In case you guys believe PM Abdullah Badawi is a nice softie, think again! The MCA’s Bao Gong has put his foot down heavily on the BN parliamentarians, warning them they don’t have the liberty to vote for any opposition motions tabled in Parliament based on their conscience.
Conscience is out!
He said government parliamentarians must follow the party rules and discipline. In other words, BN MPs are under the constant whip of the leadership to behave as merely, in our local parlance, ‘Yes Men’.
That’s the sum of their utility in parliament – to do (what Towkay wants) and not to think (as a person with a - god no, absolutely not 'conscience' – thinking mind)!
He dismissed the very idea of BN parliamentarians having any leeway or freedom to vote as they wish. Of course it’s silly to even imagine a teeny weeny itsy bitsy display of democracy – hey, after all it’s the Malaysian Parliament, isn’t it!
Thus, our Bao Gong has responded very firmly to the BN back benchers’ silly demand for greater discretionary powers to vote on motions tabled in Parliament.
When Abdullah Badawi was asked why he won’t follow the example of some developed nations where on certain issues, parties give greater freedom to their members, he responded that BN’s brand of democracy has proven to be successful. He averred:
“We have our own democracy, we survive based on what we have practiced before this and we will continue to practice this.”
And my god, he’s absolutely right! Why support a motion that picked on a poor dear Mohammad Said Yusof, who had merely told Custom officers to ‘close one eye’ to illegal import of non-permitted goods, when the rightful thing for BN MPs to do was to equally ‘close one eye’ to such improper behaviour when the alleged offender is a UMNO MP. Jeeez, have they forgotten about the UMNO creed?
But wait a minute – let’s just re-examine his statement once more.
“We have our own democracy, we survive based on what we have practiced before this and we will continue to practice this.”
Perhaps that’s not quite true, because if he’s talking about “before this” why doesn’t he revert to a more democratic and press-friendly Malaysia under the premiership of Tunku Abdul Rahman. Old timers said (1) Tunku accepted the resignation of one Education Minister who was proven by the late D.R Seenivasegam (PPP) to be involved in corruption, thus upholding the dignity of Parliament and (2) that even under Tun Razak, the Star was one of the most popular, if not most popular, hard-hitting newspaper in Malaysia. Look at its wimp-ish current version.
As far as Abdullah Badawi is concerned, Shahrir Abdul Samad is finished as the head of the Back Benchers’ Club (BBC). Abdullah said he would have sacked him had not the lone ranger BN member for Johor Baru resigned.
He said: “We were planning to drop him from the post (for breaking rank) but he anticipated it and stepped down and I believe he won’t be re-elected.”
Now, how would the PM know that Shahrir won’t be re-elected?
Because!
As mentioned earlier, in an UMNO supreme council meeting last night, he warned backbenchers not to have any fancy notions of democracy and to bloody toe the party line. He considers any move by the BBC to re-elect Shahrir as an open revolt.
Backbenchers Club (BBC) secretary Rosli Mat Hassan told reporters this morning the DPM passed the PM’s warning to him.
He said: “We will discuss with the whip or his deputy further [...] we respect the decision by the prime minister that there is no need for us to pujuk (persuade) and appeal for the re-election of Shahrir since the latter had tendered resignation himself.”
But brave supportive words as these might have been in support of the PM’s decision, Malaysiakini reported that Rosli had actually looked (visibly) upset by the order to cancel the scheduled meeting by the BBC to re-elect Shahrir.
As reader ali allah ditta would put it, “Ada had, ada hari.” [“There’s a limit, there’s a day”], presumably to indicate that Abdullah Badawi’s notion of 'democracy' or 'liberty' or even ‘liberal thinking’ in Malaysia has a clearly defined limit, his limit! The sarcasm is a pun on the PM’s ideology of Islam “Hadhari” or Civilizational Islam.
ali has been proven correct!
Related: The real Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
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