The DAP Loose Cannon
By: Yin Ee Kiong

For a seasoned politician who professes to have been in politics since 1974 Karpal Singh is proving to be a problem within his party as well as in the Pakataan Rakyat Coalition.

It is all very well for Karpal to spout his thoughts on 'party hopping' 'hudud' and whatever else in the past and I for one will defend his right to speak out.
While I agree with Karpal about 'party hopping' and 'hudud' this is not the time and neither is the main stream media (which is BN owned or are bias to BN) to bring out such matters.

Party-Hopping:
In principle it is wrong but as long as the law does not allow an assembly person or parliamentarian to resign and contest the seat (again) as an independent or as a member of the party he or she has hopped to, we will face this this situation. There is no way the 'party hopper' can test whether he/she has been elected largely on his/her personal attributes or that of the party's stand.

As Karpal himself said 'party hopping' was started by BN (or Alliance) way back in 1969 and it is hypocritical for BN to now cry 'foul'.
Yes, Karpal, two wrongs do not make a right.

My beef with Karpal is that this is not the time to provoke infighting or to call for the Leader of the Opposition to step down.
By all means castigate Anwar, Kit Siang etc but do it within the four walls of the party.

There are more important and urgent issues at hand, namely to fight BN's takeover of the Perak Government.
What has happened in Perak is diabolical.
In any proper constitutional democracy the titular head would take the 'advice' of the head of government - in this case the MB. The same can be said of the Election Commission it is not in its remit to decide whether the resignations are valid or not. They have to accept the instructions of the Speaker of the House. Let the court decide on the validity. But then we have a funny system which does not follow the Westminster convention or that of other Western Democracies.

I leave the legality of the sultan's actions to the constitutional experts - there seems to be two different views.
But let's be clear about this; even if something is legal it does not mean that it is right. Legality does not confer morality or ethics.

After the March 8 Elections the sultan took one month (more or less) to decide on the new government. I accept that, it is good that he is careful about such matters.
But in the recent episode, the sultan took a few days to decide that the PR Govt is no longer sustainable. And that on the basis of a five minute interview with three renegades who jumped ship under dubious circumstances. If we need reminding, two of them have a corruption case hanging over them.
What if they are found guilty? - a verdict which most sceptics would find unlikely. Wouldn't that throw the whole state government in turmoil?

Is it wise to accept the word of three politicians?
If indeed BN has the numbers it should prove it in the state assembly. A simple vote of 'no confidence' in the PR Govt would be enough to bring it down. Let the parties go to the polls.
Ultimately the people should decide who is to govern them - not the sultan.

It is curious why the sultan has acted in such indecent haste in this instance.

Unless the PR parties show some discipline and stop this infighting it will lose the support of the people.
Karpal should get his priorities right. By all means go for Anwar or Kit Siang but for now he should concentrate on more urgent matters.
The Silver State has become the State of Confusion and Chaos.

Karpal should be the one to step down if he can't see the common threat, and not Anwar.