opinion

On July 28, the Chinese-language daily Sin Chew Jit Poh quoted DAP deputy chairman Karpal Singh as reaffirming that 'DAP, like other opposition parties, considers the Barisan Nasional (BN) as the common enemy'.

According to the news report published prominently on page four of the Sin Chew , the former Member of Parliament (MP) for Jelutong also denies that his attack on PAS, the tone and the intensity of it, sounded like the Umno president and prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

To many in Barisan Alternatif (BA) and those supporting the opposition coalition, Karpal's 'reaffirmation' is naturally and certainly a welcome relief, although some clearer and more discerning minds would also like hear the secular lawyer name Umno under Dr Mahathir as the 'common enemy' of BA, democracy and human rights.

Indeed, it is only wise for Karpal to start publicly distancing his position or at least, his public voice and image, from Umno and Dr Mahathir because in the past several months, Karpal came across in the mainstream media as a spokesperson for the Umno president and the ruling BN on the issue of the Islamic state.

As an experienced and senior politician, Karpal should know better than any inexperienced upstart that in modern politics, whatever one's true and noble intention, it is usually appearance, and not reality that counts.

Less tormenting

This is not to say that Karpal cannot disagree with PAS, Keadilan or PRM. On the contrary, Karpal has the freedom of speech as an individual human being and as one of the citizens of this country.

But as a high-ranking DAP and BA leader who wants to gain trust, confidence and support among the multi-ethnic and multi-religious supporters of the opposition, he should be more mature and prudent in the adjustment of his tone and the selection of venue or forum to air his views or opinions on fraternal parties and their leaders with the intention of solving, not exacerbating, problems.

This is also not to say that Karpal has no human, legal or constitutional rights to openly and publicly attack PAS, Keadilan or PRM with a tone and intensity not dissimilar to Umno or Dr Mahathir.

But in that case, it would be better, more honest and sincere, and less tormenting, for him to join Gerakan or the People's Progressive Party (PPP). Umno, MCA and MIC are still mono-ethnic parties catering respectively for some Malays, some Chinese and some Indians only.

Intra-team interaction

Alternatively, he could abandon politics altogether and move into universities to teach constitutional or criminal law, or into the media to work as a specialist writer or columnist.

Then only can he shift position and attack any idea he dislikes without affecting the expectation and disturbing the emotion of others who see him as an opposition leader.

In short, Karpal, although personally and individually knowledgeable in the field of law, famous and well-known, must simply learn how to live and work in a larger team whose decisions influence or affect the emotion and expectation of a sizable portion of Malaysian voters of all race and religious backgrounds.

Team-work sometimes requires self-discipline and self-regulation to strike a balance between individual desire to seek fame on one hand, and collective security, stability and honour of the team on the other. Karpal should thus acquire more techniques in intra-team activities and interaction.

JAMES WONG WING ON, is a former Member of Parliament (1990-1995) and a former columnist for the Sin Chew Jit Poh Chinese daily. He read political science and economics at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. While in Sin Chew , he and a team of journalists won the top awards of Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) for 1998 and 1999.