Harapan already not walking the talk

MALAYSIAKINI LETTER | Not even a week into Pakatan Harapan’s rule and cracks are already appearing.

Lim Guan Eng has a court case pending. Even if it is a trumped up case, it must be proved to be so and the courts must clear him before he can take up the all-important position as finance minister of Malaysia. As things stand, he should not be allowed to handle the portfolio of the finance minister just yet.

The proposed Penang undersea tunnel project which is a pet project of Lim also needs to be studied carefully as there were suggestions of jacked-up figures. This is pertinent especially as all dealings with China are to be reevaluated.

At the moment, Lim, by his statements, is already acting like the new finance minister. Lim, while he was Penang chief minister, had gained the reputation of bulldozing his views on those who had to work for him. Not surprisingly, he was nicknamed ‘Tokong’.

Similarly, parallels exist between the case of the former prime minister Mohd Najib Abdul Razak and Lim. The former is alleged to have stolen billions of dollars belonging to 1MDB. That being the case, bring him to court and let the due process of the law deal with him. Respect Najib as the former prime minister, do not treat him like a criminal.

Impound his passport by all means but Harapan has already locked him up figuratively. Has Prime Minister Tun Mahathir acted hastily and vengefully? Who made the decision to virtually keep Najib a prisoner? Was it a “one-man” decision? Is the Tun acting solo? Does this not augur well for the new government?

I think it is still held in Malaysia that a person is innocent until proven guilty. Going by the analysis of election results that are emerging, the new opposition that is BN and PAS won almost as many votes as Harapan. It must be emphasised the new opposition still has considerable support, almost as much as Harapan.

The ‘popular vote’ was a term bandied about after GE13 by the then opposition when they lost. Harapan must remember – when the flush of victory begins to fade – that almost an equal number of people voted for BN and Pas. Please be gracious in victory.

All Malaysians agree that wrongdoers must face the full brunt of the law. But let the law take its course. It is very worrying that the vestiges of the autocratic and domineering traits of Mahathir which Malaysians were forced to endure during his 22-year-rule are beginning to emerge.

As it is, members of PKR are already unhappy about the state of affairs in the new government. Perhaps, we have to wait till Anwar Ibrahim to be released to moderate the domineering actions of Mahathir.

The case of Sabah and Sarawak “crossovers” is worrying for many Malaysians. The same can be said of Perak. Such manoeuvrings are reminiscent of the power grab in Sabah in 1994 which was engineered by Mahathir. PBS won 25 seats of the 48 seats. BN won 23 seats. PBS president Joseph Pairin Kitingan was made to wait for 36 hours outside the gates of Istana Negeri before he was sworn-in as chief minister. His government collapsed a month later when some of the PBS members crossed over to BN.

Before the elections, Harapan was very loud in condemning “cross over kataks” and there were even proposals to make members sign a bond of RM20 million to prevent this. Not sure if this proposal was, in fact, carried out.

Yet, now “crossovers” are being encouraged and accepted by the Harapan government. Principles have rapidly given way to political expediency. The actions and statements by Apdal Shafie as well as the means the newly-installed Perak government used are not in tune with the professed values of Harapan. Please walk the talk.

Worse still, the wishes of the voters are not being respected by the Harapan government.

The current prime minister, Mahathir has also been harping on the issue of certain individuals who have been taxed excessively, maybe unfairly. He has repeated his determination to make appropriate recompense. Who are these individuals who seem to be given priority over the national agenda? And most definitely, this was not part of the Harapan manifesto or what they promised to accomplish within their first 100 days.

It is also hoped that leaders of the new government would be more mindful of their language. Terms like ‘bull—-’ are not acceptable.

It is becoming clearer by the day that Mahathir should not be allowed to function as he is now doing. Let us, Malaysians pray that he will act in accord with the cabinet and the wishes of the people of Malaysia.