MP SPEAKS I have advised DAP leaders not to follow the example of PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and former PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali in their baseless attacks on the DAP leadership and to be always “principled, ethical, civil and never to resort to lies and falsehoods, slander and name-calling to demonise and character-assassinate anyone”.
It is Hadi’s prerogative if he wants to provide a life-line to support Najib Abdul Razak and shore up the prime minister in the gathering storm over the 1MDB scandal, even reprimanding Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the former prime minister’s attempt to topple Najib as prime minister (Hadi may want to explain why he did not go to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s rescue when Abdullah had faced similar pressure from Mahathir after the 2008 general election).
But the PAS leaders should not expect DAP leaders to keep quiet when they make baseless attacks on the DAP leadership, as Mustafa did in Kuala Terengganu yesterday.
Mustafa ( right ) repeated his twin charges against the DAP leadership, that the DAP leaders are arrogant and accused the DAP of laying a ‘trap’ for progressive PAS leaders annihilated in the recent PAS muktamar to make Gerakan Harapan Baru (GHB) movement a DAP ‘proxy’.
Is Hadi or the top PAS leadership denying that immediately after the 13th general election, the PAS leadership asked for DAP’s agreement that Hadi be seated at the second opposition seat next to the Parliamentary Opposition Leader, although PAS parliamentary representation was the smallest, with 21 MPs as compared with DAP’s 38 and PKR’s 30?
Wasn’t it true that without a second thought, I consented to the arrangement for Hadi to be seated in the second parliamentary seat for Pakatan Rakyat benches, which would not be the case if DAP is “arrogant” or “chauvinistic”, another recent favourite accusation of the Hadi leadership against the DAP?
Furthermore, Mustafa was an ‘eyewitness’ to the humiliation of the then-Parliamentary Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim by Hadi in Terengganu during the Selangor menteri besar crisis in August last year.
Was the former PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution telling the truth when he recounted what happened at that shocking encounter between Hadi and Anwar, at which I still feel shocked and outraged as the DAP had persuaded a very reluctant Anwar to go to Terengganu to meet Hadi to resolve the impasse created by PAS in the Selangor menteri besar crisis?
In the Selangor MB crisis, Hadi not only humiliated Anwar but also the PKR president, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, because she is a woman.
It is sad that Mustafa is still resorting to the politics of falsehood and dishonesty by continuing to dish out the canard that the Progressive PAS leaders in the GHB are just DAP ‘proxies’.
Before Pakatan Rakyat was killed by the PAS leadership, PAS was accused by Umno propagandists and cybertroopers of being DAP proxies, just as DAP is still accused by MCA and Gerakan of being PAS puppets and stooges.
PAS leaders had never been proxies of DAP, just as DAP leaders have never been puppets and stooges of PAS.
Using the same tactics as Umno propagandists?
Why is Mustafa using the same tactics employed by Umno propagandists and cybertroopers to besmirch the integrity and character of progressive PAS leaders, whom Mustafa should have known longer than any one in the DAP?
Is a political parting of ways justification for the use of the most immoral, irreligious and unprincipled tactics, including lies and falsehoods, to attack the opponent?
This is surely not the teaching of Islam or any religion practised in the country. This is most immoral and unethical, to say the least.
This may be one reason for the demise of Pakatan Rakyat when top PAS leaders are not prepared to be trustworthy political leaders and stay loyal and committed to the Pakatan Rakyat common policy framework and the Pakatan Rakyat consensus operational principle.
A new political coalition to replace Pakatan Rakyat, whether called Pakatan Rakyat 2.0, new Pakatan Rakyat, Harapan Rakyat or whatever, must be a political coalition based on common political principles and objectives that can save Malaysia from becoming a failed state as a result of rampant corruption, socio-economic injustices and failure of good governance, and not just an opportunistic coming-together for the spoils of office in Putrajaya.
I remember that I gave a talk to a PAS forum in Malacca 15 years ago, in June 2000, and I posed the following questions:
(1) Is PAS compatible with democracy?
(2) Is PAS compatible with pluralism?
(3) Is PAS compatible with human rights?
(4) Is PAS compatible with cultural diversity?
(5) Is PAS compatible with women’s rights, the principle of equality for women including women’s access to public office and public life?
(6) Is PAS compatible with development and modernity?
When Hadi and the PAS leadership turned their back on the Pakatan Rakyat common policy framework, they were giving negative answers to these six questions I posed 15 years ago.
PAS and DAP have parted ways with the demise of Pakatan Rakyat because of the repeated PAS violation of the Pakatan Rakyat common policy framework and Hadi’s contempt for the Pakatan consensus operational principle, wanting to exercise a veto power over decisions adopted unanimously by the Pakatan leadership, although PAS was represented by the then-deputy president, Mohamad Sabu.
Let us use reason and argument to deal with our differences, not lies and falsehoods.
LIM KIT SIANG is DAP parliamentary leader and Gelang Patah MP.
