THE Kemaman parliamentary by-election on Dec 2 is poised to spark a wave of awakening with Malaysians rejecting the corruption and abuse of power that are occurring in the Madani government today.
Deputy PAS president Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man reckoned that such wave is now inevitable as many Malaysians have become disillusioned with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“They expect that at least the PM will implement what was fought for when he was kicked out and fired from UMNO following which promises of sorts were made along with the Reformasi wave,” he told a ceramah to introduce Terengganu Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar as its candidate for the Kemaman by-election last night (Nov 17).
The by-election was called following an election court decision on Sept 26 which annulled the victory of PAS candidate Che Alias Hamid in the November 2022 general election.
“The people were expecting that when he becomes PM one day, he would at least fulfil what he had fought for. But it turns out that when he became PM, he was worse than before,” chided Tuan Ibrahim.
“Look at how during Tun Mahathir’s (twice former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad) time, the current Amanah leadership used to label him as “Great Tyrant” (Maha Zalim), Great Pharaoh (Maha Firaun) and all kinds of names. But they were not charged, they were not arrested, they were not even investigated.
“Today, talk a little and the police will show up in front of your house. You can’t even write nor attack a little on TikTok. It turns out that the so-called Reformasi to give space to the people to express their views and so on has not been implemented.
“It’s even worse with regard to the unity government’s attitude towards foreign policy. In Parliament, our MPs brought a motion to be discussed to condemn Zionist actions and bring the Israeli PM to the International Court of Justice.
“Our proposal was rejected with a minister’s statement which reflects a stark contrast from our original proposal.”
In this regard, Tuan Ibrahim who is also the Kubang Kerian MP described Anwar as “untouchable” whereby his critics will be subjected to police action as was also experienced by Kepala Batas MP Dr Siti Mastura Muhammad recently.
Two wrongs don’t make a right
According to the Tuan Ibrahim, although Siti Mastura was only disclosing information from Barisan Nasional (BN) sources, DAP has continued to file police reports against her instead of BN.
The PAS No. 2 also revealed a major problem facing Terengganu which has not received petroleum royalties since PAS wrested control of the state from BN in 1999.
“Supposedly when he’s made PMX, he corrects what is wrong. When we won in 1999, royalties were cancelled and changed to wang ehsan (compassionate money) on grounds that Terengganu did not deserve royalties because oil well was found outside the three nautical miles radius,” argued Tuan Ibrahim.
“What three nautical miles since 1999? Why was there royalty before? When the (royalty) agreement was made, the issue of three nautical miles did not even arise. We wish to remind him that if he wants to be PM, he has to correct what is wrong.” – Nov 17, 2023
