As Ku Li said

Politicians, and especially those who have been given the mandate to ‘rule’ or ‘govern’ the country, must be honest, trustworthy, clean and efficient. They must have PRINCIPLES and be consistent in their upholding and promotion of the principles for the good of the rakyat and the country and not be swayed or swerved by their personal interests and greed. -- Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

That was what Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah a.k.a Ku Li said in his birthday message to Lim Kit Siang (you can read the full message below). I have picked up just the particular section above as that, in a nutshell, sums up what the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) has been saying.

The Sarawak state election will soon be upon us. So let us focus on that before we even talk about the next general election. And, like it or not, the outcome of the Sarawak state election is going to influence the result of the coming general election. So how the opposition performs in the Sarawak state election may be reflective of how it is going to perform in the 13th General Election due only God knows when.

SNAP, with whom MCLM has sealed an alliance, may be contesting 28 or 29 seats in the Sarawak state election. DAP may contest another 15 or 20 (I suspect). And PKR has said (announced) it will contest 40 seats. That comes to 85 or 90 seats altogether whereas there are only 71 Sarawak state seats in all.

Does this mean some parties will reduce the number of seats they intend to contest or will we see three-corner fights in 20 or 30 (or more) seats? Anyway, SNAP said it still supports Pakatan Rakyat so there should be no excuse for PKR and DAP to not sit down and work out a seat allocation formula with SNAP and come to an amicable conclusion.

What is more important is for SNAP to reveal its list of candidates. Whether it is 20, 30 or 40 is one issue. The more important issue is who are these candidates? If you can’t reveal them early because you are scared that they may be bought off then they are not good candidates to start off with. If you don’t trust them then dump them now. If they can be bought before the election then certainly they can be bought after the election.

I suppose it is not use telling PKR and DAP to do the same thing because they normally keep their list of candidates a secret until the eleventh hour to not only prevent the candidates from being bought off but to avoid sabotage from their own party members who may be angry/frustrated that they were not chosen instead to contest the elections.

It is extremely difficult to trust political parties completely when they do not trust their own candidates or their own party members (who may sabotage their own party candidates out of frustration and jealousy).

How, therefore, do we achieve what Ku Li said? -- Politicians, and especially those who have been given the mandate to ‘rule’ or ‘govern’ the country, must be honest, trustworthy, clean and efficient. They must have PRINCIPLES and be consistent in their upholding and promotion of the principles for the good of the rakyat and the country and not be swayed or swerved by their personal interests and greed.

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Razaleigh's open letter to Kit Siang

By TENGKU RAZALEIGH RAZALEIGH HAMZAH

Dear Kit,

After a long journey in your political career, weathering the often rough and tumble of Malaysian politics, you somehow managed to survive and carve a popular name, an icon among your admirers and a ‘political bug’, so to speak, among your opponents.

So, you are now 70 years of age — not too young but not too old either — to go on treading the political journey.

You have consistently upheld and stood your ground on matters relating to the fundamental rights of all the rakyat, irrespective of race, to free and responsible speech, the rights to enjoy a just and fair distribution of the economic and social wealth of the nation, and to political, judicial and legal justice.

You have consistently and courageously spoken up against the corruption and the various misdeeds and defaults of the government and demanded actions, both in Parliament as well as outside it, despite the possible reprisals, the threats and even possible punitive actions that might be taken against you, which in fact you have suffered in the past.

But you have not kept your silence; you continue to grow bigger and speak even louder.

In the end, it seems to me you are the winner because, despite what your opponents say about you, as long as you know and believe what you stand for is good for the people and the country, you are on the right path.

Politicians, and especially those who have been given the mandate to ‘rule’ or ‘govern’ the country, must be honest, trustworthy, clean and efficient.

They must have PRINCIPLES and be consistent in their upholding and promotion of the principles for the good of the rakyat and the country and not be swayed or swerved by their personal interests and greed.

The rakyat look up to a Wakil Rakyat or to a government leader not because he or she is a Malay, a Chinese or an Indian, an Iban or a Kadazan; they look up to you because of your principles — principles that they can respect, trust and emulate.

On this auspicious day, may I quote Georges Pompidou who once said: “A statesman is a politician who places himself at the service of the nation. A politician is a statesman who places the nation at his service”.

Let me now say “Selamat Menyambut Hari Jadi Yang ke-70”, in other words “Happy Birthday to You”.

Wishing you good fortune, good health and long life. May you continue to tread the rough and tumble of the Malaysian political road with even greater tenacity and thrust in the years ahead until we can all together ensure that no one in the country is allowed to create a situation of disaster of the type we have just seen in Tunisia and Egypt.