Can opposition parties stop bickering, please?
It was not necessary to fight over who should file the no-confidence motion against the PM.
Scott Ng, Free Malaysia Today
Once upon a time, I was a bright-eyed and bushy tailed opposition supporter. I even considered volunteering at the office of my local representative, so caught up was I in a rush along with millions of other Malaysians who were elated by the change in the status quo that we grew up in. Everything seemed so different the day after the political tsunami of 2008.
But the day after came, and the day after that, the week after that, the month, the year, and it seemed like the strong start of Pakatan Rakyat had devolved into politicking and internal politics till, finally, the tension between DAP and PAS broke the opposition apart. Of course, Pakatan Harapan was swiftly assembled once PAS had finished its little civil war between the conservatives and the progressives, but the problems have just not stopped coming.
So much for real, tangible change.
Last Monday, it turned out that DAP and PKR couldn’t even agree on the simple but important matter of filing a motion of no-confidence against the Prime Minister, something that we thought had been planned weeks ago. They were at odds over Petaling Jaya Selatan MP Hee Loy Sian’s decision to submit the motion on his own.
Now, this sounds preposterous, but Lim Guan Eng feels that the Opposition Leader should be the one to submit the motion. He said he feared that if anyone else were to do the submitting, it would leave the impression that Pakatan Harapan had no confidence that the motion would be successful. But PKR itself seemed to have no objection to Hee’s action. One of its vice-presidents, Tian Chua, said Hee was exercising his right as a Member of Parliament.
For a while, Hee stood by this right, saying he believed his constituents would demand action from their representative. For that motive alone, he must be vindicated of this imaginary sin of daring to take the spotlight.
Guan Eng’s assertion seems rather petty considering that the motion will probably fail despite it’s historic significance.
