Where do the party-hoppers belong?
The fact that the two former PKR assemblymen are facing corruption charges, therefore, transfers on to the BN’s fabric. And by extension, the stain that corruption brings with it becomes associated with Umno, the party in the coalition that they could most likely join.
Commentary by R B Bhattacharjee, The Edge
The three Perak state assemblymen who triggered the collapse of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government in their state when they left their parties last week have set off a political storm that has taken on a life of its own.
While the constitutional, ethical and political issues for both the PR and Barisan Nasional (BN) coalitions are rather ambivalent, one thing is certain — the independent status of the defectors, Jamaluddin Mohamed Radzi (of the Behrang state seat) and Mohd Osman Jailu (Changkat Jering), both formerly of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), and Hee Yit Foong (Jelapang), the erstwhile DAP representative, is plainly awkward.
First, there is the issue of where the allegiances of the crossover assemblymen lie. For all intents and purposes, the three of them are in the BN camp, since it is on the strength of their support for the BN that the Perak Sultan decided that the balance of power had shifted from the PR coalition to the BN.
The fact that the two former PKR assemblymen are facing corruption charges, therefore, transfers on to the BN’s fabric. And by extension, the stain that corruption brings with it becomes associated with Umno, the party in the coalition that they could most likely join.
This is a dilemma that the BN has inadvertently landed itself in by going headlong after the control of the state assembly, instead of rebuilding its rapport with the voters. As many observers have vocally said, the BN will probably have to pay a high price for putting political expediency first, instead of seeking a fresh mandate from the people.
In fact, former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad made this quite clear even when the defections were merely being rumoured. In a recent blog posting, he asked: “Is Umno so pressured that it cannot wait for the court decision on their corruption charges before accepting them?”
“If the corruption charges against them are dropped after they are accepted into the party, the Umno-led government will be accused of influencing the court,” he said on his blog, chedet.co.cc. “Whether this is true is not the question. In the eyes of the people, this will be believed. And that will have an effect in the 13th general election.”
This view is reinforced in recent comments by Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin, who ironically is a frequent recipient of Mahathir’s oblique criticism.
In an interview with online news site The Nut Graph, Khairy said: “I would be extremely disappointed if they jumped over and the charges were dropped against them. To me, that would not only be unethical because of the party-hopping bit. That would be extremely unethical because you’re basically saying if you want to get out of (a) charge for a crime, then join Umno.
“And I think that’s what a lot of people will think. You want a free pass out of prison or a free pass out of a courtroom, then join Umno. So I certainly do hope that if they do decide to jump for whatever reason, they’re doing it for reasons which are unrelated to the corruption charge.”
The message couldn’t have been expressed more clearly. Indeed, any party the three assemblymen join would probably be penalised for ignoring a clear signal from a significant section of the voters that they seriously want change in the country’s political culture.
What is more, the public display of anger against Hee probably means that her political career is virtually beyond redemption, since neither of two Chinese-based BN parties — MCA and Gerakan — would want to alienate the people who are so worked up against Hee for her part in toppling the PR state government.
By wresting control of the Perak government, the BN may well have won a pyrrhic victory, but whether the coalition can regain its lost ground by reclaiming the moral advantage that has fallen to PR in this episode would be a very interesting story to follow.
