Pakatan ‘injured’ by Selangor MB crisis

Veteran DAP leader Lim Kit Siang said today Pakatan Rakyat (Pakatan) leaders must face reality. He said the coalition must now work at restoring public confidence which was eroded by the prolonged Selangor Menteri Besar (MB) crisis.

Lim, who is the MP for Gelang Patah, advocates that the Pakatan leadership must meet frequently to find ways to restore public confidence.
He said many have been following the worst crisis faced by Pakatan in its six-year history.

Lim said he received an email from veteran politician, Goh Cheng Teik, who wrote:

“I am sick. I had to struggle to compose my thoughts.

“I have been looking at the newspaper reports about Selangor. Selangor is a democracy. Its legislative assembly have been properly elected. Whoever commands a majority in the house of Selangor should lead the government as MB.

The political boardroom works on the same principle as the corporate boardroom. If a person can obtain more than 51% of the shares in a company, he rules. Khalid knows this well enough. If he is a gentleman he should gracefully withdraw.

“Wan Azizah is a capable person. If she becomes the MB, she will surprise everybody with what she can do. As the wife of a very controversial opposition leader, she has over the years learnt much more about politics from real life than those who learn politics from books. She is a trained medical doctor. Tun Dr. Ismail was a doctor and he proved to be a good political leader. So were Dr. Lim Chong Eu and Dr. Tan Chee Khoon.”

Lim said the general consensus among Malaysians was relief that Pakatan had not broken up as a result of the prolonged MB crisis.

He said that Pakatan leaders all over the country and at all levels should not delude ourselves into thinking Pakatan had emerged unscathed from the prolonged MB crisis.

Lim said the crisis had gravely undermined the great trust and confidence which people from different races, religions and regions placed on Pakatan.
“There is however one silver lining. The Selangor MB crisis has highlighted the great and even fundamental difference between Pakatan and Barisan Nasional.

“Pakatan is a coalition of equals, as every component party in Pakatan has equal say in the future direction of the coalition – and any difference or disagreement will have to be resolved or thrashed out with a great deal of patience and stamina.

“If the three component parties cannot resolve their important differences in Pakatan, it will mark the immediate end of the coalition,” he said.
Lim said DAP leaders are not stooges of PAS and PAS leaders are not puppets of DAP – similarly, PKR are not stooges or puppets of DAP or PAS.

“We in DAP, PAS and PKR are not in politics for profit or self-gain but because of our political principles and convictions, for which many of us has paid a heavy personal price, unlike the Umno/Barisan Nasional leaders and politicians.

This is why the Pakatan coalition is completely different from the Barisan Nasional coalition model,” he concluded. -fmt