My two cents on the PKR Deputy President race

Zaid's petulant and divisive campaign stirred unease

Shin Shin

The inaugural one-man-one-vote internal election of People’s Justice Party (KeADILan) is anything but internal. Unlike in the past where nobody raised any eyebrows over our party election, this time round it has generated huge heatwave, and Malaysians from all walks of life, as well as mainstream media (MSM) are passionately following it closely. Surely as expected, more often than not, media take sides in broad daylight just like us humans, albeit for some unholy reasons everyone clearly witnessed.

The focus, granted, is the juxtaposition of the two contenders for the Deputy Presidency, namely all-time Vice President Mohd Azmin Ali and Central Councillor (MPP) cum Kuala Lumpur Liaison Committee Chairman, Zaid Ibrahim. As a talented lawyer, Zaid the former Minister in Prime Minister’s Department for Legal Affairs was celebrated for his courageous resignation from Cabinet over the use of ISA against bloggers, legislators and journalists. He was aslso cherished by KeADILan leaders, to the extent that media styled him as “Pakatan Rakyat coordinator” and the “Author of Pakatan’s common platform manifesto”.

At the beginning, when 13 Members of Parliaments (MPs) declared allegiance to Azmin, and the next day 13 State Assemblypersons from Selangor and Negri Sembilan followed suit, I was somehow intrigued by their action, eventhough as Nik Nazmi, State Assemblyman for Seri Setia stated, such endorsements are in fact commonplace in the United States. True, not only by party members but members of the public as wel. I remember, Francis Fukuyama the master ideologue of Conservatism, to my surprise actually backed Barrack Obama during the campaign.

Syed Husin attacked over interview

Perhaps, one of the reason people felt that endorsement of Azmin somehow distasteful, is that the well-respected incumbent who have been actively involved in politics for half a century, Syed Husin Ali, hadn’t even announced his retirement yet. But if anyone thinks this anecdote would endear Syed Husin to Azmin’s opponent, think again.

Syed Husin - someone didn't like his comments

In the interview by MerdekaReview’s Lim Hong Siang and Wong Shu Qi, Syed Husin who was Anwar’s professor during his varsity days, reluctantly spoken about the duo. “Tidak semua jawatan yang disebut media, yang kononnya dipegang oleh Zaid, benar. Sebenarnya dasar Pakatan dibuat satu kumpulan, bukan seorang. Memang dia ditugaskan untuk daftarkan Pakatan, tapi tidak bererti dia coordinator for Pakatan,” Syed Husin elaborated.

Also, the party deputy president listed the criteria for his successor. Among others, one must be a “Team Player”, and not only attend those meetings that one enjoys, because good discipline is essential for the success of party’s political programmes.

To this, it was reported (even by his “Liberate motherland before tomorrow” official media), Zaid uttered the words, “Saya rasa beliau sudah nyanyuk dan lupa mengenai hal itu.” As we know, nyanyuk means forgetful. Was he reprimanding Syed Husin as being old and forgetful? No, Zaid and those pro-Zaid web portals claimed, he was driving while taking questions from journalist, perhaps there was why miscommunication occured. The word he used, according to news reports, was “nyanyu“.

For the uninitiated, the rarely used term “nyanyu” means talking nonsense, you can define it as synonym to “merepek“. Not only that, Zaid Ibrahim later embraced the Umno-controlled mainstream press Utusan Malaysia (UM). In a full page interview by Utusan’s weekend edition, Mingguan Malaysia (MM), Zaid complained that he was welcome as a hero when he first quit cabinet and Umno, and subsequently joined KeADILan, however, he was now widely riled as a traitor within the party.

Links with Konsensus Bebas

If we remember the “Unity Government” (UG) fiasco between the religious scholars and professional camps in Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (Pas), having Utusan Malaysia as the official media for your cause does no good at all, especially in the eyes of sound-minded Malaysians. When I saw what Zaid spoke through Mingguan Malaysia, I thought, that’s it. As you may have discovered now, that’s far from it.

New addition soon?

Azmin Ali and Lee Boon Chye, both Vice Presidents criticized this Kelantanese millionaire for his rudeness (whether nyanyuk or nyanyu) and playing victim. This has ignited a volcano eruption among Zaid’s supporters. On October 2nd, 2010 (Friday), former Vice President Jeffrey Kitingan who threatened to quit all too often, streetfighters N Gobalakrishnan and S Manickavasagam all issued elegantly written English press statements as rebuttal, in a span of just a few hours.

New ground has been broken. Uncharted water has been ventured into. You know what? After all these years with Reformasi movements like you guys, this was the first time I’ve ever seen Gobi our MP for Padang Serai, Kedah issued press statement in Queen’s English! As expected, media picked it up quickly and it’s all over the place on Saturday’s paper. And hold your breathe, because that’s not all.

It was discovered, to everyone’s utter disgust, that all three emails were originated from the same sender. Of course, people would not be too poignantly incensed, had it not been the same computer that spams the online community with Konsensus Bebas emails regularly. To be sure, Konsensus Bebas is the pathetic grouping of 5 ex-KeADILan MPs led by Zahrain Hashim and Zulkifli Nordin. Even Ibrahim Ali al-kataki was reluctant to join them.

The John Soh factor

If they are indeed sharing a vision, who is the mastermind, and who is the sponsor? The answer is actually open secret. I was quite confused to see John Soh Chee Wen around every time I visited the old Anwar office in Section 16, Petaling Jaya, the more so since he’s not running for any office, national or party. Some suspected him to be a funder with some ulterior motive, and that’s the popular belief now. In the interview with MerdekaReview, Syed Husin announced that it was over. When exactly, you might ask? Not long after Sallehuddin Hashim, then party secretary general threw in his tower.

John Soh

Some said, Zaid is a flamboyant great leader, more cosmopolitan and liberal in outlook than Azmin, even neo-liberalist and post-modernist, but how sure are you? Are you talking about the US or European definition of liberalness? Economic or Social liberal? Have you put them through the proposed 1Malaysia Test or something? Some others say, we need Zaid’s vision for the country, merely Anwar and Reformasi won’t bring us anywhere. Okay, I do admit he does possess some extraordinary capabilities and vision, but so does Azmin isn’t it? I will leave this and everything else in between for your own evaluation.

Now that he’s ready to contest President instead of the Deputy, I thought we’ve landed in Bollywood. He claimed that party needs a leader who doesn’t have to be in the docks all the time. If so, what do we need lawyers for? How would Zaid & Co. became the biggest law firm in Malaysia and Singapore if everyone heeds his advice and shies away from litigation?

Did he say if Anwar wants to run the party, then contest for presidency openly, else give Wan Azizah a free hand to run the show? That’s for me frighteningly similar to former Youth Chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor’s excuse for first, merajuk and second, pay Badawi 100 bucks as life-long membership back then, dude.

Increasingly, I feel uncomfortable with his circle of circus clowns, which dangerously undermine his own credibility. I wouldn’t accuse anyone that are running against the reformasi old-timers as supported by, or worse, funded by John Soh. However, I wish our friends are cognizant about the real challenges we are facing, because I want you to really kick it into gear, bring KeADILan and by extension, Pakatan as well as Malaysia, to achieve the greater glory and successes that we deserved.

- http://shin.disagrees.net/?p=487