TWO wrongs don’t make them right.
To start with, Pakatan Harapan (PH) should have vehemently opposed the entry of UMNO leaders into Bersatu at the time when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the Prime Minister.
It was not just DAP that was not opposed to this move then, but also PKR and Amanah.
All three parties went along with the decision made by Dr Mahathir to accept the party hoppers. The frogs from UMNO were brought into Bersatu and given plum positions.
But whatever is said and done, DAP has done the right thing to oppose the inclusion of the four state-assembly persons who ditched the Melaka State Government.
The state election would not have been called in the absence of their withdrawal of support which caused the collapse of the Perikatan Nasional (PN)-Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.
It is not that the four wanted an election, but things proved to be beyond their control which enabled UMNO to have a hand in the call for the by-election.
Even if the four did not want an election, their act of hopping cannot be forgiven.
Price to pay
The acceptance of even one of the four dissidents would have contradicted the need for a national anti-hopping law at the federal level, an outcome of the memorandum of understanding on transformation and political stability.
While PH has been firm against party hopping, for PKR and Amanah to accept the two-party hoppers into their fold is not acceptable.
PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim cannot justify the acceptance of the two leaders, saying that it was not something akin to the treacherous Sheraton Move.
Here, it is about the question of the degree of betrayal but not the betrayal itself.
While Sheraton Move brought down the legitimately elected government of PH, the move by the four brought down the Melaka State Government.
Anwar as the chairman of PH should have been firm in rejecting the four who deserted the PH Government.
What is so crucial about accepting the two frogs? One has joined PKR and the other Amanah. The question is are PKR and Amanah so hard up for candidates that the two needed to be brought in?
What were the prior engagements with PKR before the decision was made to abandon the Melaka State Government?
Anwar is not just the leader of PKR, but the head of PH and the prime candidate for the opposition coalition.
He should be above petty politics to ensure there is unanimity in PH and the DAP cannot be outvoted just because it was two against one.
Amanah might be in PH but its role is disappointing, to say the least. The party is the weakest link in the PH.
Compromising principle
In the turbulent world of politics in general and in Malaysia in particular, it is difficult to live by principles.
Political opportunism is so rife that even the most principled party might be swayed to lower their principles in anticipation of winning.
Is there a choice whether to abide by principles or to abandon them to political expediency?
PH seems to preach one thing to the rakyat but does another for political expediency which brings up the question of how can PH get support from the rakyat when the alternative to the ruling coalition is abandoning its principles?
If UMNO or BN can go alone in the Melaka state election, why is PH fumbling and wanting to bring disgraced leaders to its fold?
Winning the election is important but not at the expense of abandoning basic political principles.
I am a DAP member and a staunch supporter of the PH’s coalition as the alternative future government of the country. I have also defended Anwar when there were calls for his resignation.
Yet I am not a blind supporter of the DAP; the party has its share of weaknesses, but when it comes to the question of the four-state assemblymen, I am dead against their admission into PH.
While both PKR and Amanah will not rescind their decision, they should know that this hurt the DAP which is a formidable member of the coalition.
Following the state election, there is a pressing need to do a post-mortem to ensure past mistakes are not repeated.
It is not about the Melaka election, but also the coming Sarawak election and ultimately the next general election possibly next year.
It is not just the quarrel about accepting or not accepting the frogs but whether the memorandum of understanding (MOU) in existence means anything anymore to the PH.
Time is certainly not on the side of PH – the MOU rightly or wrongly seems to be the Albatross around the neck of the alternative coalition.
Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is the state assemblyman for Perai. He is also Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Pic credit:FMT
