ALIRAN: Deserters deserve to be despised and denigrated

Friday, 05 March 2010 11:43
Deserters deserve to be despised and denigrated PDF Print E-mail
Friday, 05 March 2010 11:43

The stage was set on 12 February 2010 for the dishonourable conduct of certain so-called Hon’ble Members of Parliament. That day marked the first PKR resignation - the MP for Bayan Baru - and sparked the dishonourable exit of two more traitors of the voters who supported the Pakatan Rakyat by electing these renegades. On 1 March 2010 the MP for Nibong Tebal, Tan Tee Beng, and two days later on 3 March, the MP for Bagan Serai, Mohsin Fadzli Samsuri, announced their resignations respectively.

All of them suddenly seem to have grievances with their party and its policies. But whatever their views may be with regard to party and policy, these are only their personal views. These views do not reflect the views of their voters nor are they supported by those who voted for the PR at the last general election. Their selfish conduct has condemned them to dooms day for subverting parliamentary democracy. They will find no peace of mind after this terrible, wilful betrayal of trust.

These riff-raffs have deserted the voters who elected them and betrayed the party that fielded them. Their individual action has betrayed thousands of voters in their constituencies and completely discarded their sentiments.

Aren’t they accountable to their constituents? Zahrain has disappointed 27,618 voters; Tee Keat has frustrated 20,210 voters and Mohsin has let down 18,943 voters. In all, they have betrayed a total of 66,771 constituents whose support had put them in parliament and helped them to earn thousands of ringgits monthly.

These are the same unprincipled vile characters like the ones in Perak who jumped ship and perverted the democratic process and frustrated the popular will of the Perakians. They must be punished as a lesson to other vile characters who in future may want to emulate them and bring disrepute to the electoral process.

The man who accompanied each of these traitors when their resignations were announced was the former Secretary-General of PKR, Datuk Salehuddin Hashim. When he left PKR for whatever reason, that was his business. But when he is seen as the hand engineering the betrayal of the voters and the party, it is now our business to condemn his role in this nefarious affair and question his motive.

We cannot forgive them nor should we forget their foul deed. They should be punished on a daily basis so that it should be a living hell for them for their betrayal of the people’s trust: they should be ostracised; their functions should be boycotted; they should not be greeted or their presence acknowledged; they should be ignored.

Let the call go forth so that these characters will be despised and denigrated by their neighbours and their constituents. They should not be allowed to hide their faces or be granted any sanctuary anywhere in this country.

Aeschylus had this to say of such traitors: I have learned to hate all traitors, and there is no disease that I spit on more than treachery.

They should be despised and hated for this unforgiveable betrayal.

In a sense, their departure should be treated as a blessing. They have purified PKR by resigning. Let the others who will follow suit in the coming weeks be treated as good riddance to bad rubbish. Without them, PKR will emerge as a stronger and reliable party to bring about change and new hope for Malaysians.

The 13th general election will be the Waterloo for BN. Malaysians are really fed up with their undemocratic practice in toppling the duly elected PR government in Perak; for withholding allocations for Opposition MPs; for denying Kelantan its petroleum royalty.

The BN has much to answer for.

P Ramakrishnan
President
4 March 2010