There appears to be some confusion as to what I said in my NST interview and what the MCLM committee actually agreed more than a year ago. Below is the article I wrote in this column on 20th November 2010. Maybe you can read what I said at the time the MCLM was mooted and launched. I trust this will clear up the confusion and get the record set straight. There is actually no inconsistency or deviation from what was agreed.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
I just want to pen a short note to tell you that the draft Constitution of the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MLCM) has just been finalised. MCLM’s lawyer has just sent it through to me and I am studying it now.
Later today I shall be fetching Haris Ibrahim from the tube station. He will be arriving about 5.00am this morning UK time. Haris and I will then go through the Constitution to make sure that it is in order before releasing it to the public.
Haris will be spending about a week with me here in the UK to go through the mission and vision of the MCLM. Basically, what we will focus on will be:
1. The MCLM will become a pressure group of civil society movement activists with a view to engage politicians, not to become politicians.
2. The MCLM will assist any political party that may be looking for candidates from amongst the civil society movement activists to field in the next general election.
3. The MCLM committee members and officer bearers themselves will not be contesting the general election to prevent anyone from using the MCLM as a platform to further their own political careers.
4. The MCLM will attempt to mould and shape the Malaysian political landscape and culture, not instead to be moulded or shaped by the political culture.
5. The MCLM will stand on the outside looking in, not get in and become tainted by politics.
These are just some of my early thoughts on the entire thing and I know that Haris has more up his sleeve.
By next Saturday, 27 November 2010, I hope to call for the second committee meeting of the MCLM and finalise all these issues. Thereafter, we shall make known what has transpired, where we are coming from, and where we hope to get to.
In the meantime, the website (http://mclm.org.uk/) is being completed and we hope to open it for public viewing soon so that those who share the aspirations of the MCLM can sign up as members. The Constitution, membership form, Mission and Vision Statement, etc., will all be on the website. Rest assured that the MCLM will be run with complete transparency as a demonstration to the political parties how we would like things done in the political arena.
Till then stay tuned and I shall update you as we go along.
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