PARTI KEADILAN RAKYAT (PKR) AND NOW PAS – PARTIES OF UMNO/BARISAN REJECTS, MISFITS AND INGRATES.

– AND WHO ARE THEIR OWN WORST ENEMIES WITH UMNO AND BARISAN BECOMING THEIR MERE PUNCHING BAGS.

By Mansor Puteh

Parti KeAdilan Rakyat (PKR) cannot be described as a true political party in Malaysia. It was formed for a different reason, which has got nothing to do with any political agenda of national interests, other than to be a sworn enemy of Umno.

However, in the process, it became a party which is a sworn enemy of Barisan Nasional, i.e. by default.

The main characters involved in the formation of PKR are those who were staunch supporters of Umno and Barisan.

And the supporting characters, comprise mostly of the wives, children and also cronies of the de facto leader and founder of PKR, who is Anwar Ibrahim.

So what can one say of this party? It does not aim to champion some wonderful national political cause, but that aims to belittle and condemn the very party and coalition of parties which had first trust its founders and staunch supporters in the first place.

So it is not wrong for anyone to say PKR is a party of Umno and Barisan misfits, rejects and ingrates.

Now Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) is also in such a situation when it readily accepts a former senior Umno leader, Muhammad Muhammad Taib as its member, who left Umno and Barisan in such haste that one wonders if he decided to join PAS in order to further extend his political life as in order that it does not take him into his ‘second political childhood’.

My take is that Muhammad Muhammad only aims to turn PAS into a party of Umno and Barisan rejects, misfits and ingrates such as him, which PAS leaders will take a long while before realizing it and to accept finally that those who wish to join their party are merely serving their personal interests and not of PAS’ whose interests keep on changing from time to time so much so that their main agenda which is to establish Malaysia as an Islamic state, whatever that means, must be achieved if they get the support of another party who has stated that they are opposed to such an idea.

What is means is that PAS is collaborating with their own ‘sworn enemies’.

So no wonder many of their staunch supporters and leaders have left the party to become the most severe critics of the PAS leadership and party itself.

Being in politics in Malaysia all his life, surely, Muhammad Muhammad Taib cannot bear the brunt of not being able to hog the political scene for a while longer, even if he is now on the other side.

Unfortunately, most of the original founders of PKR had left the party to join mainstream politics, and who are now most vocal in their criticism of PKR and its lead founder, Anwar.

One can almost discount Anwar’s first daughter, Nurul Izzah for any diatribe which she may have on Umno and Barisan as she is merely performing her filial duty and not a national duty.

And her last win in Lembah Pantai parliamentary seat, was a fluke. The voters just wanted to get rid of the President of the Wanita Umno, incumbent, Sharizat Jalil, and not because they liked Nurul more, just like how Loh Goh Burne who won in Kelana Jaya and became a one-time member of parliament after his party did not extend his political life by nominating him for the thirteen general elections.

Goh Burne could not speak Melayu at all and had given or read only one speech in his halting Melayu while in parliament through the last five years, which dealt with some foreign affairs matters, that made Hamid Albar, the then minister of foreign affairs to smile widely.

Anwar was very angry for not being able to succeed Mahathir Mohammad as prime minister. He thought Mahathir had made a very bad and awful decision for sacking him as his deputy, which Anwar thought was not a wise move.

But why did Anwar and his supporters think Mahathir had made such a wise move by accepting Anwar into Umno and hence the Mahathir Cabinet, and who later shot up in the Umno and Barisan hierarchy quickly so much so that those who had been waiting in line had to be removed or sidelined?

And yet, when Mahathir had the wisdom to change his mind about Anwar and sack him, why then did Anwar and his supporters not say it was also a wise move by Mahathir?

From being someone who was wise, by admitting Anwar and accepting all his quirks and style, suddenly Mahathir had become not wise simply because he had chosen not to allow Anwar have his ways anymore.

Being the deputy prime minister of Malaysia is not a right; party members of Umno do not choose who to become the deputy prime minister. The right rests in the good hands of the prime minister himself and it is his prerogative to appoint and even sack anyone in the cabinet as he so pleases.

And there were many Umno and Barisan leaders who had to face similar music before as it is the practice by incumbent prime ministers to discontinue the services of any member of his cabinet who he finds to have served too long or who deserves to be ‘promoted’ to retirement, a ‘post’ which many may find to be disconcerting as they think political life in Malaysia is enduring and all-encompassing so not many of them have made retirement plans.

So when it finally happens, one gets a rude shock.

One way to overcome this shock is to become a turncoat and join PKR and now PAS, the two parties which can be described as the ‘graveyards’ and ‘dumping grounds’ of Malaysian politics, especially by those who think that there is indeed life after political death, who in the end may be party-spoilers.