by: Azmi Anshar
DEWAN RAKYAT Dec 18, 2008
The Dewan Rakyat concluded today the first session of its newly-minted 12th Parliament, holding three raucous meetings for a collective 79 days, the third meeting being the longest at 45 days where some of the more plangently controversial bills were deliberated and the debates sharp, piquant and torrid.
I have been watching and monitoring the entire melodrama created by Selangor CPO, Khalid in the last one week over JERIT campaign. Now he has become the spokesperson to the Sultan to support his claim about misuse of children. Definitely Khalid must be a child activist!
Though he ’saved’ 27 children in Rawang and then made them get wet in the rain for over 15 minutes and his men pointed gun at the children when they tried to seek shelter from the rain and that the children were put in a small meeting room overnight with the wet clothes on without proper ventilation and water supply or even space to sleep plus intimidation from his men from time to time, he truly has passions for the children.
It was the final day. It would finally determine if the organizers and cyclist end up in Parliament or end up in some police lock-up. We have arranged lunch at Selangor Chinese Assemble Hall but again we were just unsure and we decided that maybe we should just organize lunch boxes.
By 8am, our buses started to come to the capital Kuala Lumpur. Here we were initially misguided by the police. The Police had started its maneuver. One bus was stopped and told that they will be taken to Brickfield police station, another bus was stopped and told to wait, yet another bus was diverted and later told that it will be escorted out of Kuala Lumpur. At this time, we had decided that if the buses are stopped, then the participants will just walk out and walk towards Parliament. The police were equally confused. They did not get clear instruction and this resulted in all our buses carrying cyclist managed to reach Lake Garden- the destination pre-determined by us.
It was the day before the Parliament date. Both teams from north and south was suppose to unite today to pass the memorandum to the Selangor Menteri Besar. The TV and radio continue to broadcast asking people not to participate in the 18 December handing over memorandum to the Parliament. The Media says that it would be an illegal gathering and action would be taken against those who participated.
h3. 15th. December 2008, Bangi Estate, Selangor
CPO of Selangor, Khalid Abdul Bakar went on a rescue mission to save the children from the “bad” JERIT. In his noble mission, he used massive police force in Rawang and Kajang to arrest all participants of the JERIT cycle for change campaign. He says that he wants to unite the “terrified” children back to their parents.
In Rawang, 56 people were arrested including 27 below the age of 18. The arrest did not result in 27 parents knocking in the police doorsteps but instead, more than 500 people demonstrated in the rain calling for everyone to be released. The CPO was shouted at for his action which created more anger rather than relief.
The day started with news reports that the Deputy IGP has declared that any member of public who participated in JERIT bicycle campaign would be considered a criminal offence. Besides that he also said that JERIT is not a registered body, it is exploiting children and being used by some political parties. All this accusation is familiar but we started the day with caution.
Some of our young cyclist had to go to Petronas station to have a bath. That was an interesting experience, they said. Breakfast arrived late but we started the cycling from DAP office in Seremban Jaya on time. Guna, the local State Assemblyman flagged off and the South team who then cycled towards the capital of Negeri Sembilan, Seremban to submit a memorandum to the Menteri Besar.
Today is human rights day. 10 December 2008. We left our luxury stay from Gemas Rest House to Melaka. The day was pleasantly quite. When we crossed border from Negeri Sembilan to Melaka, we were rather shocked that there were no Road Blocks to greet us. In the last few days, we have become familiar to Road Blocks and it has become a routine and when we didn’t see one, we were puzzled.
By Yong Huey Jiun, 2008/10/14
Putting the voters first means going back to them for a new mandate if you want to cross over, Parti Sosialis Malaysia chairman Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim tells Yong Huey Jiun
Q: In politics, what does loyalty mean to you?
A: To me, loyalty is to the people. The party is just an instrument to ensure empowerment of the people and its existence should revolve around the needs of the people. If a party does not ensure that, the party shouldn’t exist.
Q: From an ethical viewpoint, where do you stand on political crossovers?
A: Whether it’s ethical or not is really a moot question. In the early 1990s, the Kelantan (Pas) government wanted to have an anti-party- hopping law. The (Federal Barisan Nasional) government didn’t allow it at the time because it was deemed to work against the government.
But now the government wants to have it because the situation is unfavourable to Barisan Nasional.
BN cannot accuse Pakatan Rakyat (PR) of being unethical when it has been unethical, too. I’m talking about the hypocrisy of using the word “ethics”.
In that sense, ethics have always been violated and manipulated because it has become situational and often subject to the interest of the political party. If it’s wrong, it’s wrong.
Personally, this crossover has to come from the rakyat. You’ve been appointed by the rakyat to represent them; therefore you must abide by the rakyat’s wishes.
If you decide to cross over to another party, the least you can do is consult the people, rather than just defect and expect them to follow suit. As a matter of principle, if the people have voted for you under a particular ticket, you should stick to it. When you move, you have betrayed them because they voted for you under this ticket. Only a by-election can decide.
Q: Even if a member of parliament believes he or she can no longer serve effectively under his or her party or that the party is no longer staying true to its doctrine?
A: Then why can’t he or she resign and have a by-election and let the people decide?
We have to respect the people’s wishes even when we feel it’s wrong (to stay with the party).
As a socialist, I’m happy that the people were empowered in the last (general) election and I want the empowerment to continue, where they can finally decide the kind of leaders they want. We don’t want them to regress. When you cross over, you sidestep them. The rakyat made you what you are. Whether you’re in BN or PR, you must always be subservient to them.
