Letter to Editor
I have sent an e-mail to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) presidential council top leaders urging an investigation towards an incident whereby Johor DAP chairman Liew Chin Tong has reassured the Johor State PH Council that he could get the support from Johor Barisan Nasional-Perikatan Nasional (BN-PN) state government and other parties so as to be appointed as the senator for the Johor state quota.
In early August this year, Liew had directed a series of Zoom meetings in the name of “dialogues between Members of Parliament (MPs) and grassroots members” in Johor.
During one of the meetings, DAP Johor MPs alongside one MP from another state and a few former cabinet minister and deputy ministers fiercely attacked (Opposition leader) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
This has confused and also de-stablised the unity among Johor grassroots members by repeatedly going against the PH presidential council’s resolution that Anwar is PH’s only candidate for prime minister (PM).
Moreover, the unusual event confused the grassroots members by causing suspicions and queries to the actual underlying reasons and motives for the MPs, former minister and deputy ministers to keep going against the decisions of the PH presidential council.
This specific incident has aroused my curiosity to carry out preliminary investigations on the DAP Johor chairman and former ministers to call such meetings.
After getting statements from various Johor PH component parties’ leaders sitting on the Johor PH council, I was informed that Liew had in early August misled the Johor PH Council into believing that he was able to get enough support from Johor BN-PN and other parties concerned to appoint him as a senator under the Johor state government quota that had been held by BN-PN members.
I was also informed that a resolution would be proposed at the state assembly sitting following Liew’s claim that he was able to get the support from Johor BN-PN to appoint him as senator.
Nonetheless, the resolution was withdrawn after Liew failed to prove that he could garner enough support to ensure the resolution’s passage by the Johor state assembly while the vast majority of the PH state assemblypersons were even unaware of the existence of the said proposed resolution.
Clarification sought
In fact, the proposed resolution was also never made known or approved by DAP Johor state committee. I have raised the issue and questioned Liew at Johor DAP state committee WhatsApp chat group and he never denied the incident;
I have also appealed to the PH presidential council to carry out investigations towards the incident and clarify the following questions and issues:
- Clarify whether the confidence and supply agreement (CSA) and memorandum of understanding (MOU) between PH and PN-BN Government include the appointments of GLCc (government link companies) and senator posts in return for PH’s support, including the appointment of Liew as senator from Johor;
- Investigate the reasons for Liew to persuade Johor PH Council to propose him as senator without informing and seeking approval from DAP Johor state committee and Johor DAP state assemblypersons earlier before bringing the issue to Johor state PH Council and state assembly office without prior knowledge of other PH state assemblypersons;
- Investigate whether there were any secret deals between Liew with Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s former PN-BN Government concerning his own appointment as senator given he has never denied news report that he had met up with Muhyiddn’s chief confidential secretary;
- Study the reasons for PH’s defeats at the Melaka at Sarawak state elections, including assessing as to whether former PH’s ministers’ and deputy ministers’ performance under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s premiership had disappointed the people;
- Investigate whether the loyalty of former PH ministers and deputy ministers are with BN-PN, Pejuang-MUDA-Warisan or with the present PH top leadership;
I welcome any effort by PH’s top leadership to investigate my complaint and carry out detailed studies in order to improve PH’s future performance.
I would also like to urge a handful of PH leaders not to utilise their own leadership positions to gain personal interests including government positions by compromising PH’s political principles in the name of “big picture”.
PH has to recognise its true friends and foes and unite – for better or worse – in order to win back public confidence and make another breakthrough to bring about true reforms in the country. – Dec 30, 2021
Dr Boo Cheng Hau is a former Johor DAP chief.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
