Umno’s penchant for disgraced lawmakers

Port Klang assemblyman Badrul Hisham Abdullah quit PKR yesterday and was almost immediately welcomed by Selangor Umno, who said it would help him with allocations for the state seat.

This isn't the first time that Umno is so keen to adopt the riff-raff from PKR.

It began in February with PKR assemblymen Jamaludidn Mohd Radzi (Behrang) and Osman Jailu (Changkat Jering) who together with DAP's Hee Yit Foong (Jelapang) brought down the Perak Pakatan Rakyat government.

Both PKR lawmakers were facing corruption charges in a court case which has been postponed repeatedly since their defection and one witness has now recanted his evidence.

In August, PKR's Lunas assemblyman Mohd Radzhi Salleh also quit the party but wanted to keep his state executive councillor post after allegations of tweaking his mileage and allowance claims. The Kedah Sultan removed him but he was later cleared by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)

In Badrul's case, he won the seat but was absent from the constituency since Election 2008 due to a medical condition. In resigning from the party, the first-time assemblyman claimed that all allocations for the constituency went through other channels and not through him.

Much will be made of he says in the aftermath of the latest PKR casualty and Umno's keenness to exploit it for its own gains in a state that used to be its political fortresses.

But it is people like Jamaluddin, Osman, Radzhi and Badrul and the stench of corruption and laziness around them that pushed people to vote for the opposition in the March 2008 polls.

Umno's eager embrace of these tainted lawmakers says so much about the value system in the party. It fielded disbarred lawyer Rohaizat Othman in Permatang Pasir and lost, but won Bagan Pinang with disgraced party vice-president Tan Sri Isa Samad.

While Umno has reformed its party election rules to prevent corruption, people in the street will just look at these characters who are now in the party's good books to wonder whether their next vote will help form a clean government.

Thus far, there is no reason to give Umno that vote.

But Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his allies had made the first mistake of fielding these clowns in the last general election. And now Umno is compounding it by supporting them for their friendliness.

It goes without saying that it will be easier for PKR to get rid of such lawmakers ahead of the next general election or face the same problem in the future.

And for all of Umno's talk and bluster, its acceptance of such people reflects Datuk Seri Najib Razak's arduous task of cleaning up his party has yet to get traction.


comments

To the public especially those Port Klang constituents this Badrul did not quit PKR but more like he was sacked because of non performance. The stories of him not servicing his constituents are known long time ago. His disappearing acts even at party meetings are also known and even written openly by bloggers. His close association with UMNO people is also no secret. Before the next general election PKR must weed out all representatives who do not perform. Make them submit reports regularly on their activities on the ground. Better to treat them like school children if they do not know the responsibilities of a representative.

They should know they were nobody in UMNO and do not dream to be nominated as a representative let alone elected by the people to be the representative. After being elected they get big headed and will do work only if they get funds. This is typical UMNO mentality. There are so many opposition representatives before who do not have funds and yet they take care of their constituents. Remember Cikgu Jabbar of Batu Laut a lone ranger in a backward constituency but was elected many times not because he was a generous representative who is willing to splash cash to the constituents. Even Lee Lam Thye with a typewriter on a motorbike can also service his constituents in a very populated area.

As it is difficult to topple the Selangor Gvt by defection. The next best alternative is to tarnish the PR Gvt by asking the Port Klang Assembly man not to perform his duty. Thanks god, our Tan Sri is alerted and called to sack him. That should be the way.