Update, 27 Aug 2010: Hah, I told you. I did say yesterday Mr Tee Boon Hock’s appeal will be a non-event, didn’t I? It’s preservation of the dynasty, lah! Full story here.
Make no mistake. DAP is equal to its supreme leaders, and vice versa. The rest of the minions are merely expendable party slaves tied constantly to a short, snug leash to cow them into absolute obedience. No matter what, the dynasty is to be served and its survival is all that matters. It can do no wrong. ‘Do what I say and not do what I do’ is law. The slightest hint of not showing “enough affection” to one or two supreme leaders can and will cost you your political career in the party. I was such a victim of this whimsical aberrance when I was sacked in 1998, a ludicrous ‘first’ in the world. No regrets though or I would be caught between the devil and the deep blue sea; between hypocrisy and being a dynastic slave. Neither will serve integrity nor self-respect.
The recent sacking of Mr Tee Boon Hock, the ex-DAP councilor, who was alleged to have embroiled in the “letterhead scandals” is a clear example of blatant victimization for the sake of protecting the cronies – for the sake of endearing the dynasty.
But it’s this question of integrity that DAP falls way short on. The supreme leaders know it and for the purpose of the party’s political relevance and survival they will draw on their mastership of the art of political expediency to pull them through. It will save the day, no doubt, once more. PAS with its recent talk and posturing for an Islamic state will be muted and neutralized, yet again. PAS will withdraw into the background, re-group and wait to pursue its agenda another day. Why PAS will always do this like a gentleman beats me and this strategic behavior alone warrants a posting all its own on another day.
DAP should know better. When it decided to go into a marriage-of-convenience during the 1990 General Election with Semangat 46 under the flagship of Gagasan Rakyat and which Semangat 46 in turn had a coalition with PAS under the flagship of Angkatan Perpaduan Umrah (APU), the DAP knew what PAS stood for and the party will live by its constitution to propagate Islamic states whenever and wherever it comes into power. All went well for the 1990 General Election but the coalition failed to take over power in the federal government.
After the 1990 General Election, in 1992 the DAP’s supreme leaders decided to pull out from Gagasan Rakyat under the pretext that Semangat 46 was indirectly associated with PAS through APU and that PAS was serious in promoting and setting up an Islamic state.
During the 1999 General Election, the DAP again went into a loose coalition with PAS despite the fact that PAS never abandoned their objective of setting up an Islamic state when it comes into power. The DAP supreme leaders even went campaigning to assure Malaysians not to be worried about the said PAS stand on an Islamic state as the DAP will ensure that it will not materialize. In 2001 the DAP supreme leaders were yet again playing with their politics of expediency by disassociating itself with PAS over the issue of an Islamic state.
It must be noted that PAS has and will continue to be candid about this objective but why do the supreme leaders of DAP behave like a disobedient, un-supportive and combative “wife” every time the subject crops up? Political expediency at play, is it? But to me it’s more a question of integrity with DAP’s supreme leaders. They should look themselves in the mirror and come clean. Hypocrisy is sinful, hateful, damning. PAS has integrity. Their leaders are honest, trustworthy and faithful to their party’s constitution. From day one the party did not hide its desire to form Islamic states and it will not go back on its promise for any form of politics of expediency no matter what.
PAS has better watch it lest DAP’s supreme leaders seemingly skillful art of political expediency cows the party into singing and dancing to its tune. Which, by my analysis, is most unlikely to happen. Which also brings into question the validity of this marriage-of-convenience in the eyes of PAS. But what has become even more unfortunate is that PAS has appeared to be the whipping-boy for DAP every time the party senses its supporters getting jittery about the subject of an Islamic state. All in the name of political expediency to survive as a political party and be relevant. This is most sad; humiliating even, for PAS.
Moreover, for DAP’s supreme leaders to fan out enmass throughout the country in 1990 and again in the 1999 General Election to convince its supporters that going into a marriage with PAS (for votes fishing of course!) will not affect their interests is akin to pulling a fast one and lying through their teeth. The art of political expediency is anything but scheming, any which way one looks at it.
DAP’s supreme leaders short-coming goes further. The supreme leaders can ride on the moral high horse and say one thing and do another. They will shout and scream themselves hoarse for freedom of the press and freedom of speech in public. The next moment, at the snap of the fingers, they will also invoke a ‘gag order’ when it suits them and get all and sundry to toe the party line or else …
Chairman of the party Karpal Singh has always been the instrument for such incongruencies. The recent ‘gag order’ on all talk of the “letterhead scandals” in Selangor is not the first, and it will not be the last. Remember also when he was reportedly quoted to have said the equivalent of “Islamic state over my dead body”? Why are other supreme leaders so mum with statements of this nature and why is Karpal Singh singled out to do this kind of dirty work all the time? Preservation of the dynasty, remember? It should be above the supreme leaders demeanor to display such outward hypocrisy but there will always be hangeron-s to carry out the unspeakable.
DAP’s supreme leaders way of keeping the party’s minion in check is also hypocritical and seemingly subtle. But if one has been tracking their traits it’s always the repeated reminders that the General Election is just round the corner when there’s a hint of it by the ruling government. The reminders will get so loud that the hopefuls will realize it’s a signal not to get too smart to buck the trend and show disaffection lest one is put out to pasture without a constituency to stand in, or, be placed in a hopeless constituency. Never mind one can lose the party’s election at the party’s stronghold in Malacca but if the condition is right the loser can be jettisoned to become the DAP Secretary-General and then a Chief Minister in another state!
DAP should stop riding the moral high horse. It’s a joke to say one thing and do another. It’s even more damning when you carry up the cudgel to fight against corruption but look the other way when the same loathsome transgression stares you in the face in your own backyard in the form of the recent Selangor illegal sand mining scandal and letterhead scandals. Mr Tee Boon Hock is expendable but the newly converted blue-eyed-one, even though had been labeled ‘he is trouble,’ will be protected because of vested dynastic interest.
The art of political expediency riding on the moral high horse is diametrically opposed and has no place under the sun. It is contradictory. It is all hypocrisy. It is scheming to blur the blatant acts of preserving the dynasty, practicing cronyism and indulging in malpractices under cover. What is the difference then between what the government of the day is doing and what the hopeful government in waiting (and it’s a long shot okay) is hiding behind? You be the judge.
Note: After tonight’s CEC meeting, it will be a known fact Mr Tee Boon Hock’s appeal will not have any effect. It will just be a mere formality! Preservation of the dynasty cannot accept it and perhaps Mr Tee had also inadvertently committed the sin of not showing “enough affection” to his party’s supreme leaders!
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