Disquieting jousting within Harapan over choice of Dewan Rakyat speaker

On the grapevine, it has been bruited about that the choice of speaker of the 14th Parliament, which will be called into session next week, was already decided last night by the Pakatan Harapan presidential leadership council.

But it seems they are in no hurry to announce the decision.

While one cannot be sure why there is hesitation to unveil the choice, it can be inferred the announcement is being treated with some delicacy simply due to the identity of the candidates proposed - and thought better off by the Harapan council - by two of the four coalition components.

DAP pushed for party adviser Lim Kit Siang while PKR recommended Nurul Izzah Anwar for the post.

Both parties were compelled to think better of their propositions when their impropriety was pointed out, for Kit Siang is the father of Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng and Nurul Izzah is the daughter of Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Living up to ideals

One would have thought it would have been superfluous to point out these disabling connections to both parties who should not have come up with the recommendations in the first place.

Not least of the considerations was that PKR and DAP were dead set against nepotism, over which they made common cause in the early days of the reformasi movement to unseat BN in late 1998.

In fact, it's kind of difficult these days to remind PKR, in particular, that their rallying cry at the onset of reformasi two decades ago was the purported fight against corruption, cronyism and nepotism. 

It's déjà vu to say this here – that ideals are easier to fight for than live up to.

A troubling choice

While it's troubling that Kit Siang allowed himself to be suggested by DAP for the position, it is even more disquieting that after Nurul Izzah's name was set aside because of her ties to the deputy prime minister, her party recommended their Sungai Petani MP Johari Abdul for the post.

Unlike Kit Siang, who with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, is the longest-serving member of the Lower House, Johari, a three-term MP, knows little about parliamentary procedure and even less about the law, two necessary though indispensable requisites for the role of speaker.

That PKR could propose Johari for the position is being viewed as a sign of the anxiety that prevails in the Anwar Ibrahim faction of the party as to whether their man will get to be prime minister.

Johari is an Anwar flunkey who can be relied on, if push comes to shove, to drive matters in favour of his patron if it comes down to a vote of confidence on the floor for Anwar as prime minister. Of course, this would be after the de facto leader of PKR, who gained a royal pardon in May, is returned to Parliament in a by-election.

A commendable name

Amanah had not so much recommended retired Court of Appeal judge Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof for the post of speaker as seen his name – a commendable one – come up in the discussions within and without the Harapan presidential council.

Ariff, who in 1999 was a PAS candidate in the general election that year, became a judicial commissioner in 2008, then a High Court and thereafter Court of Appeal judge before retiring in 2015.

Of all the candidates who have been proposed for speaker, Ariff's draws the least remonstrance by dint of his qualifications and stature.

But Amanah did their reputation little good when they did not protest PKR's recommendation of Johari after Nurul Izzah's blood ties to the deputy prime minister was regarded as having disabled her candidacy.

It's not certain that Ariff has become the frontrunner for the post, but he would be the best choice, given the nepotism and cronyism that would inevitably bedevil the others should they be chosen.

---

TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for more than four decades. A sobering discovery has been that those who protest the loudest tend to replicate the faults they revile in others. - Mkini