Zahar Hashim - whistleblower or sour grape or frog?

Malaysiakini reported in Eurocopter whistleblower joins PAS that Zahar Hashim, the man who had publicly reported the alleged discrepancies in the (now cancelled) RM1.6 billion Eurocopter deal, has changed his political allegiance.

Bloke has left UMNO to join PAS. He was the former division leader of Umno Petaling Jaya Selatan.

Would he be considered as a frog? kaytee opines a definite 'no' as Zahar doesn't hold any parliamentary or DUN seat.

One would only be considered a frog if one deceives the voters into voting for one's candidature as that from Party A, but subsequently absconding with that mandate to party B. Slimy deceitful a$$h()le.

Well, Zahar doesn't fit into this category. In fact he has done the correct thing to change political party now (for whatever reasons, which are for him and only him to decide) when he is neither a MP or ADUN.

PAS deputy president Nasharuddin Mat Isa has been rapt with Zahar's enlightened jump. Nasharuddin said: "He is with us now to defend the race, religion and nation."

Alhamdulillah, bangsa, agama dan negara sekarang tambah selamat kukuh.

And it's noteworthy that of UMNO's (hitherto monopolised) 3 cornerstones, PAS has adopted the first one, bangsa over the agama and the negara.

Indeed, Alhamdulillah! Praise be to the Almighty that once again, PAS has shown to us its true Islamic ethnic colours.

At least with UMNO, WYSIWYG warts and all, but with PAS, now you see it (the supranationalistic supra-ethnic Islamic principles), now you don't - wakakaka.

I had also blogged on Zahar’s attack against the Eurocopter deal some two months ago in Eurocopter Cougar deal - Malaysiakini's pre-emptive 'clawing'?

I had then written:

This evening Malaysiakini publishes Letter questions 'shady' chopper deal, with PKR and pro PKR bloggers happily swarming the blogosphere with accusations that Najib had signed a shady deal ... again?

Needless to say, G.A.N would be ecstatic!

And the chief accuser of the alleged 'shady' deal has been Capt (rtd) Zahar Hashim, chairperson of Mentari Services Sdn Bhd, the company which didn’t succeed in its bid to supply TUDM with the replacement aircraft for the Nuris.

Needless to say, as the loser in the bid, he has cause plus the legitimate reason to challenge the Defence Ministry’s decision to opt for the Eurocopter’s Cougar. In the USA and Europe, aircraft companies which lost aircraft bids would raise Cain because the loss would be quantified in terms of billions of dollars. […]

I believe that Malaysiakini has been too quick to describe the purchase of the Eurocopter Cougar with words and phrases like ‘shady’ and ‘another scandal appears to be hovering over the Defence Ministry’, based on just the complaints of the chairperson of the losing company.

No doubt Mentari Services Sdn Bhd has a legitimate business reason to voice its grouses, but nonetheless they have been the complaints of an unsuccessful bidder to supply the TUDM with the Kazan 172, a Russian designed helicopter.

But in Malaysiakini's most recent report on a man who complained about the Eurocopter saga I did wonder about the online news' use of the term ‘whistleblower’.

According to the dictionary, a whistleblower is (usually though not necessary) an employee who brings wrongdoing by an employer or other employees to the attention of a government or law enforcement agency …

But should Zahar Hashim as a (undoubtedly disgruntled) loser in a competition to sell military helicopters to the Malaysian military be termed a whistleblower?

It undeservedly provides him with a righteous crusading sheen which I feel is yet to be proven, and thus yet to be earned.

And who’s to say that there was anything wrong in the selection of Eurocopter over the Russian designed Kazan 172?

As I had blogged in Eurocopter Cougar deal - Malaysiakini's pre-emptive 'clawing'?: "I believe that Malaysiakini has been too quick to describe the purchase of the Eurocopter Cougar with words and phrases like ‘shady’ and ‘another scandal appears to be hovering over the Defence Ministry’, based on just the complaints of the chairperson of the losing company."

Unfortunately the term ‘whistleblower’ prematurely implies there was.

Sure, Zahar as a business competitor has every right to complained as I wrote in my post. But I believe the more appropriate term, if at all Malaysiakini needs a catchy term to describe him in a news headline, would be ‘sour grapes’.

And in the world of military purchases, which may run into billions, (if I may be allowed to paraphrase William Congreve in his play 'The Mourning Bride'), hell hath no fury like a sour grape loser in a tender.

Of course there’s nothing wrong in being a sour grape loser and to whinge and whine over the competition but we need to recognize that probability, thus I would say Zahar has yet to merit the title of whistleblower.

I trust the journalists at Malaysiakini can see the difference, and avoid repeating their preemptive attack on the choice of the Eurocopter, this time through the inappropriate employment of the term ‘whistleblower’.

And congratulations to PAS on their prize catch - mudah-mudahan, inshaallah, Zahar Hashim will play a sterling perwira-ish role in defending PAS' ideology of (yang diutamakan) race, and then religion and nation.