‘Unseen hands behind attacks against me’

The former Umno member says he has neither accepted nor ruled out the possibility of joining another political party.

KUALA LUMPUR: Ex-cabinet minister, Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir, today officially announced his return to active politics just a week after quitting Umno, but added that he has yet to decide whether or not to join another political party.

“I hereby declare an end to my retirement and will now continue with the original noble struggle of Umno as I know and have upheld so far,” he told a media conference this morning.

Kadir, 73, who is the deputy president of Angkatan Amanah Merdeka (Amanah), stated that he would bring the struggle to other “more suitable” places. He however refrained from specifics when asked what he had in mind.

“I have to do a bit of thinking about that,” he said while admitting that he has already received invitations from friends in each of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition parties.

“I will make my own decision. For now I plan to work alongside NGOs in delivering ceramahs across the country. I have more freedom to do that now that I’m no longer with Umno.”

Asked if his re-entry into politics would begin with him contesting in the next general election, Kadir smiled and merely said, “I have to think that over a thousand times.”

The former tourism minister ended his 56-year membership in Umno last Monday after the party came down hard on him for claiming it had indulged in vote-buying activities during the previous general election.

Umno denied Kadir’s allegations and Umno secretary-general, Tengku Adnan Mansor, suggested that Kadir leave the party if he was unhappy with it.

“There was no point in me staying on after that.” Kadir said. “After serving my party for so long I became the object of strong attacks by my own party’s mainstream media. These were obviously directed and well-coordinated by somebody very powerful.”

No press freedom under Umno

He believed that unseen hands in the Barisan Nasional headquarters and even in the Prime Minister’s Department were involved in the scathing attacks against him in the mainstream media.

He alleged that this unnamed person had the authority to decide on which issues to highlight and which people to condemned.

“You can see that all the news in all the mainstream media is identical,” Kadir pointed out. “The media is so tightly controlled and 100% of mainstream media speak only one voice.”

“There is no country in the world that can call itself a democracy with a position like this. I understand that the government has to have control over the media but even 70% is acceptable.”

Kadir stressed that freedom of the media should be one of the main issues tackled by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on electoral reforms.

He said that the PSC has only resolved “small issues” to date like the implementation of indelible ink and had yet to address more crucial matters including free access to the media.

Kadir also warned Umno not to call for elections until the PSC has completed its work or risk the people’s wrath.

“We’re sending people to Myanmar to monitor the country’s polls and make sure it is free and fair,” he said. “But are our own poll free and fair?”

“Carry this out in your own backyard first so that we can earn the right to observe and advice other countries.”