The Tragedy of Tian Chua - kaytee's take

2018 pre GE14 - the following news broke PKR and Tian Chua's hearts:






Tian Chua disqualified in Batu over RM2k fine

Published: Apr 28, 2018 2:43 PM

GE14 | PKR vice-president Tian Chua has been disqualified from contesting in the parliamentary seat of Batu for the 14th general election.

Returning officer Anwar Mohd Zain made the decision based on a March 2 Shah Alam High Court ruling which fined Tian Chua RM2,000 for insulting the modesty of a police officer.

The decision was at odds with the 13th general election when the returning officer then allowed Tian Chua to contest in Batu despite a separate conviction where Tian Chua was also fined RM2,000.

Speaking to journalists after being disqualified, Tian Chua decried Anwar's decision.

"This is an unfair interpretation because, in the last general election, the higher courts had decided that an RM2,000 fine does not lead to disqualification.

"But this time they (Election Commission) claimed that that ruling cannot be used for this general election," he said.

Tian Chua vowed to mount a legal challenge against the returning officer's decision.

He also condemned what he described as underhanded tactics to defeat Pakatan Harapan.

Unless Tian Chua can mount a successful legal challenge, Batu will see a four-cornered fight between Gerakan's Dominic Lau, PAS' Azhar Yahya and independent candidates P Prabakaran and SP Raja.

"They are using dirty tactics to thwart Harapan's victory," he said.

In the June 18, 2010 case, High Court judge Ghazali Cha had reduced Tian Chua's six-month jail term and RM3,000 fine to just RM2,000 over causing hurt to a police officer during a rally.

Article 48(1) of the Federal Constitution states that a person is disqualified as an MP or from contesting if he or she had been imprisoned for a term of not less than a year or fined not less than RM2,000.

Justice Ghazali had addressed the ambiguity concerning the provision in that whether the disqualification would begin at exactly RM2,000 or from RM2,001 and above.

The judge had at the time ruled that Tian Chua was not disqualified because his fine was RM2,000 fine and therefore no by-election was required.

Subsequently, Tian Chua was allowed to contest in the 2013 general election and won the Batu seat by a 13,284-vote majority.

In the case of both convictions in 2010 and March this year, the Dewan Rakyat also did not disqualify Tian Chua as an MP.

Meanwhile, lawyer N Surendran deemed Tian Chua's disqualification as unlawful and unconstitutional, and "liable to be set aside by the court".

He cited the 2010 written judgement in Tian Chua's case as well as the 1993 PP v Leong Yin Ming in the Supreme Court as setting the precedence in this matter.

"It is shocking and incomprehensible that the EC's officers were ignorant of the above legal authorities. The disqualification is unacceptable, and is a taint upon the electoral process in the Batu constituency," the Lawyers for Liberty advisor said in a statement today.

So there we have it - the beginning of the end (???) of Tian Chua's career in PKR.

Thus with Tian Chua out of the running for Batu in 2018, we had a four-cornered fight between Gerakan's Dominic Lau, PAS' Azhar Yahya and independent candidates P Prabakaran and SP Raja

Gerakan was of course BN so the PKR's thinking then was that the party would/should bet on an independent candidate rather than let Gerakan roam home. It picked the younger P Prabakaran for Tian Chua and PKR to endorse and back.

But the most crucial question to be asked TODAY is WTF was P Prabakaran then?

That bloke wasn't a PKR diehard nor supporter. In fact he was against PKR and Tian Chua hence his candidacy in Batu, not so much as if he could win but more to siphon off Indian voters from Tian Chua (assuming Tian Chua didn't had his candidacy unfairly disqualified despite a contrary previous electoral decision in GE13-2013).

Who was his sponsor remains unknown though we can all guess who would finance an unknown university 2nd year law undergraduate to stand as an independent in Batu in 2018?

That's right, Prabakaran was then an anti PKR bloke.

But alas, as would have it, a disqualified Tian Chua was compelled to back Prabaran or lose the Batu seat to likely Gerakan-BN or less likely, even PAS.

OK - that was how fate-karma-nasib-miali played Tian Chua out while blessing Prabakaran. Winning Independent candidate P Prabakaran only joined PKR 4 days AFTER the 2018 general elections.

But what is NOT understandable has been the PKR-party's neglect in remembering P Prabakaran was in 2018 in fact a PKR-enemy. Why was Prabakaran nominated as the Batu candidate AGAIN in 2022?

Read the following Wikipedia reports on postGE14 antics between Tian Chua and not so angelic Prabakaran:

Wikipedia extracts:

2019 Vehicle Egg Splattering Incident

On 6 November 2019, High Court judge Mariana Yahya ruled that Chua did not lose his qualification to contest as a candidate for the Batu federal seat in the 2018 Malaysian general election after she allowed the originating summons by Chua against the Election Commission (EC). She also agreed with the decision made by two separate High Courts which ruled that qualifications and rights of Chua to contest were not affected due to RM2,000 levied against him for insulting a policeman.

At night on 15 November 2019, Prabakaran parked his Toyota Vellfire vehicle behind the PapaRich restaurant on Jalan Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur at about 11 pm and his vehicle was splattered with eggs, where eggshells were on the roof and front windscreen. He lodged police reports the following day. The attack came in the wake of news that a coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) demanded Prabakaran to step down as Batu MP in order for Chua to contest for the Batu seat in a by-election after the ruling that Chua did not lose eligibility to contest in 2018 election was made earlier. 

Chua denied any involvements in the aftermath of the incident. In response, Prabakaran clarified that he was not stepping down as Batu MP and said he would like to contribute his energy and effort for the good of PKR in realising the "reformasi" (reforms) agenda and he would serve the people in a transparent and fair manner and would not drop them halfway through. In addition, he also claimed that Chua did not pressurise him and directly negotiated with him about his duties or to step down and instead gave him full support to carry on as Batu MP for a full term. He also said the people and voters of Batu wanted a spirited youth like him to solve their problems and explain the issues.

2022 Rift and Exchange with Chua on Social Media

On 15 May 2022, a fresh rift and heated exchange formed between Prabakaran and Chua after the former posted photos of Chua at a buka puasa (fast breaking) function on social media. The bone of contention appeared to be tweet of Prabakaran on 14 May 2022 about Chua of attending what appeared to be a fast breaking event with Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) and Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (GERAKAN) logos in the background.

Both BERSATU and GERAKAN were the political rivals of PKR. Prabakaran questioned if the photo was genuine and if so, what was discussed with others at the event. However, he did not mention any names but drew a red circle around Chua in the photo. 

Chua responded strongly on Facebook the same day, telling Prabakaran to stop his "defamation campaign", claiming that Prabakaran was "spreading lies" about his attendance at the BERSATU event, which was "unethical and malicious". He revealed that Prabakaran had also decided to contest against him for the PKR Batu division chief position in the 2022 PKR party election but welcomed this as a manifestation of party democracy. He also warned Prabakaran not to bring the political culture of defaming others and personal attacks into PKR. Chua clarified that the event took place on 25 April 2021 and it was organised by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) with the cooperation of the Ministry of Federal Territories.

So Prabakaran was not so angelic after all. Budak muda ini pun tahu main kotor juga.

To summarise the main points leading to a gross injustice against Tian Chua, these would be:

1. Tian Chua was eff-ed kaukau by the 2018 Returning officer Anwar Mohd Zain in Batu constituency, as proven in 6 November 2019, when High Court judge Mariana Yahya ruled that Chua did not lose his qualification to contest as a candidate for the Batu federal seat in the 2018 Malaysian general election after she allowed the originating summons by Chua against the Election Commission (EC). She also agreed with the decision made by two separate High Courts which ruled that qualifications and rights of Chua to contest were not affected due to RM2,000 levied against him for insulting a policeman

2. It is strange that a week later (9 days) after High Court judge Mariana Yahya's ruling, young Prabakaran's Vellfire had eggs splattered on it - as I don't believe Tian Chua is that sort of vandal I wonder who (???) really had been responsible, wakakaka.

3. Tian Chua was slandered by Prabakaran's seemingly innocent tweet on 14 May 2022. 

4. Has there been any proof Tian Chua had been involved in the Sheraton Move as "angelic" Prabakaran's tweet sought to innocently query???

5. How the eff did PKR nominate Prabakaran as candidate for Batu when the bloke was in 2018 an anti-PKR independent candidate?

Have the party's leadership forgotten that?

Was Tian Chua deliberately marginalised for his 'friendship' with Ass-binte even though there has been NIL proof of Tian Chua's involvement in the Sheraton Move. WTF, Tian Chua has always been a close ally of Anwar, as was Ass-binte to Anwar. Why take it (the hatred for Ass-binte) out on Tian Chua?

OK, so PKR didn't want Tian Chua as he could be a Trojan Horse but then, tell me, was there no other PKR candidate for Batu besides Prabakaran (who in 2018 pre-election wasn't a PKR member nor even a PKR supporter) and Tian Chua (a life-long PKR reformasi activist)?

This is why I believe gross injustice has been done to Tian Chua, despite my lack of admiration nor liking for him, wakakaka.