If ever elected representatives are turned into renegades and turncoats, we must not only punish these traitors in the next round of elections but we must severely punish the party that encourages treachery.
Pakatan doesn’t need an enemy to destroy it. It can self-destruct quite easily — thanks to coalition partner Parti Keadilan Rakyat!
The undercurrent that has been simmering for some time has finally surfaced with its Bayan Baru MP Datuk Zahrain Mohamed Hashim lashing out at the Penang Chief Minister publicly accusing him of being “dictatorial, chauvinistic and communist-minded”.
From the public’s perspective, there are several MPs in PKR who have taken public positions contrary to the stated aims of the party thus undermining its credibility as a viable component of the Pakatan Rakyat.
Word has it that some of them are deliberately daring the party to take action against them so that they can justify their joining the Barisan Nasional. In fact, they are provoking the party to discipline them — which would make it easier for them to leave the party.
There is talk that Umno is trying to entice them to cross over. Overtures have been made to encourage this but it has not been revealed what the price would be. To be sure it must be hefty!
Having successfully subverted the Pakatan government in Perak, the BN especially Umno is now hard at work to achieve two objectives.
Objective number one is to topple the Pakatan-led Selangor state government and take over the richest state. All it takes is for seven state assemblymen to be bought over and you have the Selangor state in your pocket!
Objective number two is to regain its traditional two-thirds majority in Parliament. Again, all it takes is for nine MPs to jump ship.
These objectives are achievable when they feed the greed of certain people with millions of ringgit and corrupt them to switch party. This is how they will turn certain people into traitors and force them to commit treachery.
Let’s remember that the treachery when it is committed is not against the political party but in actual fact it is against Malaysian voters and against democracy.
If ever the elected representatives are turned into renegades and turncoats, we must not only punish these traitors in the next round of elections but we must severely punish the party that encourages treachery.
When we give a simple majority to the Opposition, it is possible to subvert our will through corruption. It is easy to buy a few representatives. But when we give the Opposition a big majority, it will be very difficult to frustrate the people’s mandate.
Let’s do a better job when the 13th General Election takes place. Let’s not only give the Opposition a better majority, it would be even better to reverse the roles and give the Opposition a chance to rule Malaysia. — Aliran
* P. Ramakrishnan is president of Aliran.
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