|
Saturday, 24-Apr-2004 11:49 AM Discipline must be enforced with a whip Probably, for the first time in Malaysian election history, a candidate in the general election is taking legal action against his opposing candidate merely because this opposing candidate contested against him in the election and did not withdraw when asked to. Some may say this goes against the very spirit of democracy, in that anyone is free to offer himself as a candidate and contest any election he or she so wishes, including that of dog catcher if that post is up for grabs.
And this person who has just made history is Wan Razali Wan Kadir (picture), a National Justice Party (keADILan) candidate. And the person he is suing is the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) candidate, Ghazali Shaari, who stood against him in the Taman Medan state seat in Selangor. Ghazali is also the PAS Division Chief for Taman Medan. In the recently concluded 11th General Election on 21 March 2004, Barisan Nasional’s candidate, Abdul Wahab Ibrahim won the Taman Medan seat by 18,191 votes in a four-corner fight against Wan Razali who garnered 3,292 votes, Ghazali who obtained 4,663 votes and an independent, Kamarul Jaman Seeni Mohideen, who obtained only 641 votes. Wan Razali is seeking RM2 million in damages for slander and libel plus a further RM5,000 on the loss of his deposit and RM70,000 on the expenses he incurred in the election. It seems Ghazali had smeared Wan Razali’s name during the election campaigning by alleging that the keADILan candidate was an Umno plant and would leave the opposition to join Umno once he won the election. Wan Razali is also seeking a public apology from Ghazali through advertisements in the major newspapers and a retraction of the ‘traitor’ allegation. A similar writ is also being served on the PAS state chief for Selangor, Dr Hassan Ali. Wan Razali, a lawyer by profession, is determined to punish PAS for what he views as not honouring the ‘agreement’ reached on the seat allocation. Taman Medan was supposed to be a keADILan seat and PAS was not supposed to field any candidate there. Wan Razali’s action is entirely his own initiative and certainly does not have the endorsement of his party. Nevertheless, he feels he has personally suffered public ridicule and financial loss so he is taking it upon himself to pursue the matter with PAS and its Taman Medan chief, with or without the party’s blessing. Wan Razali realises that the suit may further strain keADILan’s and PAS’ relationship, which is already being stretched as it is. Wan Razali’s reaction to this though is that the relationship is already strained anyway. “Things are not so rosy anymore. Keadilan Selangor Youth has already asked that ties with PAS be severed,” explained Wan Razali. “PAS members are always making unfair demands. They always threaten to withdraw their election machinery if they didn’t get certain seats but their machinery means nothing when it comes to polling,” he added. Wan Razali’s lawyer’s letter of demand sent to Ghazali and Dr Hassan said, “Our client lost badly due to the split votes and his election deposit was forfeited.” “You, your agent and supporters had spread lies alleging that our client was a proxy to Ruslan Kassin and that he would cross over to Umno if he wins,” the letter continued. “As a result, Wan Razali’s loyalty and credibility were questioned by both party leaders and members alike. Following his loss, our client, as a professional, was isolated and subjected to cynical remarks from both the public and other lawyers.” The letter also claimed that Ghazali’s agents and supporters had threatened to harm Wan Razali after he gave an interview with a local TV station, NTV7, in which he said that he was the rightful opposition candidate for Taman Medan and that Ghazali was not authorised to contest that seat. To be fair to PAS, its president, Abdul Hadi Awang, had earlier warned that all those PAS members who breached party discipline by engaging in three-corner fights would be sacked if they did not withdraw. However, warnings are not enough. What PAS should have done is immediately sack them and announce to the world that they are no longer PAS members and that they are contesting the election as independents without the endorsement of the party. All those other party members who supported and campaigned for these renegades should also be similarly dealt with. The problem is, discipline seems to be lacking in the opposition and the top cannot seem to any longer control the bottom. And the leadership seems to be reluctant or powerless in keeping the grassroots in line. The opposition seems to suffer from a serious aliment of infestation with loose cannons and warlords. No longer does what the top leadership say mean anything to its members and grassroots leaders. The leaders can talk till the cows come home but the members and grassroots leaders will just go and do what it wants. The opposition is at war, and an election is certainly a war. As in any war, if the soldiers and field commanders disobey orders, they should be shot on the battlefield. No trial or tribunal is required. For example, if the commander gives an order to advance and if the soldier does the opposite, he gets a bullet in the head. There is no discussion or further talk. The opposition coalition, Barisan Alternatif (BA), is currently in tatters. No one seems to be effectively in control. Its leaders know that the party is not so much a coalition as it is a renegade bunch held together by warlords. It is not an army but more a guerrilla force that is not fighting a large-scale war but little battles here and there. And that is why the opposition lacks credibility and has seen its fortunes deteriorate of late. Dr Mahathir Mohamad may have been a dictator. He may not understand human rights. He may have robbed this country clean. But he knows how to run a party and he keeps its members and leaders in check. See what he did to Anwar Ibrahim when he thought he would probably lose control? I am not endorsing what he did to Anwar. I am not saying what he did was right or good. What I am saying is he knows what to do when either he or his party is threatened. And, this, the opposition does not seem to be able to do. The PAS and keADILan Presidents need to grab the bull by the horns. They need to put their feet down and demonstrate who the boss is. As it is now, both the PAS and keADILan Presidents are too much of a ‘Mister Nice Guy’. We do not need nice guys. We need strong leaders. And if both Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Abdul Hadi Awang had acted decisively and strongly, many of the present problems the opposition is being faced with could have been avoided. Yes, PAS and keADILan are facing a serious relationship problem. And it is not because of the three-corner fights in the last election. The three-corner fights are the result and not the cause of this bad relationship. The opposition coalition’s impressive performance in the 1999 election was because it contested as Barisan Alternatif, at that time, with the Democratic Action Party (DAP) still a member. Then DAP dropped off because PAS decided to launch its Islamic State Document (ISD). PAS did so because it was good for PAS, not because it was good for BA. Even keADILan disagreed with the ISD and chose to officially boycott the launch though some of its leaders did attend the launch in their ‘personal capacity’ and not as representatives of the party. Many of the keADILan members and grassroots leaders then questioned the viability of continuing as a coalition. If PAS would like to do what is good for PAS instead of what is good for BA was there any point continuing, they asked. Better keADILan too, just like DAP, break away from BA and become an ‘independent’ opposition party. This of course will be disastrous for both PAS and keADILan. DAP, in its heydays in 1986 won only 24 parliament seats. In the recent elections it won only 11. Its worst ever was 10 seats. This means, DAP’s capabilities as an independent opposition party is 10 to 24 seats. PAS and keADILan too cannot expect any better. Maybe PAS can win a simple majority in Kelantan like how it did recently and in the 1990 and 1995 elections as well. 1999 was its best election but that was because it was BA and not because it was PAS. In 1990 and 1995 PAS failed to win Terengganu. In 1999 it did, but again because it was BA. Then, recently, because PAS was seen as PAS and not BA, it lost Terengganu again. Granted that fraud was also an issue but fraud only made it worse. Fraud or no fraud, PAS, without BA, cannot win Terengganu. PAS, keADILan and DAP must now ask themselves what they want the future to be. The spirit of BA must be restored. What will it take for BA to appear as a real coalition and not a PAS-controlled ‘front’? What will it take for DAP to consider rejoining BA? I am not saying PAS is wrong and DAP and keADILan are right. In fact, all three are at fault. All three are of the opinion that they do not need the others and can do well enough on their own. All three suffer from a serious ailment of superiority complex. All three feel they can engage in four-corner fights, meaning all three opposition parties against just one ruling party candidate, and end up the loser with the highest votes. In short, the opposition parties are prepared for a free-for-all, agree that the opposition will end up losing the seat to the solitary BN candidate, but feel they would be the best performer amongst the losers. If this is not arrogance and mere ego, then I don’t know what is. By the way, I feel Wan Razali should withdraw his suit against PAS and PAS should in turn immediately sack its renegade candidate for Taman Medan and all those others who engaged in three-corner fights in other areas as well, plus a public apology is in order. As for the legal action against what would now be an ex-PAS member, that is an entirely personal matter between the two.
|
