It pays to be a PKR frog

The article critically examines the recent reinstatement of Kamarudin Jaffar, Steven Choong, and Edmund Santhara into PKR, labeling it an act of desperation that undermines the party's principles and electoral prospects.

The author argues that this move reflects a shift towards pragmatism over ideology, potentially alienating PKR members and voters by mirroring the opportunistic behaviors of rival parties like Umno and Bersatu.

The reintegration of these figures, once seen as traitors to the party, raises questions about PKR's commitment to its principles and its future strategy, as younger leaders depart and party values appear compromised.

OCTOBER 8 — Is PKR desperate, a desperado, or just doing the Despacito ?

Maybe too busy on the political dance floor to notice the music was cut aeons ago.

Hard to say reading their disco moves.

From the outside, it looks like the party has gone loco .

Kamarudin Jaffar, Steven Choong and Edmund Santhara have been reinstated as members.

As of September 27, thanks to the central leadership council.

If those names don't ring a bell, that's absolutely fine.

Not exactly giants of contemporary Malaysian politics.

Their claim to fame is infamy.

Kamarudin and Edmund Santhara walked out in the Sheraton Move of February 2020, which brought down the Pakatan Harapan government duly elected less than two years earlier.

Choong followed a year later, propping up Muhyiddin Yassin as an "independent" while keeping a seat PKR had won for him.

And now all three are back, in the warm motherly embrace of the party.

Some will deem it a pragmatic act by a prime minister taking intermittent sniper fire.

I call it a party bereft of ideas and now has undeniably hurt its own chances at GE16.

The unfanciful observation disquiets all: has PKR slid closer to Umno or Bersatu, truly worshippers of Machiavellian machinations, bent on seats therefore power over principles.

Buying players past sell-by dates

Glance at their CVs and one risks being duped.

Kamarudin is an old hand.

He has been in politics since the 1970s, worked with Anwar in ABIM, went to Umno, then rose through PAS after Reformasi to become its secretary-general.

He won five general elections: four in Tumpat and then Bandar Tun Razak in 2018.

Santhara was a corporate man before he was a politician, as CEO of Masterskills.

He ran as an independent in 2013 at Hulu Selangor and lost badly, then joined PKR and rose quickly to deputy treasurer.

He won Segamat for the party in 2018 and later served as deputy minister under both Muhyiddin and Ismail Sabri.

Choong worked the ground in Johor, lost Tebrau in 2013 and won it in 2018.

On paper, three people with experience.

In reality, the opposite holds.

Kamarudin lost Bandar Tun Razak in 2022 as a Perikatan Nasional candidate.

Santhara did not even contest GE15.

Choong ran for DUN Puteri Wangsa in 2022 under Parti Bangsa Malaysia and lost his deposit.

Kamaruddin can say he brings political nous as a former PAS national leader.

But his era appears over.

He turns 75 next month.

He can't win in Kelantan, despite four prior victories there because this time he has to overcome his old party, PAS.

Cynically, one dare suggest he won four times because he was a PAS candidate.

And, he may win in Kuala Lumpur using the PKR logo at Bandar Tun Razak, but that would be PKR endowing him a gift rather than him lifting the party.

Edmund Santhara is unknown outside his residence which many feel is New Zealand and Steven Choong brings rigour but not glamour.

So, what is the point?

The central issue remains, how does PKR forgive those who tried to bring it down?

Tian Chua I can process.

He is a genuine Reformasi veteran whose falling-out with the leadership — primarily Anwar — led him down the wrong road, all the way to contesting against his own party.

He did not sell out to the party’s enemies in the aftermath.

He is a one-party man.

These three are different.

Anwar, of all people, should be furious with Kamarudin, a fellow ABIM man who treated the struggle as a stepping stone for himself and spited Anwar.

Are PKR members the better from these readmissions?

That they experienced trying years after the 2020 ouster, thanks to these frogs’ greed, and now are expected to change their minds and work with them heading to GE16?

Alarmingly, so few in the leadership questioned it, objected, or told Anwar that a party without principles is not a party but an election-winning machine.

It also sets a precedent.

Why wouldn't more politicians change colours with the season, when opportunities absent of principles are presented to them, if PKR has shown it will forgive them later?

Then there is the money.

All three signed PKR's 2018 bond, which makes elected representatives liable for RM10 million if they jump ship.

PKR is in court right now pursuing Edmund Santhara and Kamarudin for that sum.

The party spuriously argues the bond is a separate matter, even if the gentlemen are readmitted as members.

You demand RM10 million from these men in court, who ostensibly prefer not to pay, and then turn around to the members and remind them they are priceless leaders?

When secretary-general Fuziah Salleh sits across from them, does she ask about their latest party work, or about the payment outstanding?

The push factors are evident.

Rafizi Ramli and Nik Nazmi have left to lead Parti Bersama Malaysia.

Former Subang MP Wong Chen has joined them.

I suspect former Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung is just waiting for the right moment to say he has done the same.

Nurul Izzah Anwar tried to resign as deputy president and was talked into an open-ended leave instead.

The people expected to lead PKR's next generation are leaving.

However, do the older faces change the party's fortunes?

Here is another scenario.

If Bersama keeps losing deposits, as it did in Johor, will PKR quickly reopen the door to Rafizi, Nik Nazmi and Wong too?

After all, PKR is a party with selective amnesia.

At the PKR National Congress in Melaka on August 15, Anwar apologised and pleaded: otai-otai, baliklah.

Return to the path of the struggle.

I doubt many delegates in that hall pictured this as the outcome.

The almost forgotten, voters

There is one thing almost nobody in PKR seems to be asking: what will ordinary voters make of this, and how will they vote?

Will the return of Kamarudin and Santhara warm anyone's heart?

More likely, voters under 40 won't recognise them.

What they already believe is that no party has principles.

They have watched Umno in Negeri Sembilan and PAS cutting Bersatu loose, and concluded that every party is the same, chasing short-term returns.

Now PKR looks the same too, willing to take back those who lied to it and betrayed it.

If PKR is not careful, voters at GE16 will treat the ballot like a roll of the dice, picking randomly, since it’s becoming impossible to tell the parties apart.

That’s undesirable, for PKR and Pakatan Harapan.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.

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文章批判性地审视了卡马鲁丁·贾法尔、史蒂文·钟和埃德蒙·桑塔拉最近重返人民公正党一事，称其为一种绝望之举，损害了该党的原则和选举前景。

作者认为，此举反映出人民公正党从意识形态转向实用主义，这种做法效仿巫统和土著团结党等竞争对手的投机行为，可能会疏远人民公正党的成员和选民。

这些曾被视为党的叛徒的人物的重新加入，引发了人们对人民公正党对其原则的承诺及其未来战略的质疑，因为年轻的领导人正在离开，党的价值观似乎受到了损害。

10 月 8 日 — 公正党是绝望、亡命之徒，还是只是在做 Despacito？

或许他们忙于政治角力，根本没注意到音乐早已停止。

很难从他们的迪斯科舞步中判断。

从外面看，这场聚会似乎已经疯了。

Kamarudin Jaffar、Steven Choong 和 Edmund Santhara 已恢复会员资格。

截至9月27日，感谢中央领导委员会。

如果这些名字你没印象，那完全没关系。

他们算不上马来西亚当代政坛的巨头。

他们因臭名昭著而出名。

2020 年 2 月，卡马鲁丁和埃德蒙·桑塔拉退出了“喜来登行动”，导致不到两年前当选的希望联盟政府垮台。

一年后，钟也效仿，支持穆希丁·亚辛以“独立人士”的身份参选，同时保留了人民公正党为他赢得的席位。

现在，她们三个都回来了，回到了派对温暖如母的怀抱。

有些人会认为，首相在不时遭到狙击手袭击的情况下采取这种务实的做法。

我认为这是一个缺乏创意的政党，现在它无疑已经损害了自己在第16届全国大选中的机会。

这个不加掩饰的观察令所有人感到不安：人民公正党是否已经滑向了巫统或​​土著团结党，这两个政党真正崇拜马基雅维利式的阴谋诡计，一心只想着席位，从而凌驾于原则之上？

购买超过保质期的球员

只需瞥一眼他们的简历，就有可能被骗。

卡马鲁丁是个老手。

他从上世纪 70 年代就开始从政，曾与安华在 ABIM 共事，后来加入巫统，之后在改革运动后通过伊斯兰党一路晋升，最终成为该党秘书长。

他赢得了五次大选：四次在敦帕特，然后是 2018 年的敦拉萨镇。

桑塔拉在从政之前是一名企业高管，曾担任 Masterskills 的首席执行官。

2013年，他以独立候选人身份参加乌鲁雪兰莪州的选举，结果惨败；之后他加入人民公正党，并迅速晋升为副财政。

他在 2018 年代表该党赢得了昔加末选区席位，后来在慕尤丁和伊斯梅尔·萨布里执政期间担任副部长。

钟在柔佛州打拼，2013 年失去了地不佬选区，2018 年赢得了该选区。

从纸面上看，是三个有经验的人。

实际上，情况恰恰相反。

卡马鲁丁在2022年作为国盟候选人失去了敦拉萨镇。

桑塔拉甚至没有参加第15届全国大选。

Choong于2022年在马来西亚人民党的带领下竞选DUN Puteri Wangsa，并失去了押金。

卡马鲁丁可以说，他作为前伊斯兰党全国领导人，拥有丰富的政治智慧。

但他的时代似乎已经结束了。

他下个月就75岁了。

尽管他之前在吉兰丹州四次获胜，但他这次无法再次获胜，因为他必须战胜他的老东家伊斯兰党。

有人愤世嫉俗地认为他之所以四次当选是因为他是伊斯兰党候选人。

而且，他或许能在吉隆坡敦拉萨镇使用人民公正党的标志赢得选举，但这将是人民公正党送给他的礼物，而不是他提升了该党的地位。

埃德蒙·桑塔拉 (Edmund Santhara) 除了他的住所（许多人认为是新西兰）之外，鲜为人知；而史蒂文·钟 (Steven Choong) 则带来了严谨，但没有魅力。

所以，这样做的意义何在？

核心问题仍然是，人民公正党如何原谅那些试图扳倒它的人？

田楚，我可以处理。

他是一位真正的改革党老将，与领导层（主要是安华）的决裂使他走上了错误的道路，最终甚至与自己的政党对抗。

事后他并没有向党的敌人出卖自己。

他是一个一党独大的人。

这三个人各不相同。

安华最应该对卡马鲁丁感到愤怒，因为卡马鲁丁也是ABIM的成员，但他却把这场斗争当作自己晋升的跳板，并且与安华作对。

这些重新接纳的议员对人民公正党成员更有利吗？

由于这些贪婪之徒的贪婪，他们在2020年被赶下台后的几年里经历了艰难时期，现在却被期望改变主意，与这些贪婪之徒合作，参加第16届全国大选？

令人担忧的是，领导层中很少有人质疑、反对或告诉安华，一个没有原则的政党不是一个政党，而是一个赢得选举的机器。

这也开创了一个先例。

如果人民公正党已经表明以后会原谅他们，那么当机会摆在眼前，而机会又缺乏原则时，为什么更多的政治人物不会随波逐流，改变立场呢？

然后还有钱的问题。

这三人均签署了人民公正党 2018 年的履约保证书，该保证书规定，如果当选代表叛党，将承担 1000 万令吉的罚款。

人民公正党目前正在法庭上向埃德蒙·桑塔拉和卡马鲁丁追讨这笔款项。

该党错误地辩称，即使这些先生们被重新接纳为党员，债券也是另一回事。

你在法庭上向这些人索要1000万令吉，而他们表面上却不愿支付，然后你又转而向成员们提醒他们，他们是无价的领导者？

当秘书长富齐亚·萨利赫坐在他们对面时，她是会询问他们最近的党务工作，还是会询问他们拖欠的款项？

推动因素显而易见。

Rafizi Ramli 和 Nik Nazmi 已离开并领导马来西亚团结党。

前梳邦国会议员黄振也加入了他们。

我怀疑前八打灵再也国会议员李振忠只是在等待合适的时机，声称他也做了同样的事情。

努鲁·伊扎·安瓦尔曾试图辞去副总统职务，但被劝说改为无限期休假。

被寄予厚望领导人民公正党下一代的人们正在离开。

然而，这些老面孔能否改变该党的命运？

以下是另一种情况。

如果 Bersama 继续像在柔佛州那样流失存款，人民公正党是否会很快重新向 Rafizi、Nik Nazmi 和 Wong 敞开大门？

毕竟，人民公正党是一个有选择性失忆症的政党。

8月15日，安瓦尔在马六甲举行的公正党全国代表大会上道歉并恳求：“otai-otai，baliklah”。

重返奋斗之路。

我怀疑当时在场的代表中，有多少人预料到会是这样的结果。

几乎被遗忘的选民

人民公正党内几乎没有人问过这样一个问题：普通选民会如何看待这件事，他们会如何投票？

卡玛鲁丁和桑塔拉的回归会温暖人心吗？

更有可能的是，40岁以下的选民不会认出他们。

他们早已认定，任何政党都没有原则。

他们目睹了森美兰州的巫统和伊斯兰党抛弃土著团结党，并得出结论：每个政党都一样，都在追求短期利益。

现在人民公正党看起来也一样，愿意接纳那些曾经欺骗和背叛它的人。

如果人民公正党不谨慎行事，第16届全国大选的选民将会把投票当作掷骰子，随机选择，因为现在越来越难以区分各个政党。

这对人民公正党和希望联盟来说是不可取的。

* 这是作者或刊物的个人观点，并不一定代表《马来邮报》的观点。

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