‘Peeved voters may boycott polls’

Raja Petra Kamarudin says voters are now faced with an unappealing choice – a candidate from a party that is despised or a despicable candidate from a party that they like.

PETALING JAYA: Faced with a Catch-22 predicament, blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin said voters might choose to abstain from casting their ballots in the next general election.

In an interview with FMT, he critcised Pakatan Rakyat for offering third-rate candidates and shutting the door on quality candidates brought forth by the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM), which he founded.

“We (the voters) have to choose between a candidate from a party that we don’t like and a very poor quality candidate from a party that we like. So what do we do now?” he asked.

He also pointed out that not all in Barisan Nasional were “useless” and warned the opposition bloc that if it forced the people to choose between candidates in terms of quality, the votes might go in favour of the ruling coalition.

‘These are wakil rakyat, not wakil parti’

Raja Petra, who is currently living in London, also dismissed Pakatan’s argument that outsiders should not meddle into party affairs with regard to candidates.

He said that if it was a party election, then the argument would hold sway but this was a general election.

“We are choosing a ‘wakil rakyat’. What does a ‘wakil rakyat’ mean, it is a representative of the people and the people, is me. I’m the people. I’m the one who is going to choose… don’t we the people have a right in voicing out, to express our opinions about the quality of candidates?

“You’re asking us to vote for these candidates to represent us. These are not ‘wakil parti’…,” he added.

As for MCLM, Raja Petra said it swung into action after Pakatan supremo Anwar Ibrahim claimed that the opposition could not convince professionals and civil society figures to step into the political arena.

“So we told Anwar, let us try… let us approach the same people who you approached… let us try to convince them… of course (they’ll stand) on your party ticket, whether PAS, PKR or DAP,” he said.

Raja Petra said MCLM explained to these candidates that they did not need to join any of the opposition parties but could contest under their banners.

Initially, he recalled, those approached had refused but “we told them: ‘look, do this as a national duty, we know it’s going to be troublesome, we know there’s going to be a lot of aggravation and you have to sacrifice a lot, you’re so busy, you’ve got a successful business and stuff like that… but look, forget about your personal losses, personal suffering and personal inconveniences, think of the nation. Do this as a national service. Do it for the rakyat. Just one term, that’s all we ask, just to help get quality candidates for Pakatan’.”

And when these individuals agreed, he said, Pakatan did not want them because it would not accept non-party members.

The blogger pointed out that when Pakatan approached these candidates in the past, the same deal was pitched – they did not have to join the parties but just contest on a Pakatan party ticket.

Furthermore, he added, in the previous elections, Pakatan parties fielded non-party members such as the Islamic-based PAS which allowed a Hindu lawyer to contest under its banner.

In view of this turn-around, the blogger said, there was suspicion that perhaps Pakatan’s claim of not being able to attract quality candidates was just an excuse for its failure.

‘We warned them’

Raja Petra also claimed that he warned the opposition against fielding certain candidates such as Port Klang assemblyman Badrul Hisham Abdullah, who quit PKR later.

However, he said the protest fell on deaf ears because Badrul was touted to be close to certain top PKR leaders, such as current deputy president Azmin Ali.

“But what happened? Soon after he won, he started flirting with Umno people and not long after that, he left and joined Umno. Were we wrong or were we right?” he added.

Citing Perkasa chief and independent Pasir Mas MP Ibrahim Ali as another example, Raja Petra said the former was given a PAS seat even when he was not a member of the party.

“We told them that he is going to go back to Umno, he is an Umno man, his heart is with Umno,” he said, adding that the reason given was Ibrahim was close to the PAS spiritual leader.