Punish PKR, not just Khalid

When I read the Open Letter by Stephen Ng - "Look at the bigger picture, Tan Sri Khalid" on 23 July, I felt that he was not presenting the whole picture to you on Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim and the politics in Selangor.

Here's one.

In a war of words with Nathaniel Tan recently, Rafizi Ramli tweeted "@rafiziramli: For everyone's record, @natasasi was employed by MB Office on vague contract re media/social media etc. Not surprising 4 all his defence".

Today, Nathaniel Tan is one of the loudest supporters of Khalid Ibrahim.

I don’t know what else is shady but as we all know, the deeper you dig, the darker it gets. YB Hannah Yeoh cannot afford to hide and be quiet anymore. SELCAT must act fast or lose credibility.

The other camp in Selangor PKR has its own share of issues also. Look at the facts.

1. PKR's De Facto Leader is Anwar Ibrahim and his wife Dr Wan Azizah is the Party President. Their daughter is the Vice President of PKR.


2. Former ADUN Kajang Lee Chin Cheh stepped down for greater good of Pakatan Rakyat but appeared in the candidates sheet in the ongoing PKR Party Elections


3. PKR’s Election began in late April 2014 and till today we have not seen or heard who has won the race to be Deputy President, Vice Presidents and Supreme Council members. (FYI, Indonesia’s Presidential Election began on 9th July and on 22nd July, Joko Widodo was announced as the new President)


4. PKR Supreme Council endorsed Dr Wan Azizah as the new Selangor MB, the wife of Selangor's Economic Advisor

This is no doubt a mockery of our democracy. By now, supporters of Pakatan Rakyat should all be asking this question - is this the party that we know and voted for?

It is still fresh in our memories during the Kajang Move when Rafizi wrote in his blog:

1. We need radical approach to solving the traffic woes, the pace of affordable public housing has to pick up


2. There is a need for more rigorous forward planning of water resources in Selangor


3. We can do better especially with regards to cleanliness and livelihood of the people. We have the potential to be a model state with least potholes in densely populated areas.

Clearly, Pakatan Rakyat is giving Khalid Ibrahim an “F” for his performance as MB with recent issues like KIDEX, water and the BM Bible, just a year after the 13th General Election. His value was downgraded to “junk” when the Pakatan Rakyat leaders begin to blame it all on one individual – Khalid Ibrahim.

But is this the sole responsibility and failure of one man - Khalid Ibrahim? Are we talking about the Selangor State Government which Anwar has been a member of since 2009? And does anyone expect the State Government to perform better with Dr Wan Azizah?

It is just shameful for anyone to even allow PKR to be involved in politics anymore.

This is the time when we say enough is enough. Selangor must call for fresh State Elections. PKR must be punished for poor governance and the prostitution of democracy.

The "Najib Move"

While the world was busy preparing statements and meeting the press to slam Russia, it was the Prime Minister of a developing country with a population of 29 mil population

(1) established contact with Alexander Borodai, who is in command of the crash site

(2) secured the bodies and the black boxes

(3) received permission to access the crash site with safety guaranteed for the independent international investigators.

I wonder if the wife of the politician from Penang who used the words “scary and useless” to describe Malaysia (she apologized) has anything else to say now.

There were two comments in Twitter that caught my attention - YB Liew Chin Tong and Datuk Mazri Muhammad.

“@liewchintong: MH17 may be the beginning of a New Cold War. If Russia has to be told off, we have no choice but to do it. Our foreign policy needs clarity.”

“@mazri73: If we are vocal against Russia, will Russia stop support for Malaysian Su-30s, MiG-29s and other weapon systems in our military arsenal”

Their comments made me realized the complexity of our foreign relations policy especially in this tragedy.

Both countries have had diplomatic relations since the 1960s. About half of our air assault potential is Russian made. We have about 30 Sukhoi and MiG fighter jets. Trading between the two countries is valued at approximately US$ 2 billion. In education, we have over 5,000 students there.

This is not a case of being vocal, neutral or being quiet. It is about priorities and the timing must be right especially when there were reports of inaccessibility to the site and with news quoting the Ukrainian Prime Minister later that the rebels did not allow the train with bodies to leave.

The international media and international figures were quick to push the blame of the MH17 on Russia but there were some who threw in conspiracy theories against the Americans such as the Operation Northwoods that was rejected by President John F. Kennedy.

Whether it was the Americans, Ukrainians or Russians, no one is sure until the investigations have been concluded.

We are caught in a geopolitical crisis and Najib has played his cards right without jumping on the bandwagon to blame the rebels, the Russians or the Americans. The reality is that the bodies and crash site are in the region under the command of Alexander Borodai. Najib made the right move when he established contact and reached an agreement with Borodai for the bodies, the black boxes and the investigation to be carried out. No harsh statements or bullets would have worked but only diplomacy.

It is important that the Americans, Ukrainians and Russians know that the Malaysian Government and the families of the victims of geopolitics do not have interest in who controls Donetsk. In this moment of grieve and sadness, the only right thing to do is to allow the families to have their loved ones back for a proper burial first.

The next phase is for investigations to be carried out thoroughly and to deliver justice for those who lost their lives in MH17. The individuals who are directly responsible, the operations chief and the one who pulled the trigger, must be swiftly brought to justice. It is an unforgivable sin.