Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Haris Ibrahim's MCLM candidates - a threat to Azmin Ali?

Why is MCLM offering its de-frog-itized candidates to only PKR but not DAP or PAS, or for that matter, the BN?

It’s not just a matter of minimising the froggie tendency of recent (and perhaps among existing) PKR politicians, but also of ensuring the credentials and competency of the PKR candidates for the next general election are up to speed.

Haris Ibrahim, conceptualizer and prime mover of MCLM’s current program to vet and offer PKR a list of 30 de-frog-itized and highly qualified candidates for PKR, has often voiced his utter amazement at PKR (in fact more Anwar Ibrahim’s personal) choice of candidates in the last election.

The prime example Haris had raised was Loh Gwo Burne, a person ‘renowned’ for his fame of “14 minutes from (video) photographer to parliamentarian” – for more of this ’14 minutes’ see my post
Bahasa Mělayu - a letter to Yang Běrhormat wakakaka.

Anwar Ibrahim ‘invited’ him at the eleventh hour to stand in the Kelana Jaya federal seat. Haris challenged PKR to justify Loh’s nomination (though wakakaka, very successful election as the federal representative for Kelana Jaya) – see Haris’
PKR, why, why, why?

To be fair to Loh, he has remained faithful to PKR despite gibes and jeers that he would leapfrog over to BN. Loh also redeemed himself somewhat (though not to the anwaristas wakakaka) when he wrote a letter to Malaysiakini lambasting Azmin Ali during the party’s recent poll. Incidentally, Loh also was punched in the face by one of Anwar’s faithfuls during an argument on what I remember (vaguely) to be a squatter issue, so perhaps he might have shown some passion in his duties as a federal MP to earn the wrath (and fist) of his party colleague ;-).

We all know, and PKR members themselves do too, that the party is the weakest link in Pakatan Rakyat, with its problems mainly self-induced. A significant part of these problems has been due to its inability to sever itself completely from its UMNO past, practices and proclivities.

Haris obviously has an interest in seeing PKR develop into a party that is not a mere clone of UMNO, as it currently is (with a small appendix formerly called PRM, thanks to Dr Syed Husin’s misguided belief in Anwar Ibrahim’s reformasi).

This has been why, as reported by The Malaysian Insider in its
Toe party line to get our seats, says PKR: “MCLM said that its candidates will decide on issues based on their conscience rather than the coalition’s consensus”.

However, I wonder why MCLM refers to the “coalition’s consensus” when it has been PKR it is worried about. Surely if the coalition, namely Pakatan, has reached a consensus, what then would be the issues which would so concern MCLM that its 30 candidates would vote on their conscience?

I can understand MCLM’s concerns with PKR, but what possible common grounds that DAP, PAS and PKR might have that could possibly worry MCLM? Can anyone help shed some light on Haris’s thoughts on this?

Meanwhile, Rafizi Ramli, PKR chief strategist, voiced his wariness of accepting MCLM-offered candidates because it wanted to avoid making the same “mistake” of 2008 where it had picked candidates who could not withstand the pressure and challenges of being a lawmaker".

But that’s precisely why MCLM is offering PKR 30 good and vetted candidates, because the reality is PKR is just incapable of selecting good candidates - a proven fact!

I’ve not an iota of doubt each and every MCLM-offered candidates will definitely be far superior in all respects to those erstwhile PKR MPs and members who defected to the BN, people like Zahrain. Tell me Rafizi, how far worse can MCLM’s candidate be compared to those your party had? When you’re at rock bottom, the only way has to be up! So, stop giving poor excuses.

Rafizi then went on to shoot his foot by stating: “While we are open to suggestions, the candidates must subscribe to our struggle. We are a political party with structure and rules. We have already gone through a painful experience with the ‘frogs’ where in the past we took people who were less experienced and they jumped at the first given opportunity. What was missing was the appreciation of the party struggle.”

This was precisely the reason some PKR leaders (those in the Anwar-Azmin camp) gave in supporting Azmin Ali as the preferred deputy presidential candidate over Zaid Ibrahim – essentially a ‘no’ to parachutist but 101% to those who ‘came though the reformasi struggle’.

But alas, not unlike our amazing judiciary, where on one day, white is right while on the next, black is correct, PKR has shown its double-standard cakap ta’serupa bikin in the Gobalakrishnan versus Surendran case. Nothing against innocent Surendran, but wouldn’t Gobalakrishnan be the one who had subscribed faithfully to the party struggle for the last 15 years? For more, see my posts
The Poison within PKR - Part III and Gobalakrishnan leaves the poison behind.

So, Rafizi, what do you have to say? Your words have been totally inconsistent to the way your party has ill treated Gobalakrishnan.

But why is there this hypocritical UMNO-like bullsh*tting double-standard inconsistency?

Simple – because poor Gobala didn’t support Azmin Ali. He was in Zaid Ibrahim’s camp. And refusal to support Azmin Ali is not an acceptable status in PKR. Recall the furore over its party’s recent polling process, where there were 162 complaints about polling irregularities in the party race for the deputy president's position, but there was nary a twitch from the JPP PKR, the party body which is supposed to manage the party polls but which surrendered that management to ..... you can work that out!

Worse, and the absolute pits, there was the shameful silence of its President Dr Wan Azizah to Jonson Chong’s immaculate letter of appeal – see
Dr Wan Azizah ignores Jonson Chong's plea?

Haris Ibrahim praised Jonson for his constructive approach but alas, not so Dr Wan as she ignored him completely - yes, we would like to know whether Dr Wan had even replied to Jonson?

Why did a party president ignore a constructive proposal from a sensible, fair and balanced gentleman like Jonson Chong which would have put to rest all complaints if the polls had been conducted fairly, unless of course she …..

Since that day, my once-respect for the lady plummeted to zilch. Yes, she may be a nice and kind lady but she is not fit to be the president of a political party.

So it’s hardly surprising Azmin Ali and Rafizi Ramli (no doubt supported by Anwar Ibrahim) have worriedly brought out ‘loyalty’ re the MCLM-offered candidates, meaning they don’t want them because they might not be (gasp gawd omigosh) loyal to Azmin Ali.

Speculative footnote: For Loh Gwo Burne who's no doubt in Azmin Ali's black book, I suspect his future candidacy for Kelana Jaya (or any other post – perhaps Pekan, wakakaka)) may well depend on the size of his dad’s contribution to PKR funds (which incidentally is NOT illegal). But in all likelihood, he will be what I said in my earlier post
Loh Gwo Burne & Gobala - one-term MPs?

18 comments:

  1. Ktemoc,
    You are not a Malaysian resident. I doubt you are aware of the situation with regard to potential Opposition candidates back in February 2008. In many of the mixed seats that PKR was contesting, no willing, qualified candidates could be found.
    Where the hell (or f*k) were these 30 MCM candidates in February 2008 ? Busy protecting their precious individual pursuits, I bet, because conventional wisdom at the time was such mixed seats are "Unwinnable" vs. BN, so it was not worthwile offering oneself as candidates.

    Now that the country's political landscape has changed, these MCM Non-Kataks (or is it Worms) are now crawling out of the woodwork.

    Personally, I wouldn't touch these MCM candidates (AKA Opportunists) with a 20-foot pole.

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  2. "Now that the country's political landscape has changed, these MCM Non-Kataks (or is it Worms) are now crawling out of the woodwork."


    Mmmm...not so much crawling out with any alacrity as being proded and cajoled to offer their services in a hostile environment and to expect more hardship.

    These MCLM fellows are surely realists, knowing what an uphill arduous task they would face when all plumb seats will be taken and they would be left with those forsaken ones. With the rabid rabble-rousers on one side (guess who?) and the openly hostile 'friendly'colleague party/ies on the other, will these "Opportunists and Worms" expect to be sailing smoothly through in the coming GE ?


    This time around it might not be 2008, but with the change of political landscape, it can also be argued that the opposition parties' expectation is exceedingly heightened and will be even more zealous and desperate in guarding and fighting for seats.Just look at the recent PKR polls shambles. These MCLM fellows know full well they would NEVER get the co-operation of these little brothers of Umno. So where is the advantage to them in this changed political landscape as far as getting 'easy' seats are concerned ?


    It seemed Haris had a hard time persuading these people to participate. Now before they even get into first gear, they are now labelled all sorts of derogatory names and terms. But they had had fair warning... after all, they know full well the oft-quoted cliche Politics is dirty business.

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  3. I believe my post needs to be re-read to understand why Haris has developed the MCLM list of candidates - it's to help PKR.

    As I mentioned, PKR is just incapable of offering good candidates. It is still very much a crony system in PKR, especially now that all the top posts have been secured by the Anwar-Azmin camp, allegedly under still-unanswered process, and thus a significant divisive factor within the party. It is the weakest link in Pakatan because of this, and the consequential divisive virus among the membership can only exacerbate its weakness.

    Unless MCLM helps PKR, this Azmin fiefdom will be Pakatan's Achilles heel. Haris and RPK must have felt that PKR is still necessary for a united front to challenge BN, and have thus launched MCLM to help PKR. Obviously Azmin isn't too keen on 30 candidates (and potential MPs) who won't toe his line, or worse, who might not support his eventual bid for the party presidency.

    My only question is why MCLM has threatened to possibly vote on their conscience against PAKATAN (not just PKR) consensus. As I said, I can understand them voting against PKR (Azmin's) policy but I wonder about voting against PAKATAN common policy stand? Also, how can there be a 'consensus' if a significant number of MCM-PKR MPs or leaders don't agree to a proposed PAKATAN policy? The disagreement has to be within PKR, not when the policy reaches the PAKATAN level. Thus those MCLM-PKR candidates must demonstrate their disagreement within PKR early, very vociferously to ensure PAS and DAP know there is disagreement from within PKR.

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  4. 3rd force? You mean 3rd fart.

    Look back at the 1986 GE where the entire 3rd Force of labour activists and nincompoops lost their electoral deposits! My point is that voters here vote for the political parties, not the candidates

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  5. "Since that day, my once-respect for the lady plummeted to zilch. Yes, she may be a nice and kind lady but she is not fit to be the president of a political party."

    SPOT ON!

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  6. Anon of 8:10 AM, February 16, 2011, MCLM is not meant to be a 3rd Force. Hopefully there will be no 3rd Force, as RPK, chair of MCLM, has just urged.

    MLCM's list of 30 candidates have been and will be selected for PKR, because as I said, PKR has shown its incompetence in such selection. They'll stand as PKR candidates.

    Whether PKR (or rather, Azmin) wants to accept them them is the RM64,000,000 question?

    I wonder what happens when Azmin rejects them? Will MCLM then stand as independents against PKR? If they do, you may be right in that they'll lose as Malaysians can only see/recognize party symbols like the Dacing, Rocket, Bulan and PKR's whatever(?), and not the 'Independent' payong (umbrella) or teko teh (teapot), unless Ayah Pin is the candidate wakakaka.

    Now, that will be very interesting if Azmin Ali rejects Haris Ibrahim's MCLM-offered candidates.

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  7. Ktemoc,
    # Then, why don't join PKR. Better still, join DAP. Actually, Zaid or Gobala can join DAP. Why not? Interesting question righto?
    # Again, as much as you hated Azmin, certain things Azmin said is correct....What's the point of incorporating MCLM candidates when one wannable has jerked off saying that he's a man of its own
    # MCLM wants its policies to be heard & likewise PKR. You either join the party or be independent. Anyway, I don't think the window has closed.....Remember PSM within PKR midst.....Hehehe#

    #Ktemoc,
    # The Real fundamentdal question is how to win rural votes. Till today, MCLM offers no solution to this....If you wanna talk terms with parties like PKR, tell us how much support you can suck from BN....MCLM gone in a big way in Tenang & failed miserably in bringing in Felda votes
    # Otherwise, real winner is BN....By the way, if you read SNAP history, you would be extremely shocked of the candidates, the infighting.....The only thing SNAP was chosen because it's a local party
    #
    #Ktemoc,
    # Dont wera a nig hat when you don't have a big head

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  8. My dear Looes, you're such a PKR-ista wakakaka. I don't hate (your PKR fave word for critics) Azmin or Anwar. I just don't think very highly of them, and the way they failed to satisfactorily answer legitimate questions by party members about the recent party polling process.

    DAP doesn't accept those who leave PKR or PAS - not good for Pakatan.

    The reason why MCLM candidates reserve their rights to vote on their conscience is they (and Haris, RPK) don't trust the current PKR-Azmin-Anwar crony system and fiefdom. Can't anyone blame them when even some current PKR members don't.

    My only query is why MCLM has extended this condition to issues agreed by Pakatan (not just PKR).

    Did MCLM go to Tenang? This is completely new to me; I read not of any such involvement by MCLM - sure you are not bullshitting me? I can check, you know.

    Anyway, MCLM is not about rural votes; it has never promised that. MCLM is about raising the game for PKR which thus far has shown its complete incompetence and unsatisfactory party practices (a state raised by party members, not me).

    PKR is currently in such a shoddy shambolic state of cronyism and questionable (still unanswered) practices. MCLM is meant to help it but there is a condition, namely that cronyism and the playing-dumb or refusing to account to questions about the polling process by its members (Chegubard, Mustaffa Kamil, Jonson Chong, etc) and erstwhile members (Zaid, Gobala, Jenapala) will not be tolerated anymore.

    Some people (yes, but not everyone) can be forever blind to Anwar's broken promise of reformasi - do you remember 916 and that shameful chasing of BN MPs to Taiwan? What a disgusting undemocratic attempt to seize parliamentary power.

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  9. “While we are open to suggestions, the candidates must subscribe to our struggle"

    Of course MCLM candidates should not subscribe to PKR's struggles, since it is all about taking care of Anwar Ibrahim's a**hole!!

    And to the anonymous poster about how the labor candidates in 1986 lost their electoral deposits, wake up lah! It's 2011 already, with the Internet, Twitter, FB, PCs and all kinds of crap to inform the urban voters about the crap in PKR and why they should vote for a better candidate. Nobody cares about PKR's symbol anyway on the ballot paper, which symbolizes Anwar's black eye. Let me tell you that the one to lose their deposits in GE13 will instead be PKR!! Such a crap party!!

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  10. Ktemoc, aren't you being quite rhetorical when you question why PKR would not accept MCLM candidates?

    As the de facto "mainstream one-size-fits-all" party in the opposition coalition, PKR simply can't go sourcing for candidates anywhere other than it's own stable. It will be an admission of weakness and very demoralizing to it's grassroots, potentially crippling their fledgling machinery. It was never a realistic idea.

    Of course Haris Ibrahim would knows that, so making the offer to PKR was a cunning but not so genuine political maneuver.

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  11. Aiyah KT, why do you do want to crack your poor little head on MCLM or Keadilan.
    The sun is going down on them.
    Why don't we listen to some songs which I dedicate to you and Anwar.

    I won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me by Nik Kershaw.

    Elton John Dont Let The Sun Go Down On me.

    The Walker Brothers The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore

    Bill Withers Aint No Sunshine

    Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying by Gerry and the Pacemakers

    Especially for the Sodomy King: Dirty Old Man by The Three Degrees or Neil Young whichever he prefers.

    And for me: Build me up Buttercup by the Foundations.

    Enjoy! Have a good one.

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  12. Why the party president ignored Jonson Chong? Don't you know? Have you not heard? That Jonson Chong is paid by a local businessman to discredit DSAI?

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  13. How can MCLM be so cocksure that their 30 candidates won't become froggies. Does MLCM have multi-million RM to guarantee this. I am not sure if Harris know how much the 3 froggies received in Perak.

    Besides money, there are so many ways the govt can make one turn froggy.

    Azmin, u did the right thing. In any political party, there must be room for dissent. But there must be a limit. Otherwise, the laws of the jungle will run its mill and chaos will be the order of the day.

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  14. My Buttercup runneth over with lovejuices (by Saiful)

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  15. Sadly, PKR is full of opportunists from UMNO. If Pakatan fail, it would be that PKR is not trusted by the electorate.

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  16. Anon,
    # Harris would be shocked when he looked at SNAP portfolio. Ok, I am sorry to badmouth SNAP....For a party splitted 4 ways....Hmmm.....
    # Rafizi has mentioned a more practical figure for seats....30....

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  17. You sait it yourself: Now, that will be very interesting if Azmin Ali rejects Haris Ibrahim's MCLM-offered candidates."
    11:19 AM, February 16, 2011

    Cut through most of the bullshit that you are talkign about, it comes down to this.

    MCM keeps on saying contradictory things on the run. Will they go for contest as independent if their candidates are rejected by PR? That was their openly stated plans at times and then silence on this at other times.

    MCM is never going to change the govt, just reducing the chances of PR getting the govt, they are toally without structure and just making hypcortical noises that they can can never the results they want.

    If you really belive in the cause, Ktemoc, you would spend more time arguing for the chance to be given to PR to get to the office to open Malaysia to a more free, open and democratic country, despite the imperfections and weakness of canditates selection in the past. theya re the only party that can delvier the goods, Otherwise, all yourour blogging in your site and elsewhere is a total waste of time

    Talk for talk sake, activist for activism sake is pure garbage, like what rpk haris are doing. There has to be an end results to al these talks and it is critical that the end results are acheived in the next GE, befor ehte extremist malay take over as they would have delivered the votes to bn.

    I am NOT PR registeed party apparachcks person. Never attened any party meeting. I just want good things for all in Malaysia, because I have experienced many good things for myself, a far cry from the daily garbage thrown at rakyat, that you appear unaware of, if you have, you are incapable of sharing them with others with your selfish attritudes in malaysia.

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  18. Better My,
    That's the spirit. I would accept Sreekant's message if he would support on confidence & supply matter while others remain as independent.....What the bloody hell point in standing as PR MP but not supporting it to the extent of sabo it if necessary in the motion of no confidence

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