Will Ku Li’s words get in the way in Galas?

By Yow Hong ChiehThe Malaysian Insider
ANALYSIS
Oct 9, 2010

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah will lead the Barisan Nasional (BN) bid to recapture the Galas state seat in the November 4 by-election, campaigning for a party that has sidelined him over the years.

The Kelantan prince has not minced his words with Umno, with his latest battle centred on oil royalty payments for his home state.

The PAS state government has taken the matter to court and Tengku Razaleigh said today it would be sub-judice to mention it, when he accepted the task of leading the BN election campaign.

He will finalise the campaign details on Monday with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, his opponent for the Umno presidency.

In campaigning for Umno, the politician popularly known as Ku Li will have to live down his various speeches and quotes on issues that are at odds with the party.

Among them:

On Umno’s failings and the need for party reform:

• “The rot in Umno is has gone so deep that it requires wholesale structural reform.” (Five proposals for Umno, razaleigh.com; February 1, 2009)

• “Corruption is the scourge of the country. Umno is a step away from being identified with that scourge.” (Better to lose the battle, razaleigh.com; October 11, 2009)

• “The nomination quota is an undemocratic and unconstitutional restriction. It is against the founding spirit of the party, which was open and grassroots driven.” (What is Umno changing?, The Nut Graph; October 13, 2009)

• “Today’s Umno, under its present leadership, is probably beyond reform. Our leaders are the problem, and they have structured the party, bullied and bought it, so that they cannot be replaced by those who would lead to serve.” (Umno then and now, razaleigh.com; February 13, 2009)

• “The party succession is now dominated by ethnic champions or party warlords with little else to qualify them to govern a plural society with a sophisticated, trade-oriented economy.” (On victory, consensual leadership and reversion to form, razaleigh.com; February 23, 2009)

• “Unable to respond to the reality that the BN formula is broken and the people want more than ethno-religious politics, the ruling party appears to be reacting by digging itself deeper into narrow racial causes with no future in them.” (Malaysia’s regime crisis, race politics and the kalimah Allah issue, ISEAS Regional Outlook Forum, Singapore; January 7, 2010)

• “Without Chinese support, Umno would be like PAS in the days when it seemed like a local party of Kelantan: an exclusively Malay party strong in some localities but irrelevant nationally.” (On the MCA EGM, razaleigh.com; October 11, 2009)

On government corruption and mismanagement:

• “Corruption has become institutionalized in our political system. It is ruining this country.”(Let ministers declare their assets, razaleigh.com; August 2, 2010)

• “We have a political class unwilling or unable to address the central issue of the day because they have grown fat and comfortable with a system built on lies and theft.” (Fourth Annual Malaysian Student Leaders Summit, Kuala Lumpur; July 31, 2010)

• “1 Malaysia is empty because it is propagated by a government supported by a racially-based party system that is the chief cause of our inability to grow up in our race relations.” (Fourth Annual Malaysian Student Leaders Summit, Kuala Lumpur; July 31, 2010)

On the Kelantan oil royalties issue:

• “The federal government’s refusal to pay Kelantan, and it’s arbitrary treatment of Terengganu’s oil money – on and off according to whether the state was in Opposition hands – is in violation of a solemn contract, sealed in an Act of Parliament, between the State governments and Petronas… This is an attack on the right of the people to choose their own government within our system of parliamentary democracy.” (Conversations on the Constitution; March 11, 2010)

On the Perak constitutional crisis:

• “The BN’s takeover of Perak has set off a chain-reaction of illegality which has left Perak quite possibly without a legitimate government. One of our most prosperous states has been reduced to a failed state.” (Cascasing illegality, razaleigh.com; March 4, 2009)

• “The farcical circumstances of these defections, complete with mysterious disappearances, sudden reversals, and implausible explanations, show ample signs of illegal inducement.” (The longer term, razaleigh.com; February 5, 2009)

• “To remove and install governments in any other way is to violate the Constitution, erode the rule of law, and to run the risk of forming an illegal government… Legitimate authority can only be established through the democratic means spelled out in our constitution.” (The rule of law, razaleigh.com; February 5, 2009)

courtesy of Lim Kit Siang