

Back to Mohd Zaid, he was quoted telling a Press conference: "If you say the (amendment) of the law is wrong, that's okay. But don't lodge police reports as this is a form of intimidation."

The buzzword here is intimidation. It is, of course, debatable whether Zulkifl’s police report is as intimidating as, say, a lawsuit. Furthermore many such reports and lawsuits were made by Pakatan people against their foes.

Who Is To Cast The First Stone?

The question is, who is going to cast the first stone at Zulkifli – Mohd Zaid, the PKR or the PR?

If Mohd Zaid was correctly quoted, the Zulkifli Affair has to be handled not by the PKR alone but by the larger alliance as well.

Mohd Zaid was quoted as saying that “Pakatan's image as a champion of democracy would be affected if the coalition did not act against Zulkifli.”Then again, isn’t what Zulkifli is doing amounts to championing democracy by speaking out on behalf of the people who share his view on the matter?

Co-opting the DAP in the move to sack Zulkifli, Mohd Zaid said: "If not 'Middle Malaysia' will ask what we stand for and our party will become a laughing stock. We are not Umno or BN."

Middle Malaysia is the DAP’s new clarion call presented by its General Secretary, Lim Guan Eng, at the party’s recent convention in Ipoh.

From the tone of his statement, Mohd Zaid would not be satisfied with merely slapping Zulkifli with a suspension. We wanted the man out.

He was quoted as saying that that it would not be enough to suspend Zulkifli's membership, as this was not the first time he tainted the party's image.

Last November, Zulkifli made headlines by challenging the PKR vice-president R Sivarasa to quit and battle him for the post.

The MP also made headlined when he led a protest against the Bar Council's forum on 'Conversion to Islam' in 2008.

Being Difficult or Doing the Right Thing?

FIs Zulkifli being difficult and quarrelsome or is he doing what a Muslim should in the defense of his faith or, at the very least, fighting for what he believes in?

This episode will further test the ability of PKR to survive as a diversified multi-racial, multi-religious national party that draws membership and support from an array of people, ranging from the displaced and disgruntled former members of Barisan Nasional parties to starry-eyed idealists, liberals, secularists and common fortune seekers.

Still, sacking Zulkifli from the party may harm PKR’s image as a liberal, open-minded, tolerant and intellectual middle-of-the-road party.

On the other hand, the PKR may opt to cleanse itself of troublesome leaders now that its rank has been swelled by the entry of many BN defectors.

In recent days, a handful of national, state and divisional leaders, including its long-time secretary general and staunch Anwar supporter, Salehuddin Hashim, had left the party.

The issue of the use of Allah by the Roman Catholic has clearly caused deep division among leaders of the Pakatan’s parties and much as it challenged the unity of the BN.

Pas, on its part, may have realised the danger of punishing its members for disagreeing with their Pakatan’s counterparts.

The party’s disciplinary board has delayed action against its Selangor Commissioner and Exco Member, Dr Hassan Ali and Khalid (its Shah Alam MP) for quarreling with the DAP and each other.

On its part, Umno and its BN partners must also examine the systemic failure of the administrative and consultative machineries that led to the Roman Catholic Church taking its case to court and for the court to rule in favour of the church.