Malaysians Say The Darndest Things!

Perak Political Quagmire: Let The People Decide

February 4, 2009

Around 5pm, after constantly pressing F5 at the Malaysiakini, TheStar, and Malaysian Insider websites, it was confirmed that BN, with the support of 3 newly ‘independent’ candidates, has the majority in the Perak State Assembly. To say that I am saddened by the latest events unfolding in my home state would be an understatement.

I think it is fair to say that this is BN giving the PR (especially Anwar Ibrahim) a taste of their own medicine. The only difference would be that BN took us all by surprise, while Anwar chose to announce his grand plans to the world and even set a date for his supposed defections.

I also believe it to be a moot point to argue about the ethics of whether it was right or wrong for the PKR and DAP reps to jump over to the other side. After all, this blog writer, and most of its readers were clamoring for Anwar to parade his BN frogs on September 16th 2008.

However, some questions which beg to be answered:

1) How can the Bota assemblyman jump from one party into another, then back again, all in the space of one week? I will be very very surprised if this man would still win an election under any party banner, after taking his constituents for a roller coaster ride.

2) Did the Behrang (Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi) and Changkat Jering (Osman Jailu) assemblymen declare their independence because they were promised that their pending corruption cases would be thrown out of court? Or did they really feel ostracized by their own party? If their cases were to be thrown out by court, would BN be suspected of influencing the case? Does BN even care what people think of them?

3) The Jelapang (Hee Yit Foong) assemblywoman has been a DAP member for 22 years. Her story on why she jumped would be the most intriguing, as I cannot imagine how a long-time party member would choose to now leave the party, after declaring in the newspapers just a few days ago that “I have never had any intention of leaving the party and would feel very heavy-hearted if I did”. Was it her disagreements with the Perak DAP leadership that did her in? Or was she threatened in any way by BN? Or was it pure greed over maybe financial reasons or was she promised more power? I would like to know what her story is.

4) Was money involved? Well, with BN, you never know, since there is never any concrete proof (except for vote-buying during elections, of which there has been ample proof, but no action taken by the Election Commission).

I think with those questions hanging in the air, it would be wise for our Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah to consider them before making a decision. Would he tolerate the people of Bota being represented by a man with absolutely NO principles? Would he allow the people of Behrang and Changkat Jering to be represented by men with dubious records (even if the courts found them innocent, their innocence would unfortunately be disputed till kingdom come for their alignment to BN). The Sultan should also be curious on why a loyal DAP party member of 22 years can just jump ship without any clear reason given.

With such uncertainty surrounding these assemblypersons, especially when these assemblypersons are the one providing BN with a majority, I believe the best decision that the Sultan can make for the people of Perak is to accede to the request of current Perak MB, Nizar Jamaluddin, to dissolve the state assembly and let the people decide once and for all who they want leading the state.

I await his Highness’ decision with bated breath.

Daulat Tuanku.

P.S. Najib must be smelling like a bed of roses now.

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