Corruption below the wind

Scene 1 (reconstructed): Land below the wind, February 1994

Joseph Pairin Kitingan, leader of PBS, was elated. His party won the Sabah state election by 25 seats to 23, a majority of 2. He drove to the Yang DiPertua Negeri’s (YDP) official residence to report to YB that he has the confidence of the majority of the Dewan Undang2 Negeri (DUN).

He was a bit miffed when he found the gate of the YDP’s residence locked. I bet the guards there, when queried, were less responsive than Emperor Qin Shi Huang's terracotta warriors.

Not too long after, he found that, thanks to the Director of BN election campaign (by BN tradition, the Deputy President of UMNO and BN), he was no longer the CM-designate but instead the opposition leader, with his PBS holding on to only 23 seats.

Thanks to Anwar Ibrahim, then Deputy President of UMNO/BN and PM of Malaysia, a new political term was born, ‘frogs’.

Scene IIa & b: Taiwan and KL, September 2008

916! Failed attempt but nonetheless an attempt at déjà vu-ing Sabah's February 1994. Even a disgraceful trip to Taiwan was conducted.

Need I say anymore?

Scene III: Perak (Ipoh), January 2009

The Great One acclaimed the defection of Nasarudin Hashim (ADUN for Bota, Perak) from UMNO to PKR as a change of allegiance which:

“... reflected the sentiments of his voters, namely the Malays in his constituency ... as the beginning of a new wave."

New wave my foot, but sweet justice prevailed where Anwar was to be very shortly punished by that very 'new wave', which swung the other way. In a way, it was fitting retribution for his frogological sins of 1994 in Sabah. Unfortunately in Perak in 2009, he dragged DAP and PAS down with him.

The fact was UMNO had deeper pockets, pockets which he had enjoyed when he was in UMNO, but which was used against him and Pakatan in Perak in 2009. 

Scene IV: The past week

I was infuriated when I read The Malaysian Insider's (TMI) headlines Despite defection letdown, PKR focuses on change in Sabah.

Despite defection letdown? Letdown?

WTF? How could failed political defections be considered as a let-down for a political party which dares to declare its reformasi credentials? PKR should have rejected that description by TMI.

If we have any sense of democratic values, we should instead be exclaiming Alhamdulillah, Hallelujah, Kamsiah Thnee Kong, Shiva Bhagawan Ki Jai, Namo Kuan-say-im Por-saat and for atheists like me, Bloody Marvellous News!

Let-down or no let-down, failed or successful attempts, we have been once again assaulted by news and revelations of that most undemocratic practice and worse, acceptance by many, of political leaders seeking defections, again and again and again ...

I know I'm not the only one pissed off with this sleazy sickening sinister underhanded politics, and I dearly love to paraphrase what King Henry II said in 1170: "Will no one rid us of these troublesome politicians?"

Defection!


Doesn't association with the word say all about the much touted but blasphemed reformasi of Anwar Ibrahim?

Doesn't association with the word say all about the much touted but beguiling changes in Anwar Ibrahim (from his UMNO self)?

Pordah!

It infuriates me not so much because the leopard has shown time and time again, within and outside UMNO, that he cannot change his UMNO spots. It infuriates me because there are people (I'm not talking about anwaristas because they ARE the converted) who still believe this person is our only political hope. Well ........

As Brother Haris Ibrahim said, we should not so much ABU as ABC (Anything But Corrupt) - see his post I said speak up, not talk c@#k!  over at The People's Parliament where he wrote (in reference to corruption allegations against Azmin Ali and his inability to answer to those accusations, and Anwar Ibrahim's silence):

I cannot speak for the rest of you, but I do not think that we are a nation devoid of men and woman of unquestionable integrity such that even as we work to rid ourselves of this most foul and corrupt regime that now sits in Putrajaya, we must resort to replacements who cannot assure us that they are better. 

I deserve that much. 

You do, too. 

Let’s not short change ourselves.

Indeed!

Incidentally, do you know Tian Chua wakakaka? Of course most of us do. Tian Chua was previously known as a wannabe martyr, putting himself in situations where he was jailed, both in Australia and Malaysia. No doubt as a young idealist, he joined Suaram and various international human rights and political movements.

I had then deemed him as somewhat an eccentric wannabe martyr but basically a nice guy, though some years ago one of my girlfriends told me she disliked him for unnecessary physical confrontations with the Police (hence the title ‘wannabe martyr’), though to be fair to him, in those earlier days (prior to his PKR membership) he hadn’t gotten around to biting policeman yet wakakaka.

Now, see what TMI has written about him in Despite defection letdown, PKR focuses on change in Sabah:

When contacted late last night PKR vice-president Chua Tian Chang who is said to be the pointman for the defections …

WTF, “…who is said to be the pointman for the defections ….”

What has happened to that nice though eccentric wannabe martyr, a Suaram warrior who has now been described by TMI as being involved in political defections, a sinister sickening subversion of the supremacy of the ballot box?

How are the mighty fallen ........! – 2 Samuel 1:27 (KJV)

Tian Chua is Hakka, but if he understands Penang Hokkien (or get someone to translate for him if he doesn’t) this is what I would describe of his transformation from his former self to his current PKR personality, ‘Ch’arm mm tio larng’.

If you understand what I have just written in Penang Hokkien then you will know why I've brought in Tian Chua’s case in this post, but if you don’t, then my translation of that Penang dialectal phrase for you is ‘Mixing with the wrong company’, and you know who I meant by the ‘wrong company’.

And when one is with the wrong company, and/or supporting same (obdurately and deliberately disregarding clear & present evidence) then one is likely to have suffered from or would eventually suffer (and accept) the contagious corrupt compromise and subversion of democratic practice, process and principles.